Evening star., 1916-09-17
HEAVY COUNTER ATTACKS
ARE MADE BY GERMANS
In Aerial Fighting English Bring
Down Fifteen Aeroplanes. But
Lose Six.
BOMBS DROPPED ON RHEIMS
French Report Capture of. Trench
Northeast of Berny and Success
full Air Attacks on Railroads
South of Metz

full Air Attacks on Railroads
South of Metz.
LONDON, September 10. -
Gen. Haig. commander OF the
British forces on the Somme
front, reports the capture OF addi-
tional German prisoners to the
number of 100, making the total
number of captures for the last
two days more than 1000
The continuation of the battle
is reported in the British official
statement in certain localities"
south of the Ancre river. The
British proceeded methodically
with their attack begun FRIDAY.
and the Germans responded with
heavy counter attacks, both
against the British and the
French.
Comparative quiet, however,
reigned along the French section
of the Somme front, although the
French report some progress
north of Bouchavesnes, and the
capture of a trench northeast oi
Berny.
Berlin Admits Losing Three Villages
Berlin admits the loss of the large
villages of Courcelette, Martinpuich
and Flers. but declares that strong
British attacks against Combles were
ineffective. 1t is estimated by the
Germans that twenty divisions, or
about 100000 men. took part in the
Anglo French drive of Friday. Ber-
lin says the British made progress and
that the French assaults south of
the Somme were repulsed
The British official statement of to-
night says:
To-day (Saturday) south of the Ancre
we continued our attack in certain
localities. and further progress has
been made. Since yesterday we ao-
vanced to a depth of from one to two
miles on a front of six miles.
The number of prisoners taken to-
day is more than LOO, of whom hfty-
one are officers. The total number OF
prisoners captured in the fighting OF
the last two days is more than 4,ooo,
of whom 116 are officers
.JJp to the present six guns and over
ffty machine guns are reported to have
been taken or destroyed, and a consid-
era bic quantity OF war hdtefidi Has
been captured.
.Eurther reports on the aerial fight
ing on September Is bring the total
of German machines destroyed 70
fifteen. Another hostile kite oallooh
vas brought down in flames this after
noon.
Two more of our machines are miss
ing, making altogether SIX. ...-
French Take Trench Near Berny.
The text of the French statement
reads:
"on the Somme front the day was
comparatively quiet. We made some
nroeress north of Bouchavesnes and
captured trench northeast of Berny. A
German counter attack against our
nositions between Belloy -Santerre
and Barleux failed under the fire OF our
machine guns.
..During Friday night one of our air
bombarding squadrons carried OUT ths
following operations: Sixty shells OF
l20 millimeterS and six OF zoo MILL
meters were thrown on the blast tur-
naces at Utkingen tCsingen?), thirty
shells of l20 millimeterS on the blast
furnaces at Rombae and thirty others
on factories in the Mandelingen district
The same night two OF our machlneS
drt5pped fourteen shells on the railroad
tracks south of Metz and on the sta
tions at Binsdorf. The stations at Spin
court and Longuyen also received sixty
projectiles.
Last evening 4 German aeroplane
dropped several bombs on Rheims Two
civilians, including a child, We're killed
and another was wounded.
According to fresh information in
addition to the nine German aviators
brought down yesterday on the French
front six other enemy machines Were
damaged in encounters with our pilots
and were compelled to descend within
their own lines. Two of the aviators
were killed.
ION Thursday night one of our squad
rons dropped 106 bombs of large caliber
on the military establishments at Pol.t-
Faverger and Betheniyille. \ large fire
was caused at Pont- -Faverger. Each Of
the aeroplanes made two trips. On the
same night the railway station at Con-
f1ans-Jarny was bomparded win ia
bombs of 120 millimeters. A large num-
her of the bombs found their mark
Successes Claimed by Germans.
The German official statement, re-
,ortipe recent operations in France,
says:
"Duke Albrecht of Wurttemburg: AS
,,s repeatedly happened during the last
fau, days. Westende was again bonn
h, rded Yesterday from the sea. without
result.
..On the Ypres salient and the
,orthern parts of the front of Crown
prince Rupprecht the enemy developed
a lively fire and patrol activity.
..The battle on the Somme was espe-
cially fierce yesterday. strong as
saulf by about twenty Anglo-French d-
visions 100000 officers and men) was
directed against our front between the