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Show , . . j lj ' 1 ' . LONDON, July 30, 4:41 p. m., by The Associated Press, jij, American troops in the Soissons-Rheims sector have been oi fighting virtually without cessation along their whole line for j the last 24 hours. The German defense had stiffened and the yf Americans had made very little fresh progress up to noon to- day, according to dispatches this afternoon. The same was true about all the Allied armies from Sois- jly sons to Rheims. jjf The situation in the American sector, the latest advices jjl indicate, is that the Germans have retained the town of Ll Cierges but that the Americans are holding Sergy "very de- J terminedly and are inflicting very heavy losses on the enemy in his hastily organized counter-attacks. During the night the Germans kept up their unsuccessful 3 counter-attacks in an effort to find a hole somewhere in the $ American lines. They continued the same hopeless quests 1? today , ;jj On other parts of the lme the most noteworthy Allied ?. advance was the accomplishment of the French in capturing IRomigny on the easterly side of the salient. Five of the ten divisions from Crown Prince Rupprecht's army which have been called to reinforce the crown prince's army have been put in the battle twice, it has been established 0 from identification of units. M London, July 30, noon. Another German thrust drove I the French out of Beugneux, near Grand Rozoy, northwest of Fere-en-Tardenois. This tgwn, however, was re-captured by the French and Americans. ! WITH THE AMERICAN ARMY ON THE AISNE- l , . MARNE FRONT, July 30, by The Associated Press. Under 1 a fire from the enemy only slightly less than that of yesterday n the Americans on the front north of the Ourcq held on to their positions this afternoon -and even advanced a little toward the j road from Seringes to Sergy. i Repeated efforts by the enemy to dislodge the Americans '3 ; were futile. On the Americans' left the French are moving I forward. To the right the lines are holding steadily. The guards that were brought in by the Germans to at- ij tack the Americans yesterday appeared today to have been 'i withdrawn by the German command. ii The fighting is the heaviest the Americans have experi- Ienced. Their conduct is winning the praise "of the French observers. ob-servers. it ' LONDON, July 30, by The Associated Press. The Ger- mans have been counter-attacking very heavily along virtual-i virtual-i ly the entire battle front, according to news that reached Lon-! Lon-! don shortly after noon today. Their attack was an especially I heavy one in the American sector and resulted in driving the Americans out of the village of Cierges, about 5 J? miles southeast of Fere-en-Tardenois. Another German thrust drove the Americans tack from J Beugneux, near Grand Rozoy, northwest of Fere-en-Tard-5 j enois. J j Some advance has been affected by the Allies in the ij Ardre valley, along the easterly side of the front towards the i village of Aubilley. A certain amount of ground of Villers- Augren Aigenz'. j The main advance on the westerly side of the front seems j to have been at Grand Rozoy, about five-miles northwest of Fere-en-Tardenois. The French here are progressing north on the crest of the plateau between the Vesle and the Ourcq. Hie enemy's withdrawal is reported still orderly and mili- ; i tary opinion in London discounts the possibility of any round-I round-I ' ; ing up of Germans in the salient. I . There has been heavy fighting near Buzancy, five miles j t south of Soissons, and also in Plessier wood, about five miles I further south. In this latter locality 45 prisoners were taken ii; belonging to three divisions of the enemy now engaged in I the Marne salient. There are 71 such divisions of which ten I belong to the northern army of Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria. LONDON, July 30, by The Associated Press. Very heavy fighting has been in progress along the whole battle-front battle-front from Ville-en-Tardenois to Buzancy, according to advices ad-vices received up to noon todaj'. It has resulted, so far, how- fver, in very little progress for the Allies. 4 (By tho Associated Press.) The Germans have thrown nearly a million men Into the gigantic battle between Soissons and Rheims and havo been viciously counter-attacking all around the circular line that stretches from Soissons to the vicinity of Rheims. Even this formidable force, however, how-ever, appears not to have made more than a dent or two In the allied front in its latest effort, while at various points progress for the allies, slight but Important, is reported. Regarding the strength of the German Ger-man forces, unofficial reports state that there are seventy-one Teutonic divisions engaged In this struggle. The strength of a' German division Is about 13,500 on a normal footing so that If all the units resisting the allies north of the Marne have been kept up to standard stan-dard there are 1,058,500 men trying to hold the line until the situation has quieted down. Of these divisions there are ten drawn from Crown Prince Rupprecht's army, in the north. The German crowrr prince had In1 the neighborhood of 500,000 men be. tween Rheims and Chateau Thierry iwhen the attack across,thc Marne bc-gan bc-gan on July 15. The increase in the' i number of divisions engaged in battle would appear to indicate that he had since that time drawn heavily on other, army, groups. It would also seem that this action on his part reflects the im-I im-I portance of this battle in the eyes of tho German high command. Through the German counter-blow the Americans were driven back from Cierges, southeast of Fere-en-Tardc-nols while to the northwest of Fece the Americans have also been forced out of Beugneux into which they had penetrated after passing through Grand Rozoy. Buzancy, situated on the west side of the Crlse river about five miles southwest of Soissons, also has been the scene of heavy fighting and the battle appears to have been general along the line south of that point, notably no-tably in Plessier wood, near where the front turns abruptly to the east. On the other end of the battle line there havd been sharp engagements but reports credit the allies with making mak-ing an advance at Aubilly in the Ardre valley, west of Rheims. They have also forged ahead further down toward to-ward the bottom of the pocket at VI!-lers-Agron-Alguizy. While these counter-blows against the allied lines are general and of great violence, it is not believed In London that the enemy intends to make a real stand south of the Vesle river. Paris, one the other hand, seems to believe that the Germans may have fixed upon the present location of their armies as the field upon which they will turn at bay. There have been patrol operations along the British front but nothing significant has occurred there. LONDON, July 30. German positions posi-tions in the Morris region on the Flanders Flan-ders front were entered last night by Australian troops who took forty prisoners, pris-oners, the war office announced today. The enemy artillery was active In the region northwest of Albert, throwing throw-ing in gas shells. It also displayed activity ac-tivity between La Bassco canal and Yprcs. The statement reads: "We captured n few prisoners- last night In a successful raid In the neighborhood of Ayette. "Shortly after midnight Australian patrols entered tho enemy's positions about Morris. Forty prisoners havo been taken by our troops in this locality. lo-cality. "The hostile artillery has been active ac-tive with gas shells northwest of Albert Al-bert and has also shown activity at a number of points between La Bassoo canal and Ypres." No Change in Situation. PARIS, July 30. "There was no chango in the situation north of the Marne last night," says tho statement state-ment from the French war office today. to-day. Tho official statement reads: "During the night no event of importance im-portance was reported from the front north of the Marne." Aviator Forced to Land 4 PARIS, July 30 Rumors of the disappearance dis-appearance of Lieutenant William Ponder of Texas, an aviator, have proved groundless. Ponder was forced to land over tho German linos because of engine trouble. He turned up two days ago, however, none the worse for his experienco. |