Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1917-10-14

TROOPS
ADVANCE
Republican A. P. Leased Wire1

lHepuDllCdn y. r. Leased WIrel
BRITISH FRONT IN FRANCE AND
BELGIUM, oct. 13.-(By the Associ-
ated ess)-British troops southwest
of Passchendaele village during the
night, pushed forward slightly in ad-
vance of the line that they reached in
yesterdays offensive but over the ma
jor portion of the six mile battle front
there has been little change in the sit
uation. Morrasses that in places We're
impossible and at all points almost i'm
possible to push through were holding
operations in an iron grip.
over large part of the front the
British this morning We're holding a
line that represented appreciable gains
in territory. In Il few points check
because of the weather had to be ac-
knowledged and the attacking troops
fell back to positions which they had
left.
Two counter attacks were attempted
by the Germans yesterday and both
were dealt with quickly by the artil-
iery. One was in the neghborhood of
the Broodseinde- e-Passchendaele high
way and the other started from PonSi-
tions east and southwest of the village
of Passchendaele Neither counter at
tacking force appears even to have
reached it's objective before it was
smashed. The night was fairly quiet as
| far as infantry action was concerned.
| On the northern section in the advance
between Poelcapelle and Houtholst for
est fewer difficulties were encountered
| in yesterdays attack than or the
/ southern portion. Along the southern
| edge OF the forest, the British pushed
. ,air dc NO tbNvfar q lDrlp
| a / 800 yards front thereby consider
| ably improving their previous positions.
| Between the Ypres- Staden railways
! and Poelcapelle the gain varies in
/ depth up to a max of about 700 yards.
! Near the village of Poelcapelle, the line
| appears to be virtually what it was
+, yesterday morning. Between Poelca- :
| pelle and Wallemolen on the south the
| British had swung the line out in num-
| erous places to include strong German
| positions, that at some points were 900
| or 100 yards in advance of the line
! from which the attack was made yes
| teriay Southwest of Passchendaele
| along the ridge. the British were main
| tanning themselves in positions about
| 500 yards or more in advance of yester-
| DAYS jumping off place and this adj
vantage extended along a front Of
| about 1,200 yards.
Ii rained hard again last night and
| this morning until shortly before noon,
! when the sun broke through the clouds.
/ In some cases, the British infantrymen
| were unable to keep up with the artil-
| lery barrage and as a result came un-
! der the rifles of machine guns Of the
| hidden enemy marksmen who had es
capped death in the barrage.
| Stretcher bearers encountered untold
| difficulties, not only from the deep mud
but from the German snipers.
| The correspondent today talked with
several wounded stretcher bearers who
came back from Poelcapelle and from
them heard of remarkable incident
| during yesterdays battle. They said
| they operated continually in mud that
at the best was up to their knees and
| in addition were constantly harassed
| by enemy snipers concealed in shell
| holes and even in shattered trees. Dur
ing the morning German stretcher
bearers had advanced numerous times
| almost to the British lines to get theii
| wounded and had not been molested
| because of their Red Cross flags. Not
| withstanding this the Germans con
tinued firing on the British until the
climax was reached when the stretcher
| bearers working together were shot
dead by snipers hidden nearby.
Infuriated by this outrage, a British
officer seized the Red Cross flag and
| waving it over his head rushed toward
the snlpers. When he arrived within
speaking distance of them, he bitterly
denounced their treacherous action
employing as his medium. the German
| speech which he speaks fluently. He
called the enemys attention forcibly to
their violation of the laws of war and
humanity and pointed out that the
German stretcher bearers had been OPP
Grating without molestation The Of
ficer, after having expressed himsel1
fully, marched back to his own lines
and he was not fired upon. From then
on, the stretcher bearers said, the Ger
mans ceased sniping at them.