VOL. XXII. NO. 291.
ASHEVILLE, N. C SATURDAY AFTERNOON, NOV. 24, 1917
PRICE FIVE CENTS
' Asheville' s Livest N e w 8 paper T o d ay's N e w s To d a y No t Tom or r aw Ev e r y Da y i n t h e Year
GERMANS RESISTING
DESPERATELY BRITISH
ADVANCE ON CAMBRAI
Reinforcements Have Been Brought Up From
umer oecwrs vi western r rutu oirenuuus
Fighting Has Occurred Around Fontaine
; ' Notre Dame and Burlonwood
BRITISH ESTABLISHED
IN NEW POSITIONS
Main Attack on Opening of Offensive Was Along the
Western Bank of Canal Du Nord Resume of Fight
ing on Tuesday and Wednesday Shows Great Work
Done by British Tanks, C avalry and Infantry
ANOTHER HIT
Submarine, Damaged With
a Depth Bomb, Sunk
With All on Board
ADMIRAL SIMS
CABLES REPORT
Destroyer Tried To Keep
Submarine From Sinking
But Without Avail
RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR
REFUSES TO RECOGNIZE
THE BOLSHEVIKI RULE
Reinforced by divisions from other sectors of the western
front, the Germans are resisting desperately the British advance
on Cambrai. Around Fontaine Notre Dame, less than three
miles west of Cambrai and the Burlonwood, close by, the most
strenuous fighting has occurred tvith the British making progress,
General Byng is combining his attacks tvith consolidation
work and the British hre firmly established in their new posi
tions which give opportunities to destroy the usefulness of Cam-
brai 'as a supply center as well as a starting place for a drivc
t ither north behind the Drocourt-Queant line or ivest against
Cambrai. Heavy fighting is taking' place at Moeuvres, three
miles west-southivest of Fontaine Notre Dame, and at Creve
coeur, about three miles south of Cambrai, at the other end of
the wedge driven across the Hindenburg line Tuesday and Wed
nesday.
guns,' held out the whole of Tuesday
in the face of strong attacks.
Attacked WVdnesduy Morulni;.
Wednesday morning the British
again attacked and this time forced
the Germans from the village after
taking their guns. Wednesday the
advance was rapid. Strong resistance
was encountered, but the British bat
tled their way forward with rifles and
bayonets and by noon had forced an
entrance into Cantaing. Wednesday
night the advance continued and air
assault was made on Fontaine iotre
Dame. The British finally drove the
enemy out. The British remained in
possession of Bontaine until snortly
after noon yesterday when the Ger
mans made a heavy counter thrust
and again occupied the town. How
ever, the British were forced to with
draw only a short distance and still
hold the ground from Cantaing to the
south of Burlon wood. This completes -
the summary of the operations before I .,
Cambrai, since Tuesday morning. ... i Washington, Nov. 24 Definite news
Fighting to the North. ; ! of destruction of another ( iormaii sub-
There was, however, heavy fighting marine by American destroyers reaah
to the north in the region of Bulle- ed the navy department today in a
court. The main objective here was ' cabled report from Vice-Admiral Sims,
the famous tunnel trench, an under- j The submarine, damuged by a depth.
ground fortification of great strength, bomb, went down with all on board
about 2,000 yards long. The entire after a, destroyer had attached a line
trench was mined as the British well and was attempting to take her in tow.
knew, and behind it the Germans had i Two destroyers took part in the Bo
ring 1,000 yards of support .trench. j tion. ..'One, sighting a periscope at 400
Many concrete pill boxes also rein- j yards, headed for it and dropped a
forced the trench positions. -'.- : (depth bomb. Soon afterward-the'sub-
For a month the British had been. 'marine came to the surface with no
keeping the Germans nervous putting- "IK" oC lil0 aboard. The second de
down smoke 'barrages and emnlovinsr stroyer steamed up and attached a
gas. ' .The enemy has become so ac- I "ne. but the U-boat, apparently shat-
The Bolsheviki Do Not Represent True Will of Russian
People, Ambassador Bah kmetieff Writes Secretary en j)iazs Troops Have Re
ITALIANS HOLDING
TEUHMS IN CHECK
BY HARD FIGHTING
Lansing Three of Chief Officers of Embassy Resign
To Avoid Having Relations With Extremists
customed to this that when the Brit
ish started a flurry of funfire at dawn
Tuesday, the Germans thought it was
more of the same thing and they were
tered by the bomb went to the bottom
Secretary. Daniels announced the re
port in this statement: .
Dispatches received from Admiral
caught unawares. The greatest danger j Sim? .state that a German U-boat has
British Cm pin res.
The Burlon wood is the dominating
hill to the west of Cambrai and the
Germans have put up a strong resist
ance here as well as at Fontaine No
tre Damo, which flanks the wood to
the west. The British have made ad
vances at the southern and southwest
ern edges of the wood. Near Moeuvres,
General Byng's men have taken Tad
pole Copse which dominates the vil
lage, part of which the Germans still
hold.. In addition' to nearly 9.000
prisoners the British have captured
large quantities of war material and
several scores of guns.
Aerial Operations.
; London, Nov. 24. The Official state
ment on aerial operations issued to
night reads;
: "The bud weather continued Thurs
day preventing all (lying except at a
very low height. Our airplanes were
very active in attacking hostile troops
and transports on the roads in the
neighborhood of Cambrai with the
bombs and machine' gunfire.
"A number of tights occurred with
the enemy's low Hying machines, three
of which were brought down. Two
other, were, driven down out of con
trol and a hostile balloon also was
brouhgt down, aflame. Five, of our
airplanes are missing.
which the attackers faced was the
possibility of the mines being blown
been, accounted for by American de
stroyers operating in European 'waters'.
Washington, NOV. 24. 'Ambassador
Bakhmetieff of Russia, formally., noti
fied the state department today that
the embassy does not recognize the
authority of the extremists now in con
trol of the foreign office at Fetrograd.
I na letter to Secretary Lansing, i
following the resignation of three of ! Teutons Offer Pence,
the chief officers of the embassy to The bait of a separate peace offered
ny tne isoisnevnu government
Mr. Mohrenschildt . married Miss
Nona Haselhurst MeAdoo, daughter of
the secretary of the treasury, last May.
Both he and Mr. Onou were attached
to the embassy before the arrival of
the new ambassador.
taken Monte Tomba and
Marte Pertica
ONE OF BLOODIEST
STRUGGLES OF WAR
avoid having ;' relations with the Bol-
Petrograd apparently has attracted the
shevikl, the ambassador said the Bol- central powers. According to a re
port from Stockholm an emissary has
gone , to. Petrograd with , an offer of
peace from Germany and its allies.
It is reported also that General von
Ludendbrff, Field Marsha! von Hin
dehburg's principal aide: and the re
puted strong man of the German staff.
Those who resigned are C. Qhbu, ',,,;,,: ,i,v, tt.i,,,!i,i
sheviki government was not represen
tative of the true will of the Bussia.i
people and that he Would, not recog
nize that or any similar government
which would .lead' '.the-country into
nbn-partieipallon in the. war.
counsellor;; John Sookine, lirst secre
tary! and 'Fj Be Mohrensuhilclt, second
secretary. ".'.-'.''. . ' "
Mr,. Sookine came to Washington
with Ahmassador Boris Bakhmetieff,
after the overthrow of. the monarchy
and has been the ambassador's Chief
assistant. . ' '
of an armistice. ,:
. American government officials re
gard the Bolsheviki offer as an act
that, would place Itussia in the list of
unfriendly nations. The British gov
ernment, through its minister of block
ade, declares that the making of a
separate peace by the people of Rus
sia would put them virtually outside
i the jiale of civilized Europe.
Teutons Delivered Massed
Attack Without Making
Dent in Defenses
up and they knew this must be avoid- i -While on Patrol duty a destroyer sight
ed. Accordingly they took along a
body of expert tunnel men. By good
fortune they mastered the secret of
tho -mines and cut the lead wires. This
diately ringing full speed ahead the
commanding officer headed his craft, to
pass a few yards ahead of the subma-
Drevented tha enemv from setting off . "ne, As ttle destroyer, passed over
th ovnimivs. the lj bouts
Ulsterites Did Some
Strenuous Fighting
British Army Headquarters.
intly were forced to withdraw. By G:10
France, Nov. 23 (Delayed).-U!y the o.0iock tho evening the Irish tronpn
.rtssociuiou J rt'Sft;.- llio muni aiuictv
on the opening of the offensive Tues
day was along the western bank of
the Canal Du Nord, which runs al
most due north and south from a
point a little west of Havrincourt.
The main Hindenburg line trenches
were huilt along this waterway and
the British had to fight their way up
the big ditch.
There was intense hard work al
most from the state as the Ulsterites
who undertook this task got in among
the German defenses. It was neces
sary for the Irishmen to charge the
barbed wire entanglements and bomb
them to pieces in order to force their
way through.
It was a big undertaking but they
drove an entering wedge Into the
trench system near Havrincourt.
Northwest of the town Is a high bank
on the west of tho canal which was
strongly fortified with dugouts and
there was a great concentration of
machine guns. The British had no
alternative but to charge and this they
did. The crest was gained in the
face of a heavy fire and desperate
bayonet fighting followed. .
Good Work By I'lMi'ritos.
The Ulsterites hurled themselves on
the Germans with such fury that the
latter were compelled to desert their
machine guns and abandon hte hill
and many of them were shot down
as they fled. This fight occurred ut
8 o'clock Tuesday morning.
Meanwhil German machine guns
on the eastern side of the canal were
given much trouble and as soon as
the high bank was captured British
engineers began building bridges over
the waterway In order t ogive a cross
ing to the infantry. They undertook
to have these bridges completed by 8
o'clock and the task was accomplished.
Previously they had prepared a cause
way in the -same vicinity and the
troops were ' able to give over the
canal to the eastern bank.
lIainl-to-Hund l ighting.
During the afternoon the Irish were
held up temporarily because of the
shortage of ammunition near a sunken
road, southwest of Graincourt, where
the Germans were esatblished in con
siderable force. The ammunition
came up and the British charged for
ward again. They overcame the re
sistance south of the Cambral-
Bapaume highway. The Germans
then were firing with machine guns
down across the Cambrai road. , Hand-to-hand
fighting occurred at positions
below the road but the Germans final-
the explosives,
Hot Fight in Tunnel.
A hot fight took place in the tun
nel and 400 enemy bodies were count
ed after the conflict. In uddition,
more than 700 prisoners wore taken.
Further evidence of the German un
preparedness for an offensive in the
Cambrai sector was obtained today in
tho capture of an order dratfn up by
a German battalion commander the
day before the attack. It was his sum
mary of events for a week and he
drew this conclusion:
"Tho attitude of the enemy clearly
is one of deiensive."
A Bis Surprise.
This commander was stationed in
the forward area and it is quite ap
parent he did not know what was go
ing on. it is also evident that the
higher commander had no information If
or u would nave mtornied him.
The Germans called upon every pos
sible source to get troops to withstand
the British attack. By raking mnnv
places in their lines they apparently
were able in tiio tirst 48 hours of glu
ing to bring in only two new. divisions
and some five-odd battalions. Today
another division was brought up from
Aisne front and the 119th division
from Flanders.
Owing to the British artillery work
there is little doubt that the Germans
will be forced to abandon Cambrai
as a rail head for bringing up troops.
A latter report from Burlon wood
just as this dispatch Is being filed said
that tho British attack there was pro
gressing well,
course a depth bomb was
dropped. This evidently caused dam
age to the U-boat which shortly after
ward broached jKby.ut 500 yards-n-wav.
"Fire was immediately opened on
the submarine by two of our destroy
ers which circled ahout their target.
"The submarine did not return the
Are and was evidently disabled. One
of the destroyers got a. line to her in
tending to tow- her, but the boat soon
sank," ; -
and traffic, of the United States was
That Teuton Advance
Will Be Stopped
Italian Attacks Fail.
. Berlin, Nov, 24. Italian attacks
against the . Austro-Oerman, positions
west of the Brenta river and between
the Brenta and Piave rivers yesterday
failed, the German war office an
nounced today.
taken up at a conference today her
tween government officials and rail
road heads. Congestion has reached
a stage, it is realized, who 'e; radical
measures - must b put into force if
the country's traffic is to be moved.
. . Rome, Nov. 2 .1. ( Delayed ; 'The
BRITISH ADVANCE :- ie-organization of the entire Italian
I P LESTINE army' is Proceeding apace," said Sen-
' ator William Marconi, inventor of the
London, Nov, 24. The site of an- wireless. -in an interview with .the-As-
ri.-iit Alispab. ."i. null yards west of the sociated Press. '. . - ;
Jcrusaleni-Nabulus road has -been j 'it makes confident that the on-
stormed by the British, the -war office
announces, , British mounted troops
which had advanced northward were
'forced back by the Turks.
His First Article, "Shanghaied at Seven
teen," Appears in Tomorrow's TIMES
had crosso dthe Cumbral-Bapaumo
highway on both sides of the canal
and taken a stand south of Moeuvres.
This was the situation here ut the end
of the first day's fighting.
Wednesday morning the British
pushed forward, this time having the
support of a certain amount of ar
Hlh.rv Mopiivi-ps was strontrlv held
hut the Irish stormed the defenses ' IIUUilLII L 1 1 LI IIILAILI I
with bombs and forced their way half
through the village. Here they came
up against a heavy barricade which
they took with the bayonet and for
a lime drove the Germans out of the
-Nace- In the afternoon the Germans
approached from the east side of the
canal for a counter-attack, but this
was smashed by machine gun and rifle
fire.
Later in the afternoon the German
artillery opened up and heavily
shelled the trenches held by the Brit
ish south of Moeuvres, Thursday Special to The TIMES
morning the Irish were holding most j Kaleigh, Nov. 24. Steps will be I
of Moeuvres and the east bank of the initiated Immediately to suspend the
canal. In the afternoon tho Germans' trading operations of firms or persons
delivered a sudden counter-attack and who are subject to license under the
forced tho British to withdraw to me president s proclamation of October
southern outskirts. This morning the 8, unless applications for license are
Steps Will Be Taken To Sus-
pend Trading Operations
of All Such Concerns
ward march of the enemy will be deli
nitely, stopped," .:
Senator Marconi has just returned
from a tour of the front fi'om the
j mouth of the Piave to Monte Grappa
during which he inspected the wireless
apparatus. i lutinu evecj wucib Limi
the spirit of the troops was very high,"
he continued. 'The men are desirous
of taking revenge for the reverses
suffered and are furious at the thought
that any Italians had been cheated
into believing Austria and German lies
when the enem yamiounced the inten
tion to lay down arms if the Italians
diit the same. ' .
The general opinion in High quar
On the Italian front the forces of
General Diaz In hand to hand fighting
are holding up strong Austro-German
attempts to advance. On the Asiago
platen west of the Brenta river the
Italians have checked an enemy en
circling movement with the object of
surrounding Monte. Meletta, the van
tage point in this region. The enemy
attacked after a strong bombardment,
but the Italians first army held to its
position, inflicted serious losses on
the attackers and captured 200 prison
ers. East of Brenta toward the Piave
river the Italians still hold firm on
the important Monte Grappa-Monte
Tomba line, protecting the entrance to
the Venetian plains. The fighting here
is of the most desperate character, Tho
Austro-Germans are attacking in
massed formation, aided by strong ar
tillery fire. They have been unable,
however, to make a dent in the Ital
ian defenses in the last three days.
Battle Of Mountains Is On.
Italian Headquarters In Northern
Italy. Nov. 23. ( Delayed) (By The
Associated Press) The battle of the
mountains is raging with unexampled
violence. The Italians again held the
Monte Tomba and Monte Pertica posi
tions which they lost last night. Tho
losses have been very great but the
enemy's far exceed those of the Ital
ians. On the outcome of the mountain
battle depends the result of the ene
my's greatest effort to break through
the Italian lines to the Venetian plain.
The recapture of the Italian posi
tions on Monte Tomba was accom
plished by a succession of brilliant
charges, Monte Pertica was lost and
won four times, the enemy finally be
ing thrown hack.
Although the losses have been ter
rible, those of the nemy are by far
tho greater.
The battle which had been gradual
ly gathering force in the last few days
broke in full fury early yesterday and
raged throughout the dav, the night
and today. The first blow was struck
at Monte Pertica.
town and at an early hour hud worked
Irish again surged forward against the
their way around toward the north.
ItcmnrUable Work By t'tivalry,
In the Graincourt section on the
right of the Irish remarkable work
was done by cavalry on the first day.
The horsemen had swept forward and
captured Anneux by Tuesday evening.
This represented an advance of about
7, 000 . yards, which is said to be a
record for one day.
During Tuesday night the Germans
counter-attacked Anneux with troops
whjch had Just been brought from the
Russian front and the British with
drew. Wednesday morning the Brit
ish again attacked Anneux and 're
captured it. !
Proceeding northward, the British
made at once
Federal Food Administrator Hoover
has wired State Administrator Page
that many firms and individuals have
failed so far to make application, not
withstanding the fact that they should
have done so before November 1. Mr.
Hoover's telegram was In effect un
announcement to those that "time's
up."
Firms which have licenses are ex
pressly forbidden to buy food com
modities form, sell them to, or 1 to
handle them for any person or firm
who Is required to have a license but
who has not secured the license and
complied with the provision which re
quires the licensee to place on every
contract, order, acceptance of order,
invoice, quotation and price list his
IB
7 V
Phi j
71
Furious Flclitlng.
Italian Headquarters in Northern
Italy. Nov. 23. Cnelnvori 1 n,, tu
lers is iijmii il. low ji:maiiM ciiii iiumiiwwiaa riess. i A succession ' of
their line for four or live days longer 1 attacks ar.d counter ata cits followed
the immediate danger will be over. rapidly throughout yesterday on the
"What.' we- desire : ardently is the 'hills between the Piave and Brenta
closest possible union and co-operation Valleys, where the Italians and Austro
with America. I have been able nl- Germans are engaged in furious corn
ready to appreciate the co-operation 'bat. :.
of the United States in this great war, I Mountain batteries had been se
but ,it would bring it home to the ! cured in mountain emplacements and
Italians more effectively if they knew as the fight ebbed and flowed over
that America also was at war with our j tnese positions the Italians not only
nearest enemy, Austria.'
OF THE MERCHANT FLEET
S-;-ts
lift
I
iJi?f'((v'; &
tt V !
item
drove the- enemy from the trenches i license number. Any Infringement of
near tho edge of Burlon wood. Later
the British were forced to withdraw
slightly because of heavy machine gun
lighting from Burlon village. Yester
day morning the British again at
tacked the trench with the anistance
of tanks and established their line
around the southern face of tho wood.
Tho troops which captured Flea
quleres and Cantaing encountered hard
resistance at the former place the first
day of tho offensive.. Tanks led the
Infantry in the attack, hW the Ger
mans, with the assistance of heavy
ihls rule should be reported to Btato
Food Administrator I'age.
, . Gonipor Tto-KUvted. t
Buffalo, Nov. 24 Samuel Gom- H
I pors was ro-elocted president of W
It the American Federation of La- t
tt bor at the cloning session ot its 1
t 37th annual convention here to- It
H today, H
KltlttltlttlinHKl
brought back the guns, but even tho
wheels and the limbers. ;
The final charge of the day came at
2 o'clock in the afternoon. The en
emy had struck his greatest blow ear
lier in the day and the fierce attack
lasted three-quarters of an hour. The
whole field was swept by artillery fire
and the ground was strewn with dead
Tt was amid this welter of bodies and
debris that the Italian lines were re
formed and from it thev moved for
ward steadily am: Irresistibly until the
Washington. Nov. 24. With the i ";T., . , V V ' remicen except
sliding of un 8.800-ton steel ship down I ,, ,;' ,,m ,M lnf "juggle still
the wavs of a Pacific coast shipyard ! fc'J Iof?" must
today the shipping board recorded tho 'L ' rl'" ,,rln"nl!
launching of the first of the merchant ' J ZH' ,f reserves.-
. iv r..., ...i ,,, ,i wnere the
steaay program rrom now on, inoiua-
fleet it is building. Other
- .'it-ma iiver
enemy rush has been r.
T t'V i.'t'Hl-ton steel ships and the Italians. But the enemy's grea !
three 10,M)0-ton wooden shi)s during est blow was aimed at the strategic
December. I key of Mo ite Tomba and Monte Mon-
n.,n axtta TTiTr ifenera. Here the full force of two di-
FAIR.AND COLDER ivmions mm German, the other Aus-
WEATHER FORECAST nnhr.'ah" X
!frt to turn the wing and cut otT the
Washington, Nov. 24. Fair and nT5' from Its line of communication
cold weather Sunday morning with "J.011?, ,h? 1iiivp- N'ow came one of
freezing temperatures and frost as far blndiest struggles of the war,
south ns central Florida is Indicated wnl( h ,went 0,1 "n last ni'it and to
in the wsather bureau's weekly fore-, y. wlt2 't'dy succession of at
ast for the south Atlantic and east flnd ""'er attack. What -the
gulf stales during the ewek beginning J"0?'"6 Tw 1 bc ca,nn"i 1,8 foreseen
Sunday. There will be slowly rising h"'kthlltIlm"v,a'"mi'PR haV 8nntch
temperatures after Tuesday with gen- k ' '' 7 h,?" 1 . wi ls, hanging In
erally fair weather. Fair weather X" Z U.' va "priso e
Sunday with ran or snow Monday thelr foreM slll.pri)(f!d atntef
night and Tuesday and with slowly ref,istnnce met and disconcerted by
rising temperature is Indicated for the bravery of the nalian troops.
Tennessee. The weather thereafter j .. ,
will oe gl'lKTilliy lau Willi iifiuiy IIOI
nuil temperature.
SKUGT. AltTlllK UVX FMI'EY
Author ot "Over the Top"
n n n n k n n 5 n n t n s n n .
w
m May TuliO Over MIikm. E
H Washington, Nov, 8-1. Miciil. K
, gan coal openttorn were warned ?,
, by Fuel Administrator Garfield H
H today that the government will H
IP, take over and operat their mines H
W if thay envry out Iheli- ilireat of !
H refuslnif io sell paal at the Hv- H
f ernment.-fliied prloes, - W,
H
I