The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1915-03-27
ANOTHER BATTLE
IMMINENT ON USER
Allies and Germans Face Each
Other Across Narrow
Belgian River.
STOP ADVANCE IN CHAMPAGNE.
But French Troops Continue to Hold
important Heights Against coun-
ter Attacks = Fighting in
Vosges Siackens.

London, March 19-The next i'm.
portant battle on the western field, it
is believed, viii take place along the
River User, held on one side by the re-
Gently reorganized Belgian army and
on the other by the Germans.
As the floods have subsidized, the Bel
gians, supported by the warships OF
the allies, already have pushed their
line slightly forward, and this is al
most certain to lead to counter-attacks
by the Germans and a general engage
ment, as has been the case when sim
liar movements were initiated else
where along the front. An artillery
duel in the way Of preparation has
commenced
There may be a slight delay while
the Germans are awaiting for rein
forcements from Germany, for they
have been using most of their reserves
TO counter-attack the British troops at
st. EIoi and Nueve Chapelle and the
French north of Arras, but that a big
clash will soon come nobody doubts.
The contest for the spur Of Notre
Dame de Lorette is still in .prsgTess,
and, according to Berlin, further at
tempts of the French to advance in
Champagne, where they captured an
important ridge north of LIE Mesnil,
have been repulsed.
The fighting in the Argonne forest
and the Vosges has slackened some
what, owing doubtless to the return of
wintry weather conditions
There is little news from the East
ern front. and beyond the fact that
the Russians again have crossed the
East Prussian line in the far North
east. near Tilsit, and that they are
continuing their offensive against Aus
trians in Bukowina, there is no change
in the situation
British Suffer Loss.
Evidence is accommodating of the
heavy British losses in the recent
fighting in Flanders. Lord CIaud Ham
iltOn, addressing a meeting in London
last night, said the papers were not
giving full lists of the losses. His own
regiment, the Grenadier Guards, he de-
clared, lost their colonel and sixteen
officers killed and wounded, and of
LOO men, the finest in the army, only
three hundred survived
The Cameronians also seemed to
have been almost totally wiped out;
their lists of killed and wounded were
APPALLING.
Fighting for Positions.
London, March 18.-At present the
armies of Belgium, Great Britain and
France are fighting for the hills and
other points along the long front which
will be of the greatest advantage to
the army holding them when the ad-
vance begins According to the
French communication. the Belgians
continue to improve their positions in
Flanders, and the French to the north
Of Arras and in Champagne have add
ed eminences to their gains which are
of some Importance.
The French and German official
communications, however, are so con-
Trajectory that it is difficult to decide
whether any change is being made
generally in the dispositions Of the
two armies.
The optimism which pervades the
Western Allies is shared by the Rus
SLAMS All the Petrograd correspond
ents of the London papers lead the
public to believe big events are i'm
pending It is apparent the Russians
again and not the Austrians are on
the move, particularly at Smolnik, on
the River San, where it emerges from
the Carpathians, while in Bukowina,
according to unofficial dispatches from
Bucharest, the Austrians have been
defeated In a battle which has been
raging along the entire front.
London, March 17.-With the in
creasing activities of the British,
French and Belgian armies, the re-
appearance on the coast of Belgium Of
British and French warships and the
time drawing near for big effort in
the west, the public is following with
renewed interest the news of the op-
Nerations
The Belgians, who are being sup
ported by the warships of the allies,
have consolidated the ground which
they have won in the last few days,
while the British have done likewise
with the strip of territory which they
took from the Germans near NueVe
ChapelIe and have recovered most, if
not all, of the trenches which they lost
in the region of St Elio.