Arizona republican., 1914-08-25
FRANCE ADMITS
 ROUT OF ARMIES
 BY THE GERMANS
War Office Issues the An nouncement Telling of Failure of Combined At tack of French and Eng fish Troops.
ASSOCIATED PRESS p1spATcHl

PARIS, Aug. 24-The French war office issued the following announce ment tonight:
 The French and English. their plan of attack having failed owing to unforeseen difficulties, have retired or are covering their positions"
 The west of Mouse English army on our left was attacked by Germans but behaved admirably. holding it's ground with traditional steadfast- ness The French assumed the of fensive with two army corps The African brigade in the front line carried away with eagerness, receiv- ed a murderous fire. They did not give an inch, but counter attacked by the Prussian guard they were obliged to retire, only however. after inflicting enormous losses. The PruS- sian guard especially suffered heav- fly. East of the Mouse our troops ad- vanced across an extremely difficult country and made a very courageous attack when they emerged from th2 woods but were obliged to fall back after a stiff fight south of the River Semois
 Tt is to be regretted that the of fensive operations planned failed to achieve their purpose as result of difficulties impossible to foresee. It would have shortened the war but our defenses remain intact in the presence of an already weakened enemy"
 "On order of Gen. Joffre. our troops and the British troops withdrew to covering positions. Our troops are intact; our cavalry in no way sui fered, our artillery affirmed it's su periority. Officers and soldiers are in the best of condition morally and physically. As a result of orders is sued the aspect of the struggle is changed for a few days The French army will remain for a time on the | defensive but at the right moment, | to be decided by the commander in- chief, it will resume a vigorous az gressive.
 Our losses were heavy. It would be premature to enumerate them and equally so to enumerate those of the 1 Germans, who suffered so heavily they were obliged to abandon their counter attacks and establish them selves in fresh positions in Lorraine. We delivered four attacks yesterday
 from our positions north of Nancy, inflicting very heavy losses on the
 enemy. In regard to the general sit
 uation we have the full use of our
 railroads and retain command of the
 seas. Our operations enabled the
 Russians to come into action and
 penetrate the heart of West Prussia Every Frenchman deplores the tenn
 porary abandonment of portions of Alsace and Lorraine which we occupied and certain portions of the national territory suffer from events of which they will be the theater. The ordeal
 was inevitable but temporary. Thus detachments of German cavalry be- longing to an unattached division
 operating on the extreme right pen
 etrated to RoubaiX (six miles north
 of Lille), in the Tourcoing district
 which is defended only by territorial
 reservists. Our valiant people know
 how to find courage to support then
 in this trial with unfailing faith ir final success, which is not to be
 doubted In telling the country the
 whole truth, the government and mill Iitary authorities give the strongest