New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-04-06
Germans with Seven Corps
Stubbornly Contest New
French Drive.
MAKE BARRICADES
WITH THEIR DEAD
Both Sides Lose Heavily as In
vaders Are Pressed Back to
Plains of Champagne.
lbs Cab. 70 The Tribune J

Paris. April 5.-Military experts see
the real beginning Of the long ex-
pected forward movement Of the Allies
on the western front in the French
advance in the Hurlus district and on
the plain Of Chalons, one Of the great
training grounds Of the French army
which is daily continuing TO alter tho
entire aspect Of affairs in Champagne.
On other parts Of the line the Allies
have been content to keep pounding at
the Germans and Wes~:@s down their
electives in men and material, snatch
ing from time to time local success as
occasion offered. IN the district west
of Verdun, how ever. the advance prom
ises to be continuous.
The French have now gained the top
Of the slope leading to the great PLAIN
Of barren land rolling gently into 10"
hills and sprinkled freely with pIan,4-
tioEs of scrubby pine trees. Naturally,
IL has been a costly business 20 the
French, and the fighting, which con
tinues increasingly, is still sending back
long trains Of wounded to the bases,
but the Germans have lost still more
heavily. They have some Of their finest
troops here, including detachments OF
the Prussian Guard, whole regiments
of which have been cut up. 80 terr!oIe
has been the effect of concentrated ar
tillery fire and so frightful the French
bayonet work at close quarters tnat
many of the German prisoners are IN
sane.
French Face Seven Corps.
II is no mean force the French have
to face here, for, with the recent re-
Inducements that have been rushed up
to the danger point, fully seven Ter
man army corps are believed TO De IN
the district. In several instances so
desperate was the defence offered by
the stubborn German infantry that
they actually built parapets OF their
dead. behind which they disputed every
inch Of the French advance. Now that
thew have been driven from what may
be termed their prepared positions, the
Germans are adapting themselves to a
warfare on the plains OF Champagne
which consists in the rapid fortlhca-
ton with trenches and machine guns
Of each Of the little pine plantations
that dot the open country.
At this beginning of the second phase
in the Champagne operations, the ia
nous French field gun is doing some
of its most spectacular work. 1t is
moving down the brittle pine trees in
swathes. Little woods disappear I'M
der its whitening fire, leaving an area
of stumps and tangled and smashed
brarches, untenable to defenders, in
which they are trapped like beasts.
Whole District Rayaged.
No part Of the country has been
more rayaged by war than the districts
round the Argonne forest, in the east
ern part Of Champagne. Villages and
farms have been ruined to an extent
almost inconceiyable. Fields are so
laid waste that scarcely a blade of
grass is 90 be seen. I'm these small viii
lagos one can perceive with tragic en-
phasis the economic effects of the war. ]
Of forty men in one hamlet who were
called 10 the army thirty-nine have /
been killed. most Of them leaving FAM
lilies.
Though official communiqu6s seldom
refer TO Rheims, the bombardmentO fthat
town goes on intermittently by night
and day. II is probable that a third of
the houses have been destroyed and /
another third damaged, but there still .
remain unchanged portions and still a
remnant of the people clinging des-
peratcly to their homes. At present /
there is a renewed rush to get away
aud the means of transport are made /
quate to cope with it, Belated orders I.
for the removal of furniture are so
numerous that even in normal times il .
would take transport companies months
TO fiji them. Every day there are
dozen or so Of casualties from German
shells The public buildings and the
cathedral are the favorite targets, and
10 these the damage S now irreparabie .