South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1914-12-21
Further Gains Are Reported in
Paris Official Statement De-
Claring Trenches Southwest
of LOoS Have Been Taken.
ARRAS IS BOMBkRDED
BY KAlSER'S ARTILLERY
Forest Between LyS and AlSne
Rivers is Taken From leu
tons and .1,200 Yards of
Trenches Are Occupied.

PARIS. Dec 21-The assault
maintained by the allies in Flanders
is resulting in further gains accord
a. to an offidaI statement issued
.NHere this afternoon. 1t also states
that the first Ifner OF German trenches
southwest of I1OOs have been cap
tured The statement accuses the
Germans of bOmbarding the hospital
at Ypres, and says that they are also
Smelling Arras.
The official statement follows:
During the day of Dec 90 there
was nothing important to report i'm
Belgium. except some progress i'm the
region of LombartZyde. 81. George s
and To the southeast of korteker inn
(southeast OF BiXsChOOteD the occu-
patton of some houses at SeWartelem
tsouth of Zinebeke) and the bonn
bardment by the enemy of the hospi-
tai at Ypres.
Between the Lys and the Aisne
We captured "a forest near the road Of
AK x-Noulette-Souchez. and occupied
all the first line OF the German trench
~ between that road and the first
houses of NOtre Dame De Lorett.
BOmbarticd Arras.
The enemy bombarded Arras. our
heavy artillery silenced that of the
enemy i'm several combats. To he
north OF Carnov (east of Alberto il
overthrew two pieces of battery
placed near HON southeast of Car
nuy.)
ga likewise gained the advantage
on the Aisne and in the section OF
Rheims.
I'm the Champagne region i'm she
region Of Prosncs, OF Perthes and of
Beauseieur. as well as in the Ar
gonne, we have made appreciahie
gains on our whole front This IL
particularly true 10 the northeast of
BeauSeiour where we have taken l.
200 yards of the enemy's trenches
'In the forest Of Gruriere we blew
up four sapping mines and we have
established ourselves in the eNcava-
tions
Between the ArgOnne and the
Meuse we have made progress on all
the front. notably in the region OF
Vafennes where we have advanced
300 meters beyond the heights. and
In the region OF Gercourt- BethincOurt.
ION the right bank of the Meuse
we have gained ground upon the
heights. two kilometers Cmile and a
quarter) northwest OF Brab bant and
in the forest Of COnsenvoye.
I'm cofclusion we have made slight
progress on the heights of the Meuse
and i'm the forest of Chevaliers TO the
= Artillery shells City.
J French and British artillery has got
yvithn range of Roulers. in West
Flanders. and is shelling that city
Supreme efforts have been made on
the Tpres- Wervick line 90 get long
range guns within range of Courtrai
but this has been hindered by the
Swampy ground.
The great battle. which began as
the battle of the Aisne on Sept. L.
and is now raging on French. German
and Belgian soil. has now been in
progress exactly 100 days. while the
allies have made good gains at num-
erous points along the 300-mile battle
front. at no place has their offensive
resulted SO far in a decisive achieve
nent. such as piercing the German
lines or compelling the retreat of one
of the German armies.
Although the French and British
are pushing their offensive vigorously
the battle still remains practically
nothing but a siege over a big section
of the front
II is reported that the allies have
taken Middlekerke. but this report
must be taken with reserve in view
OF the French official statement is
sued just before midnight According
60 this announcement the Germans
are undoubtedly making fierce coun-
ground lost 20 the Franco Belgians on
the Lombaertzdye-St Georges line.
east of Nieuport.
Struggle for Trenches
Near LaBassee there is a violent
struggle in progress for the possession
OF adv4p need trenches and the sane is /
true OF he district bounded D. Al
bert, Conn les and ay-sur-Somme. /
In this vicinity the Germans hold
strongly entrenched lines on the
Canal DE La Somme. passing through
Peronne.
Along the Aisne the French claim
10 have silenced some of the German
artillery In "a big gun combat tnat
went on all day Sunday
Aiong the heights of the MeuSe. i'm
the Woevre district. in the Nosges i
and in Alsace thy French are Keeping 4
the Germans engage over an extend +
eel front
The concentration Of the German 4
attacks against the British in West .
Flanders and around Armentieres. has \
resulted ia proportionately heavier .
losses for the English than the
French. only four officers and fewer
than 100 men were left in one Brit
ish battalion after q German attack.
Another battalion lost half OF its uren
and ali its officers save three.