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Show , 4 iOnrushing Huns 4 Unable orce BRITISH ARMY HEADQUARTERS IN FRANCE, i 'March 25, by the Associated Press. A further advance late ; yesterday by the Germans at some points along the battle 1 (front is recorded. 1 LONDON, March 25. Extremely heavy firing from the direction of Flanders was heard all last night along the Kentish coast, according to the "Central News. The heavy concussions shook the houses. The firing appeared to be at different points over a wide area, guns of all calibers apparently appar-ently being in action. There were also violent explosions. j ' LONDON, March 25. The British this morning were SI. icounter-attacking between .Nesle and Ham. Reuter's correspondent corres-pondent at British headquarters reports the French also were in action. North of Bapaume, he states, the Germans were attack- h ing in considerable force at dawn, but did not get through the British barrage. ( France has thrown the weight of her forces into the great 1 battle raging with unexampled intensity on the western front and the British and French armies are now battling together against the onslaught of the common enemy in his desperate attempt to break through the Allied line. X The British armies are holding fast along the line of the Somme and also in the region north of Bapaume, Field Mar- ! shal Haig reports today. The Germans in their thrusts in the j latter section reached the British trenches at only one point j and there they were immediately ejected. Their assaults J elsewhere were smothered by the British fire with great losses ' to the enemy . , Bodies of Troops Driven Back. ; On the Somme line bodies of German troops which had succeeded in forcing their way across the river between Licourt ( and Brie, south of Peronne, were driven back to the easterly bank. On both sides of the Bapaume the German attacks r were resumed today. h The greatest danger point at present seems to be further V south where the Germans apparently have driven through the j greater width of the region they devastated in retiring in 1917, as the Paris statement today reports heavy fighting in the re-1 ' tgion of Noyon. This town itself is some ten miles to the west ! of Chauny in the region of which Berlin yesterday reported y the repulse of Franco-American reserves but the German ad-y ad-y yance has been met considerably short of Noyon. The wedge driven into the Allied line is evidently a deep U 'one, however, as the French troops are reported by Paris to ibe contesting for the heights to the north of the Oise with important im-portant German forces. The Oise on this part of the front .runs southhwest past Chauny and passes to the south of Noyon. BRITISH ARMY HEADQUARTERS IN FRANCE, I IMarch 25. The Germans have been pushing forward by sheer weight of numbers with the assistance of little artillery, i In the region between Bapaume and Peronne the British fell back again somewhat in the fighting late on Sunday. This i marked the main success of the enemy whose progress is be- I ing contested bitterly step by step. jj Early this morning the Germans again hurled great num- Ijj 'bers of onemy infantry against the British line near Ervillers " 'but at the latest reports the onrushing troops had been unable to force their way through the intense artillery barrage which 'the British put down. A heavy battle also has been proceeding on' the British pright flank where the enemy had succeeded in forcing his way across the Somme canal south of Ham. The British were delivering de-livering counter-attacks, pushing back the invaders across the waterway. ! . LONDON, March 25. Fresh attacks iby tho Germans have developed north- jv jward and southward of Bapaume, the 111' I (war 0co announces, lis Tno British repulsed powerful at- 'II rt.acks yesterday afternoon northward ws of Bapaume. 'JRl Tho British drove back to the east- Shjj (Orn back of tho Somme bodies of Ger- mu (man troops which have crossed the iff triver between Licourt and Brie, south IuJ jot Peronne. -5w! I Tho statoment follows: rMj 1 "Tho battle continues with great rviblence on tho whole front. Powcr- jjl I ul attacks delivered by the enemy yesterday afternoon and evening north of Bapaunlc were heavily repulsed. m& Only at one point did the German in-fantry in-fantry reach our trenches, whence they "were immediately thrown out. ?2i Elsewhere the enemy's attack: 7ere 4 ' stopped by rifle, machine gun and ar- HdJ ' tillery fire in front of our positions and I his troops were driven back with Wi 1 great loss. y "During the night and this morning B ; tresh hostile attacks have again de-. P: (veloped in this neighborhood-and aJsq. m to tho south of .BojKlUmiL B ! "South of Peronne "bodies of fjer- E man troops who had crossed the river P between Licourt and Brie were driven s 1 back to the east bank by our counterattacks." counter-attacks." Review of Four-Day Battle. Persistent attacks with strong forces of infantry and lavish uso of artillery have not enabled the Germans to break through the British defense and, after four days the great offensive offen-sive blow in northern Prance has not yet brought a decision for the attackers. at-tackers. Heavy fighting is in progress prog-ress around Bapaume, near Peronne. and where the British and French fronts join. Field Marshal Halg's withdrawal, previously planned, in case of a heavy enomy nttack has been carried out in a manner described as masterly and great credit for this is given to tho small units which, sometimes outnumbered outnum-bered eight or nine to one, clung to their positions and impeded tho German Ger-man advance. The British have made few counter-attacks, but every one attempted at-tempted has been successful. British efforts are- centered to withdrawing aa occasion requires and permitting the enemy to wear himself ouc beforo tfjte British, apfcns'e. Rflftting on OJ$ Field. Sunday tho' fighting forces in the north reached the old battlefield of tho Sommo, from which tho Germans K retreated a year ago. Again Bapaume and Peronne are the centers of the most bitter fighting. Bapaume Is the key position between Arras and Albert and Berlin reports that " a gigantic struggle" is being made for Its possession. posses-sion. The capture of Peronne is claimed by the Germans, but heavy fighting is taking place norf.h of it and southward along the Somme river. Between Bapaumo and Peronne the Germans have reached the Transloy-Mocbles-Maurepas line, where they are held by the British. Blood Struggle Continues. On tho southern end of the great battle line where the sanguinary struggle has not halted for many hours, the Germans have reached Chauny, an important point on the Oise river southwest of La Fere. Here, however, their advance has not been so great as directly west of St Quentin, where they progressed more than ten miles. Tho British and French battle lines meet near Chauny. The French lines along the Chemln des Dames and eastward toward Rheims would be menaced. The Germans Ger-mans advanced as far as Compiegne on the road to Paris. But Compiegne is a good twenty miles southwest of Chauny. Fifty. four Airplanes Brought Down. The intensity of the strugglo is shown by the official announcement that British aviators on Saturday brought down fifty-four enemy machines. ma-chines. The British lost only nine. In addition to carrying out their work in the fighting zone, British airmen again have dropped bombs successfully on Mannheim, Germany. Berlin claims that Franco-American detachments aided the British in the fighting Saturday, but the identity of tho American units have not been learned. It is possible that American and French troops from the Chemin des Dames sector have moved up to Oise 'or north of it, but more probably that Americans engineers with tho British army were concerned. Berlin also has announced the capture of Ham, Peronne and Chauncy, and claims that the number of prisoners has increased to 30,000. There has been little except artillery artil-lery fire activity on the remainder of the British front and on the French j and American sectors. The German artillery fire has been violent along the Chemin des Dames in the Champagne, Cham-pagne, northeast of Verdun and in Alsace. The Dutch cabinet is reported to have decided to refuse the proffer of many thousand tons of foodstuffs made by the allied powers in return for- tho use of Dutch shipping. The food was placed at Holland's disposal and was to be carried on Dutch ships, oo |
