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Show BRITISH POUNDING GERMANS I Germans Have Scored Distant Advantage But Not Victory. AM NOT ATTAINED Will Be Forced to Aban-don Aban-don Open Field Fighting. WASHINGTON April 16. Tbe turning turn-ing point in the battle on the western from is being reached, says the war departments review of the milltarj i situation for the week ending April lo. published today. The Germans have i failed to achieve victory In the field, the statement continues, and soon will be forced to resume their old tactics. "We must bear in mind." the review , says, "that the enmy is waging a battle bat-tle of annihilation to achieve victory i He is flghung today with the sole aim I of annihilating the British armies. Thus terrain conquered counts for lit - I tie." I White it must be admitted that German Ger-man operations since the beginning of I the present offensive has resulted iu I more than a more ploughing up of part j of the allied trench system and the capture of local objectives along al wide front, nevertheless, the aim of the German higher command to ob tain a decisive strategic success by I these assaults has not been attained. Turnmg Point Being Reached. ,' The turning point in tbe west is be- I ing reached, Tbe Germans have scor- led a distinct advantage which it would ; be unwise to belittle Yet they have! failed in their purpose to achieve vic- I tory in the field and will soon be forced forc-ed to resume their old tactics, seeking to gain limited objectives. striking I first at one point tien at another in ord r to render the allied position un- ' tenable and give hemselves greater j security. War Department Review I The review of operations follows: "As time passes, It becomes eident that the enemy is striking-with renewed renew-ed vigor at the weakest point he can ! find opposite him In the offensive In ' Picardy the Germans sought for a rift in the line where the French and British Brit-ish forces oined. Failing to ajchleve any definite, far-reaching results from this operation, they promptly return to the assault elsewhere and plunge forward for-ward hoping that by driving a wedge into the sector along 'he front held by Portuguese and British units they may be able to roll the British towards the a and effect a break through. "This is the operation attempted this week in the region of the famous battle ground of the early days of the I war in front of LIUe. 16,000 Yard Battlefront. "Here on a frontage of 16,000 yards Btretchlng from Armentieres to the La Basses canal, the segment held by the Portuguese troops flanked on either side by British divisions, was penetrated pene-trated after an Intense bombardment. "The hostile attack was favored by a thick mist and in spite of the fact that the British fought tenaciously they were compelled to give ground after the Portuguese positions had been broken through and forced a re-t re-t tirement from Armentieres and other ! pointy "On the first day of the assault the enemy was able to penetrate to a depth of from two and a quarter to four miles on a front of eleven milei "On the second day the front of attack at-tack was extended to twenty miles while the impetus of the offensive was considerably slowed down and only( able to reach a maximum additional depth uf two and one-fourth miles The front of attack has since been further extended and the British hae b' t n forced to abandon positions to the north and south ot the Lvs and west of the Lawe Enemy Mak'ng Headway. "The enemy has made headway along the La Bassee canal to within the immediate vicinity of Bethune while other points northwest of the cit) oi eonsiderabie tactical importance impor-tance lu'e fallen into the hands of the enemy. "The enemy now finds himself within with-in forty miles of Calais. The main lines of communication to channel ports radiate vertically from this battle bat-tle front and thus facilitate the German Ger-man advance. Hopes to Annihilate Brrti6h. "If the enemj r-'D muster the drn -ing power be will, in all probability, continue his assaults, hoping that by an enveloping attack on an oblique front, to use the classic Prussian defi- nition. he may seore a complete anni- j Dilation victory I "There has been less heavy fighting along tbe southern salient of the Pic- j ardy front Here tbe line taken over by the French la now fully consolidated. consolidat-ed. After the bloody battles which have been raging between Montdidier j and Noyon tbe enemy fearing a counter coun-ter attack on this front of their deeply curved salient, struck repeated blows, to give themselves elbow room, south of the Oise. "The enemy by stubborn and costly thrusts were abl to force the French out o( the triangular area formed by the Oise. the Allette and the old line stretching from La Fere to Anizy le Chateau. "On an approximate twelve mile front the enemv advanced to a depth ranging from three to six miles. The French who contested every foot of the ground were able to cbck the enemy's onslaught and carry out their carefully careful-ly arranged plan tor the occupation of j the line which they now hold south of, the Allette. French Holding Line. "The German higher command also; made desperate attempts to enlarge its sains in the area stretching from Montdidier to Noyon and improve the position in this vicinity but thev were everywhere repulsexi by the French who holds firm along this important French sector. "North of the Somme the British re-established re-established their line in the Aveluy woods and took a number of prisoners. prison-ers. "Later in the week heavy bombard ments developed in the region east of Noyon and north of Montdidier. Americans Repulse Attacks. ' In the sectors where our own forces are fighting, considerable activity prevailed. pre-vailed. After protracted artillery preparations pre-parations the Germans launched an attack against our positions northwest of Toul. Our artillery was able to disperse the assaulting columns and checked the attack before our lines were reached. Our own infantry coun ter-attacked and drove oil me remnants rem-nants of the enemy units. A number of prisoners were taken Our casualties casual-ties were relatively slight. "The enemy also executed a minor raid against one of our outposts in the Woevre. Hostile artillery has been active ac-tive throughout the week both in the Woevre and alons our positions in the Meuse hills and in the Vosges. Counter Battery Work. "Our counter battery work was efficient ef-ficient and were placed vigorously to the hostile shelling "Lively shelling toook place along the whole Italiau front and the allies experienced n number ot minor raids In the Asiago region. Italians Expecting Attack. "The re -grouping of forces has been going on and the continuation of concentration con-centration of hostile units is reported. The probability of an enemy offensive in this area taking place as soon as the weather becomes more favorable is increasing. "While no events bearing directly on the general military situation took place in the east, it is to be noted that German and Finnish forces have occupied oc-cupied and passed beyond Tammer-fors Tammer-fors and hostile units are moving northward with tbe object of cutting the Russian railwaj through Finland to Sweden. "In Siberia the situation remains obscure. The Japanese landing at Vladivostok has been followed by ihe landing of a British force." oo |