Newspapers / Asheville Citizen (Asheville, N.C.) / March 28, 1918, edition 1 / Page 1
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TIIE WEATHER: Forecast for North Carolina: Local ralna Thursday; Friday probably fair THE ASHEVILLE CITIZEN CITIZEN WANT ADS BRING RESULTS VOL. XXXIV, NO. 154 ASHEVILLE, X. C, THURSDAY MORNIXd, MARCH 28, 1918. PRICE FIVE CENTS m BRITISH COUNTER A TTACK 5 RESULT 1NTH OFT URE OF T WO TO WHS PSYCHOLOGICAL MOMENT FOR COUNTER OFFENSIVE BY THE GREAT BRITISH IS NEAR Strong Indications that the Enemy Is Feel ing Materially ihe Strain He Has Been Under For the Past Week, and His Power Is Greatly Impaired Through Hard Usage. Lets' " Stamp" It Out GERMAN CASUALTY LiST FOUR HUNDRED THOUSAND German Flanks More and More Exposed to ihe Counter Attack that Is Sure to Come, and French and American Troops WilHoiniheBritishln Return Engage ment. The strength of the great German offensive in Franee apparently if fast diminishing. On the seventh day of the titanic battle there were strong indications that the enemv was feeling materially the strain he had undergone and that his power had been greatly impaired through hard usage. Heavy Attacks Repulsed. While the town of Albert has been captured from the British and west of Rove the French have been compelled to give ground in the face of greatly superior numbers. the British have repulsed heavy attacks, both north and Bouth of the Soriime and also driven back across the Ancre river the Germans who forded the stream Wednesday. Fighting still continues of a sanguinary character on all these sectors, but everywhere the British and French are holding the enemv. Especially severe has been the fight ing west of Albert, where the Germans, in an endeavor to debouch westward werejepulsed by Field Marshal Haig's men with the heaviest casualties. Retake Two Towns. The Britsih gains between the Somrae and Ancre regions are represented by the re-capture of the town of iMorlancourt'and Chipilly. South of the Somme they have advanced to Proyart, which lies to the south of Bray. All along the fifty mile front from the region of Arras to the south of the Oise, near Xoyon the effects of what was to have been the final stroke to end the war in a vic tory for the Teutons are only too plainly evident in the re-devastation of the countryside and the wreck and ruin of the towns, villa .res and hamlets through which the armies have passed. , Casualties of 400.000. Westward from where the old battle line reared it- G self the Germans everywhere have pushed forward for liaterial gains, but with foes before them who fought with the greatest bravery and stubbornness and ceded no ground unless recompensed at usurious rates in men, kill ed, wounded or made prisoner. It is estimated that in the great attacks in massed formation more than 400,000 of nearly a million men the Germans threw into the fray are dead, wounded or in the hands of their foes. About twenty-five miles represents the greatest point of penetration made at any place by the enemy in his ad vance and on the northern and southern ends of the big calient he has his flanks dangerously open to ' counter attacks, which, if successful, possibly might result in a retreat greater than the 1916 retrograde movement of Von Hindenburg and nullify in its entirety the drive that has been accomplished. It is not improbable that British and French reserves, and possibly American troops, known to be behind the battle front soon will be thrown against the weakened enemy. Notwithstanding the, strength of the German drive, nowhere has the British or French front, along the latter of which American troops have given a .good account of FAITH DF BRITISH IN THEIR ABILITY NEVER SLACKENS Believe Themselv.es Able to Cope With the Hard Hitting Germans FIGHTING- AS NEVER MEN FOUGHT BEFORE Germans Are Beginning to Use Their Old Troops in Continuing Assault AMERICANS ITCH FOR FIRST SIGN OF COUNTER ATTACK Believe It Will Come From French Sector, Which Stands Like Wall. BRITISH DEFENSE STIFFENS SHARPLY Elusive Tactics of Haig Have Germans Where They Must Continue Attack GERMAN OFFENSIVE HAS BEEN HALTED NORTH OF THE SOMME BETWEEN ARRAS AND THE WESTERN EDGE OF ALBERT Soulh of the Somme, Ihe British Have Held Along Ihe River and Have Even Brought off a Successful Local Counter Attack Many Signs Indicate That the End of the German Drive Is In SightAttacking Front Narrows. fCOai'LllU) OJf PAGE TWO.) (BY FRAXK IT. SDIONDfi.) NEW YORK, Mar. 27 The seventh day of the battle of Plcardy sees a material but not a decisive turn in the ide of allied fortune. The German offensive has been definitely halted north of the Somme between Arras and the western edge of Albert. South of the Somme the British have held along the river and even brought off successful local counter attack. North of the Oise, wait of the Noyon and east of Lassigny, the French are holding" firmly. Only on the plain of Eanterre, west of Roys and of Chaul- nea, has the German drive continued with some measure of Its old force. Aa against this continued drive. which is now plainly directed at Ami- ns, twenty miles away, and threaten to open a gap between the French and British line, may be set the fact that French reserves are reported arriving from the south and British reserves are also on the way. Beyond this tb position of the Germans themselves In an ever narrowing wedge is becoming uncomfortable and beginning1 to In vite a counter offensive. End Not Far Off. It Is not safe yet to say that the end of the German advance Is In sight, but there are many signs which point In that direction. After seven days of terrimc effort the Germans have failed to crush the British armies before them; they have failed to open a gap between the British and French armies, and they are now manifestly weary and have yet to meet the allied counter stroke. Always in the past the great offen sive, even when they have penetrated the enemy line, have tended to grow narrower and narrower as they ad vanced, until the operative front be rame too narrow for successful fur ther advance, while the flanks became longer and longer and more and more exposed. Despite the fact that this is the greatest of ail offensives, the same thing is happening. The attack ing front a week age wae fifty miles wide, it is less than- twenty now and It is still narrowing. ' It would be eqnaily a mistake to underestimate or to exaggerate the German's success; he set out to win a decision by crush ing the British, armies before him, separating them from the French and siling them hack a son ths coast as Sir John Moore'? army was rolled back upon Oorunna, In the Pensln sular war- .He was seeking, above all tc crush his chief foe, the Briton, and it was to destroy the British army, not to take any local objective, not to ad vance any given number of miles, that he launched his attack. Now at the end of one week the German has advanced rather more than twenty miles on a broad front, taking hundreds of guns and thou sands of prisoners. He has broken through ail the British lines of de fense and carried the war into the open, a thing not achieved before in the west since the battle of the Alsne began in September. 1914. Unite I Front. But since the time he broke the British front he has not been able to separate the various British armies or even divisions. Twice on the point of accomplishing this north of the Somme, on Satunlpv and on Monday, he has both times just missed what would have brought a disaster to his enemy. 80 far his foe has kept a united front before him and all the weight of the first successful blow has been lost, or Is being lost. This is the Marne campaign all over again, but, the Marne campaign be fore the successful counter attack was launched about Parts and In the French centre about the Marais St. Gond, by Mauneury and Fock. The moment is arriving when the allies will have a real, chance to counter at tack a weary enemy, far from his rail heads and his munitions, with a desert behind htm and but a few destroyed roads to bring up his supplies upon. The British soldiers have been out numbered heavily and the strain must recall the strain of the retreat front Moris, although the distances have been Inconsiderable by comparison. The Germans still have the advantage of numbers, but the chances of such aa allied disaster have been lessening ery rapidly in the la&t two days and should disappear In the next two, if there be no major change in the situation. May Invite OffeniiTt, For the next few hours the import ant thing to watch are the wedge which the Gerna-s me trying to Jrlxe n south of the Homrr.e toward Am, en he vital centre of British communija- front of the wedge widened, we shall have a new crisis. If It continues to narrow the Germans will court disas ter by further advance, by inviting allied counter offensives on both flunks Always In military operations like the present the chances of a complete disaster diminish with each successive dy. At first the army assailed t driven from Its propaind positions, it loses men. guns, its communications are cut by barrages and Its transport Is disorganized thus fcr two or three days tho retreating force l threatened with complete rout and utter disor ganization as he withdraws leaving guns, his wounded, his supplies. But if the enemy cannot press his Initial adva-itafce to a final Issue In the first two or three days, the pen.lulurn begins to swing back. Time has been allowed the defeated forces to call up' reserves of men and guns, new posi tions are prepared behind the retreat ing force and his condition grow dally more favorable for he is march ing toward hia supplies with good roads before him over which Is pur suer must march sway from his sup plies and munitions. And always recognising the ohvlou danger thai there may be a collapse of some too badly strained unit at some point, that there may be a local failure which will leed to a general break down, it is fair to say that the allied armies are further from any real deci sive defeat than they have been at any time since the first blow fell. They are still retiring on a considerable front, but the rate of retirement Is declining, the number of their counter attacks Is increasing and the arrival of ihelr reserves is regular and must ncrene. (Copyr'ght by MoClure Syndicate.) WITH THE BRITISH ARMY IN FRANCE. March 27 (By the As sociated Press.) The faith of the men In their ability to cope with the hard hitting Germans has never flagged from the start, and those troops which are coming back from the fierce battles of the past few days, lit which they fought s they probably never 'had been called upon to fight before, are filled with con fidence. I'sing Old Troops. One reassuring sign Is that the the enemy Is beginning, to use his old troops in continuing the assault. German prisoners declare that never before had they seen such fighting as thev exuerlenced since mat Thursday, They battled like demons, and like flies they are coming Into the prison cam pa. hungry and sullen ana daring that they are sick of whole business. The British army continues to exact a greut toll of life from the enemv. Last night the entire area of the Somme battlefield, over which the German emperor's troops have spread themselves, was subjected to a most terrible bombardment, which lasted until daylight. The gunning along the front for the past week has been appalling, and the zone Is shrouded with a lowering grayish haze from burning explosives. Practically No Change. There has been practically no change In the British line since yes terday. The most sensational rumors are continually coming back from the direction of Albert, most of them to the effect that the Germans were well on the way to Amiens. But the Germans were still sitting under the de-the (Continued on Page Seven ) WASHINGTON, March JT. Frenctl and British official statements were ' scanned eagerly tonight : by official, and military men here for flrat signs of the counter blow which they think .; will be delivered soon by the allied armies in rrsnce, wnerw uw i the German drive apparently has beea definitely . checked, - -Tv- .-v- Whlle no official report has reached the war department showing tha par ticipation of American force beyond a few engineer units, there was rsa- ' son to believe that some part of Gen eral Pershing's army might take pari in the attempt to hurl the Germani back. Brief Summary. The only report reaching the de partment today was a brief sum mar j sent in by General Pershing showing the British battle lines as they si 000 early yesterday morning. The Oer man claim that 9 guna had been taken also was quoted. Tonight's report from , London showed the British defense to have ' stiffened sharply in the last few hour. Counter-attacks mentioned, it was In dicated, were of a local cnaraoter and not to be confused with the great efforts to be expected to develop, now at any moment. Officers said the shock of the German drive appeared to have been absorbed by the withdrawal strategy of General Haig. ? - . . Depends on Counter Stroke. All depends, it 1 said, upon ' ths forces the allies have been able to muster to deliver the counter-stroke.v There has been every indication that both British and French have been using reinforcements sparingly, con serving their reserve power for. the day that Is just ahead. The strategic reserve plans of the supreme war (Continued on Page Seven ) RESERVES OF THE ALLIES WILL ENTERTHE CONTEST Battle Will Then Take on New Phase, Clemenceau - Declares. LLOYD-GEORGE URGES -l FULLY CONFIDENT. LONG AMBULANCE TRAINS. Hons behind tltelr front and the signs of an allied counter offensive. . If the , sufficient accommodations wedge si drirea more deeply or the great stream of sufferers. AMSTERDAM, March 27. Enor mously long , ambulance trains are passing through Liege and Namur. Belgium, on their way to Alx-La Chapelle and other parts of Germany with wounded men from the French battle front, according to the Tele- graaf frontier correspondent. Many of the wounded nave been de trained st Namur, says ths cor respondent. Who adds that the hos pitals in northern France have not for the PARIS, March 27. Premier Cle menceau told the army committee of the chamber of deputies today that the moment was near when the re serves of the allies would enter Into action. The great battle now being waged In France would then take on a new phase, and he added, then was every reason to hope that the enemy would not retain the benefit of the gains made at such a bloody price. There was a settling down along the British and French fronts, where the Rfrmini were trying to break through snd even within the last . few hours there had heen noted a slackening in the enemy's effort. The premier was before the com mittee for more than an hour and a half. He dealt at length with the sit uation and spoke wHh- f all- ceiftd"noe In the future. Strategical considera tions, he said, did net bekmg H the domain of the government, but he gave details of the military situation with an explanation of the measures taken. In agreement between the high commands of the Franco-British arm ies to assure effective direction of the operations. 0IIICKLnPOSSIBlE" Sends Message Urging Peo ple of United States to Hasten. ARE BADLY NEEDED. FAMOUS ATHLETE DIES. NEW YORK, March 2T. Martin J. Sheridan, world famous sthlete, died of pneumonia at a hoeolla! her tonight. NEW YORK. March 17 A messagt from David Lloyd-George, prime min ister of Great Britain, calling upon the United States to send "American reinforcement across the Atlantic Is the shortest possible space of time," was read tonight by Lord Reading British high commissioner to ths United States at a dinner given hers in his honor. "We are at the crisis of the war, attacked by an immense superiority of German troops," said the premier in his message. "Our army has been forced to retire. The retirement has been carried out methodically before the pressure of a steady succession of fresh German reserves which are suf fering enormous losses. "The situation Is being faced with', snlendid cournge ajvd resolution. The ccipsd pluck of our troops has for the moment checked the ceaseless onrush, of the enemy, and the French have now joined in the struggle). But this battle, the greatest and moat moment- ous-Jn-tbs history of the world, is ' only Just beginning. Throughout W the French -d Britten are buoyed with the knowledge that the great re public of the west will neglect no ef fort which can hasten its troops aad. its ships to Europe- "In war. time is vital. It la Impoe slble te exaggerate the importance of getting American reinforcement across the Allan tie in- the shortest pos sible space of time." ,
Asheville Citizen (Asheville, N.C.)
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March 28, 1918, edition 1
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