The sun., 1917-06-04
FRENCH REPEL
HEAVY DRIVES
SOUTH OF LAON
Five Attacks. i'm Mass For
nation. Hurled Back
at All Points.
GROUND LOST BY BRITISH
Haig's Men Push Ahead Near
Lens, but Are Unable to
Hold Gains.
GROUND LOST BY BRITISH

on the two great hattieneids Of the west
ern front. Arras and Aisne. A renewed
British thrust toward Lens failed. after
initial success. while 1--WE successive
German attacks. in which infantry ad-
vanced In masses, were hurled back by
the French
Tne German attacks were aimed to
Drive the French from the two impor-
tant piateaux of vauclerc and California,
1 on the Chemin des Danes. won In the
recent French offensive south Of Laon
They represented q tremendous effort BY
tne Germans. preceded by nearly two
days artillery preparation and aidee by
liquid IRE. Troops from two divisions
were used.
Reach Preach Trenches.
The mere number OF troops that left
the German trenches was SO great that.
though their close formed ranks were
rtddled by the French barrage and ma
chine gun fire. some OF them could not
iaii 10 reach the French advanced
trenches This happened in only two OF
the fve German attempts. however.
Three Of them were smashed completely
by the artillery. In the first attack the
Germans broke and ran.
The second attack. on the vauclerc
plateau. was accompanied by LIQUID fire.
The Germans entered the outlying line
o. linked up shell holes held by the
french before their trench positions
Then came the French counter attack.
leo BY the same troops who had taken
the positions on May and s. They
made short work OF the Germans
Inc last attack. on the California
plateau. gave the Germans an even more
considerable advantage at first. They
penetrated at one point the first line
trenches OF the French. For the time
the situation looked serious Then a
French counter attack in force was or
oerec After violent hand to hand
struggle In the contested trenches the
Germans were driven out
Dritish Attack Fails.
J On the British front the day did not
go so Well FOR the Allies Last niRht
oy the light Of q fun moon the Brttieh
intantry made their first attack in
} weeks. hoping to advance their line in
the southwestern suburbs OF Lena They
attacked on the southern hank of the
River souches. due west OF Ayion. among
the mining villages and pits that circle
the great coal city.
BY early dawn the British had can
tured all their objectives. These were
the electric power station just south of
; the Souchez. full OF German machine
guns. and some brick chimneys Of the
! coal works further south which had been
transformed into a strong point by the
German engineers. says the Associated
Press correspondent at the front
But in this region OF shafts and pits
, Stag heaps and factories. each of which
affords frst class cover to the defenders
. and ready made mount for machine
In rasa 10
and TO hold them another. Since the
!, early days Of the battle OF Arras, wher
the British almost took Lens and the
Germans started to evacuate the city
Won Hindenburg has made up his minc
| to hang on at all costs. So the Ger.
mans were sent at once TO the counter
attack.
struggle Lasts for H0ura.
:, Reserves were hurried up, and a.
quickly as they came were sent in tc
r recapture the lost field fortresses. Abou
r the power works and the factory build
A ings there ragged violent struggle, IL
which the lines fiuctuated back ant
D forth After hours OF fighting the Brit
= ish were forced TO yield the positions
1 Though the heavy hghting at Lem
and on the Aisne engrosses observer,
; here the situation on the front in Bel
' gium remains interesting. In both da,
D and night statements Berlin announces
s that the very heavy artillery fire a
Z Wytschaete continues, and in fact ha
D grown more intense during the day
G Raiding activity in that locality and oil
the front of the Belgian army ais
continues noticeably lively. The ofhcia
statements follow;
French Night Statement-According
: to supplementary reports the German
: attacks directed last night and this
> morning against the plateaux OF Vau-
= cIerc and California were carried out
by units belonging 10 two divisions.
!. on the Vauclerc plateau the Germans
assaulted In very dense waves AT
certain points the enemy infantry
moved forward shoulder to shoulder in
the FIRST attack and were driven back
= in disorder by our fire.
Jets of Fire Used.
n The second attack, which was more
, violent and accompanied by jets OF
A fame enabled them TO gain footing
4 for a few moments In our advanced
y elements. but they were beaten back
= almost Immediately by the energetic
= counter attack of our troops. All the
; attempts directed against the west and
central sections Of the California
O. plateau completely failed.
a The same regiments which had COW
cred themselves with glory in the cap
- ture on May 4 and 5 Of craonne and
!. the vaucierc and California plateaux
. gave new proof Of their admirable
- yalor In defence of the positions they
n had conquered.
. Finally In the northeast corner OF
:, the plateaux the enemy. who renewed
!, his attempts In the morning and sue
ceeded in gaining a foothold in our
:, trenches Of the first line, was driven
~ out by a brilliant return offensive on
the part OF our troops. In the course
N OF this struggle, which was Of extreme
a violence, the enemy suffered very
heavy losses. We maintained com
N pietely all Of our positions and took
" additional prisoners.