The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1914-12-13
Position Lost for Which Kaiser
Had Sacrificed Thousands of
Lives to Hold
Superior Artillery
Practice Does Work
French Heavy Guns Handled
With Marked Effectiveness.
Allies Drive Wedge in Ger
man Line in Flanders

Paris, Dee. i3.-No other e0N~
eiU SiOns can b.. drawn from the
only detailed rsport made pub
lie ny the French Government to-
daY than that the aIiieA hive
gained the upper hand all along
the western battle Hue from the
North Sea to Aisaee. Day after
aa, they have Increased shr press
mre on the German positions, and
little by little the Germans have
given ground. NOW at one point.
now at another, so that now there
is II more defiuitr reason to be-
lieve TINT the Germans are ON the
verge of Withdrawing from, Finu-
ders and snrrenderiag the bitterly
contested In northern France
than there has been In the tsEh-
teen weeks of the war.
Tho superiority Of the allies in ar
tiiiery and infantry, SO positively as
serted ny recent official reports. was
again manifested today when ths
French and British dealt staggering
blows 10 tho German forces in slan-
ders in ArfoiS between the t1se and
fhe Aisne. and In The Areonne The
outs tandlnw features OF the days de-
tailed report were tho Victories gain
cd st the User and at tbe hinge of the
OLD battle line,
Driven Fraun W est HAM. Of User.
hammered night and day by the
heavy guns Of the French and Eng
fish corps. and completely assailel by
infantry the Germans have be fore
ID to evaeuate the positions they helC
on the west bank of the User, with
drawal which can have no other ef-
feet than 10 weaken their position
farther south In the region Of Apres.
For two months the troops OF the Kali
ser have sacrificed thousands Of men
in vain attempt ga Keep a foot
hold on the west back OF the User,
ard to capture Ypres. Their energy
and sacrifices have been utterly prof
itless. and the allies have moved stead
lily eastward ANA northward There
IS credible UNOFFICIAL news which states
that the Germans ara 50 hard pressed
that their withdrawal 10 the newfv
prepared fortified lln~ from Antwerp
through Brussels and to Namar and
r.iege, cannot possibly be long delay
ed
suffer Mt Hinge of Line.
Hardly less important are the re-
verses the> have suffered at the hinge
Of the line In the region of Soyon
Tracy -Le-VaI. and VaillX The French
heavy guns have sileneed theic bat
teries near Nampcei. which Is ten
miles southeast OF Novon. and two
miles north Of Tracy I4e-Nai. and II
appears from the official report that
the two German battle lines in that
area, one facing northwest near
Novon. the other south. near Rihe-
court have been damned against each
other as tbey slowly gave way. North
west of NaiilY battery NJ the Ger
mans heavy howitzers was destroyed
by the French artillery.
The announcement NJ the Govern
ment tonight contained no details, and
was as follows:
'.There Is no new incident TO re-
port"
The report Of the afternoon conffrrn.
ed previous news that the offensive OF
the allies was making great headway
In every important area OF the fght-
ing.
Driyfag Wedge Into Lime.
The unofficial news, which rs taken
with some reserve. is even more sat
isfactory to the French people Cor
respondents telegraph from Flanders
and northern France that the allies
are driving great wedge fnto tn.
German line IN Flanders; that they
have driven the Germans from Ar
ruentieres which is in ruins. that ths
Germans have only one hope OF sue
cussful offensive left--to push forward
in the region of Arras. but that the
allies are ready for the movement and
are in strong force at that point
MANY run1ors Of allied victory and Ger
man reverses are current, IT appears
from every angle as II the situation
was about 10 produce great news With
in q few DAYS