OCR Text |
Show GREATEST BATTLE OF WAR ON I 1 BRITISH FRONT IN FRANCE, July 31, (by The Associated PressXThree lines of German trenches in Flanders have been captured by the British forces. Most of II L I the points stormed were between Boesinghe and Warneton. II j Entente Allied Forees launch I Great Offensive on 20-Mile J Front Against the Germans 1 1 I! Troops Advance to Second Line German Defenses I Enter Battle Under Greatest Barrage Fire of ! - WarWhole Situation Satisfactory 1; in Every Particular. y Attacking early today on a 20-mile front. in Belgium ' from the River Lys to within about 1 0 miles of the coast, Gen. Sir Douglas Haig's troops, in conjunction with French forces, swept rapidly over the first line German positions and at many points reached the Teutonic second line. They took numerous ' prisoners as the drive continued. Never in history, according j to all accounts, has there been a more tremendous volume of HJ ; shells poured upon a position under attack than that which as-J H sailed the German line for days past. This marvelous concen- j fjj tration of gunfire manifested itself also in supplementary , fashion after the drive started in what is reported to have been ! fSJ ; the weightiest barrage in the annals of warfare. The fielcof the attack, beginning near Warneton, south of the Messinesl '. area which the British won in their smashing attack last month, ' fjjl h takes in that area and the westerly bend in the line north of! )I3p Ypres andj extends at least as far north as Dixmude. ! 1C5F5DON, July 31. In the mountainous region be-uTiojj be-uTiojj ; tween the Casin valley and the Putna the enemy tried to at-)fR& at-)fR& tack us at different points but was everywhere repulsed, says tiMS ; a Rumanian statement of July 28. Fighting is in progress for HI the possession of the Magura Casilunin height, the statement te5 adds. 22 i ! BRITISH FRONT IN FRANCE, July i ; 31. The entente allied forces which Ifsg ; launched their offensive this morning jTj$ have advanced well beyond the shell fis ; shattered front lino German trenches. $m : In many places they have reached the I 1 1 second line defense on a twenty-mile J V front of attack, according to the early c i reports, -jn The British and French troops went )J H ji into battle under cover of what peril per-il fl I ; haps was the greatest barrage fire pUIl! ? i ever seen during the war. g The entente artillery is moving for- Jx 3 ward and the whole situation is satis- - innl if tedory in every particular. jjK Between Dixmude and Boosinghe 'M the attackers reported they had se- ra cured the two first lines of trenches I. after having fought over the most dif- r,gjgS "i ficult terrain imaginable. jjEsj t , The British again have captured La llaf Fi; Bassee Ville, which they recently re- o?f Unquished to the Germans. idiuE Facing Great Forces ?n ''&!' i ' The British and French forces are DaXsM facing a large concentration of Ger- ' man artillery and fresh troops which j'M i i have been rushed up. bie I The entente allies have established 1 complete air superiority, "ess 1 The entente military officials say ndi i tbe morale of the Germans here is not ocr- ri up to the 'd standard. , 3 A Tremendous Big Gun Fire ' 3 The offensive launched this morning I by General Sir Douglas Haig, Ihe a' British commander in conjunction - with General Petain, the commander ' rpIl I a of the French forces, against the Gr- I 111 i man lines on the Belgian front, is the - i culmination of the tremendous heavy sl 8 eun bombardment which has been in ''JS ' ; Progress almost continuously in this ' area for a week. i ; The intensity of the artillery drum -ifl : fire with which the entente allies had -JS ; beqn demolishing the Teuton trenches ii Preparatory' to today's assault has been m described by the German general 1 1 staff as the greatest in history of war-..'-Jj j fare, even surpassing the terrific fire 31 1 maintained at the beginning of the Ml' Som,me and Arras offensives. Mili-tarv Mili-tarv observers have attributed two 'Js objectives for the entente offensive I the capture of the Belgian North sea K coast which has been used by the ITl J (i u Germans as bases for their subma- I K rlnes and to aBsJst the hard pressed U A IK ' Russians on the Galician front. Vt ilWr Tho battle front north of the River I I Ujlf Lys stretches from Warneton, on the Franco-Belgian border to the North P.K. sea coast, tho distance between those tWo PInts being about thirty miles. 4Mk Incudcd 'n tbis battlo area is tho u;r famous Wytschaete-Messines front jK where the British on June 7, after ex-jK ex-jK plodlng one million pounds of high JK explosives under the German lines, . "1J' attacked on a mile front and captured "JhB the high ridge, several towns, forty-' forty-' B sftven heavy guns and more than 7,-Wm 7,-Wm 000 prisoners. |