The Seward gateway., 1916-07-01
GERMANY MEETS WORLD

LONDON. July ]. - Europe IS dldIIe COu0! '0 ~ never was in all the long course of its history all the a- edpowe having started the titanic drive which meant to crush the Teutonc powers for ever At 7aO m to- day the long expected British drive began and now rag ng Itopened with tremendous smash against the Ger man lines along twenty mile front north of Somme This information is contained in brief special bulletins from army headquarters and vast crowds are eagerly waiting now the coming of more. In the beginning the British swept forward with rush capturing some of the enenvs first line trenches Many German prisoners have been taken and the offensive is continuing with the great est violence Hourly dispatches are filed and the public is aroused to the highest pitch of excitement the effort is known to be the one for which Great Britain has waited forneary years To add to the tremendous excitement in
 London the news has arrived that the Russians have cap tued the important Galican city of Lolomea and the French report successes in the fighting northeast of Yer dun while the Italians are steadily pushing forward in Trentino The early bulletins have been accepted the signal that the long waited super offensive of the allied powers has begun The British thrust forward this morn ing followed four days of the most lavish expenditure of shell fire which the world has ever known The German front for front of ninety miles from the Yser to the Somme was bathed in never ceasng flame of artillery fire and the explosion of million shells. At dawn today the British bombardment which grew more intense throughout yesterday suddenly was concentrated in terri fc power on the German line from Arras south to the Somme and for an hour and half the German line was under steady rain of high explosive shells that plotted out the trenches and human life At 7:3O this morning the big guns lifted their fire and at the same instant seas oned regiments who were waiting eagerly for chance at the Germans, the accounts say for many months, sprang forward but many were new regiments from the Kitchener armies which had been held in reserve back of the lines.
 By 9:8O a mg read the last dispatch, Eve had Oc- cuped the German front line and were digging in behind rows of German dead The British casualties thus far have not been heavy"
 The London populace feels that the supreme moment of the war has arrived and that the crisis for Germany has been reached Our troops occupy something like third of the whole western battle line and it is assumed that the French waiting along their part of the line to dash in if our assaults break through the lines of the enemy The British people expect terrible lists of casual ties to result from the drive but the empire is willing to meet the cost It has been rumored for some time that the super offensive would in July but that it would occur on the first day of the month had been expected Even the fact that the tremendous bombardment had been proceeding for four days had been fairly well concealed and the news of the beginning of the assaults this morning came like an electric blast to the British people,