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Show I Greatest Spectacle of European Straggle I&Presented. WITH THE BRITISH ARMIES IN FRANCE, April 9, via London (From a Staff Correspondent of The Associated Associat-ed Press). Tho British today delivered deliv-ered a strong blow against the Germans Ger-mans from the region southwest of Cambrai to a point south of Lens. They swept over the German positions from the south of Arras northward on the famous Vimy ridge, fighting for the possession of which cost the French 100,000 casualties earlier In the war. Once before the British gained the crest of the ridge, but under a tremendous tre-mendous concentration of Germans they wero compelled to give It up. All winter long Canadians have held a footing on the ridge, with the German Ger-man lines looking down on them. All the fighting today was against dominating domi-nating positions on high ground, some of which had been held by the Germans Ger-mans for two years and was lavishly surrounded by barbed wire. The preliminary bombardment of tho ridges attacked, delivered before: dawn, provod to be one of the great-1 est spectacles of tho war. The firing at times exceodea that which marked some of the sturdiest battles of the Somme. The night sky was illuminated illuminat-ed for hours by tho continuous flash of guns. Tho attack was carried out In several sev-eral phases. Tho first lines had scarcely scarce-ly been entered when numbers of German prisoners began to come back. Today's attack also hit the northern hinge of the recent German retreat from Arras to the Aisne. The Germans Ger-mans evidently had expected a renewal renew-al of the offensive in tho valley of the Somme, for In making the retreat In that sector they announced that thov had completely disarranged the British Brit-ish offensive plans. Today's blow was Britain's answer. rr |