The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-06-18
!Speci1i Cable Despnfch 10 Tur SrS.


PARIS, June 1.-THE heaviest fighting
OF many weeks is reported by the French
War Office tonight. In the Nosges, AL
tenhof, a suburb of Metzeral, on the
River Fecht. has been captured. Met
zeral Itself has been set on fire by the
Germans and is burning. ~Steinbruck.
a little to the north of Metzersl. has
fallen into French hands after a furious
assault.
In the north. between souchez and
Neuville. the fighting has been even
more uriou on this front the Ger
mans have arrayed an army OF 100000
men. with heavy reserves in the rear,
and last night and to-day they drove
forward against the French in a des-
perate effort to regain the ground lost
there during the last few weeks.
Repeated attacks were hurled back by
the French forces, who. striking quickly
while the Germans were In confusion,
pressed forward. making important
gains on three sides OF Souchez. where
the Germans are resisting between
flooded meats. and advancing in three
directions from Melville. The French
batteries. during the fierce battle of the
last twcnty-four hours. fired nearly 30O,-
GOO shells.
The death toll In the face Of such ar
tillery work has OF necessity been very
large. The war Office tonight admits
that the French losses have been Sc
rious. II asserts. however, that the
German casualties have been greater.
The morale OF the French troops is said
to he excellent.
More thar 1000 German prisoners
have been made during last nights and
to-day's struggle-600 on the Souchez-
NeuvilIe front. and 500 in the Nosges.
No estimate is made of the number of
dead and wounded.
Expect sonchcx to FAN soon.
II would appear that Souchez. north
OF Arras. and Metzeral, In the Nosges,
are destined soon to fail into French
hands. The new positions won about
Souchez to-day and last night will give
the French batteries a clean sweep
toward the German positions in the
town, and the same Is true respecting
Metzeral.
During the fighting on the Souchez-
Neuville line French aviators were con-
~t!nuaIly in the air. ~Squadrons OF aero
planes scared over Givenchy and the
Bots de la Folie. where the German
reserves were held In concentration. and
dropped bombs which are reported TO
lave caused great damage.
The war Once says tonight hat yes
ltIltN ; NpltlIdl hlll'flIA - islI'lNlNE ~ NA'
Germans caused considerable property
damage. especially 20 the cathedral. on
which many bombs fell.
The nieht communicate was as fol-
lows.
Great activity along the entire front
during the last two days is reported
In to-day's dispatches. The lighting
to the north of Arras has ASSUMED an
extremely violent character since yes
terday. Infantry actions have been
numerous and vigorous, while the ar
tillery duel has been exceptionally
violent and uninterrupted. We have
achieved important gains which were
almost all maintained despite furious
counter attacks which were repeated
to-day with renewed vigOr.
our progress has been made chiefly
, In the northern part OF the sector.
where we captured several lines OF
trenches on both sides OF the road
from Aix-Noulette to Souchez. The
are still holding their W
in Le-Fond-de-Buval. but are now al
most completely surrounded.
Yesterday and to-day we advanced
steadily toward Souchez from the
northwest, the southwest ana the
west. Further 20 the south We have
gained "A foot ng IN the park Of the
Careful Chateau. where the enemy
had been making use OF the moat
around the chateau as a defensive
bas,. We captured the Souchez Gem
etcrY ard gained some ground on the
slopes TO the southeast OF Souchez,
,HTn No. llgD, following several brill
liant charges. The result achieved
yesterday were extended tu-lay.