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Show Crowe Prince Rupprecht Fails to 1 H Carry Out Hindenburg's Order H . H WITH THE BRITISH ARMY IN BELGIUM. Wednesday, Nov. 14. (By tho Associated Press.) The forces or Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria have made the first pretentious effort to. regain PasHchenda.elc village, in accordance ac-cordance with the edict of Field Marshal Mar-shal von Hindenburg that the plnce should bo recaptured, and havo failed. Tho enomy's attack made late yesterday yes-terday against positions on the crest of the ridgo north of tho hamloi was attompted with large forces and was a most determined effort to retake I this gem of their defenses but the assaulting as-saulting troops were hurled back after a grim struggle, leaving the British lino before Pnsschendaole intact. Artillery Fire Ploughs Up Ranks. Tho greater part of the enemy infantry in-fantry was stopped by the tremendous British artillery barrage, which ploughed through their ranks as they began tho advance; but somo of theni, answering to that famous discipline ingrained in-grained ty Prussian miliMiry rule, pushed through this rain of death and reached the British front line. I A sanguinary struggle followed at ll close quarters-. The Germans battled 1 tl doggedly but the British soldiers flung i themselves upon the enemy with such ferocity that he was compelled to givo H ground and finally retired, leaving H many dead upon the barren crest. H Attack Prepared by Terrific Bombard- H The onemy attack was prefaced by ll a terrific bombardment. The German jl gunB opened on the right at 4 o'clock D ( Continued on Page 4 ) H Crown Prince Fails to Carry Out Orders ("Continued from Page 1.) yesterday morning. The British had been expecting the counter-attack for several days. Captured German officers offi-cers had freely admitted that the loss of Passchendaele was regarded as a most serious matter and that every effort would be made to retake it. All day Passchendaele and the forward for-ward area were shelled continuously by the concentrated German artillery, while the British heavies and field guns replied with a violent bombardment bombard-ment of the enemy's lines and battery position. No such artillery duel has occurred along the British front in many weeks. For hours it was maln-talnd maln-talnd by both sides with a drum fire intensity that shook the country for-miles for-miles about. Windows in houses fifty miles away rattled as if from a wintry blast ana in a town seventy-five miles by airplane air-plane from the scene of activities, the detonations could bo plainly heard. Enemy Infantry Advances. About 4:30 o'clock in the afternoon enemy infantry was seen advancing southward on a front of about 70u yards toward the British positions. At the same time the Germans dropped a heavy barrage on Goeberg spur to tho west preventing Infantry assistance coming to the British frorathat quarter. quar-ter. British GunB Create Inferno. The "S. O- S." signal wont up from the British lines and the great British Brit-ish artillery machine responded as though a lever had been thrown. All the British guns within range enmw into action with an inferno of noiso that was appalling and their myriad of shells began breaking in a steady rain of shells across the front of the advancing Germans. The enemy was attacking in force and as they surged along the high ground they wore caught in this tornado tor-nado of jagged steel. Many of them went down never to rise again. Many more were wounded and the major part of the attacking line was forced to retire after struggling blindly against this awful deluge for a few moments. Some of the more determined men, however, pushed on. The shrill chatter chat-ter of the machine guns and the crack of the rifles along the British positions joined the chorus of heavy guns and a steady stream of stel was whipped out across the open ground waist high into tho German ranks. But, nevertheless, these men continued to advance doggedly. The order had been given that Passchendaele must be retaken regardless of cost. They were paying the cost now In their spectacu. lar but futile charge. , Bitter Hand-to-Hand Fight. They reached the British front line and hurled themselves against it. Then came the bitterest work of all at close quarters. It is possible' that :H very few of those Germans . who H braved tho final rush ever regained their own line. The rest were left H lying before the British defenses. H When the attack finally was sm'nsh. H ed it was a complete defeat for the H Germans. The spirit with which the H British met this assault was epito- mized by a German officer who re- H marked the other day; "With such ' H men as that we could go auvwhere 1 and do anything." |
