New Britain herald., 1917-08-21
GROWN PRINCE HIT
 A CRUSHING BLOW
French Win Back Important
 Ground on Yerdun Front

London, Aug. 21.-A new and great battle of Verdun developed yesterday along an eleven-mile front on both banks of the River Mouse. After one hour and twenty minutes of attack Petain's infantry had made them selves masters of the German posi- tions everywhere, penetrating at many points to a depth of a mile and a third. Throughout the day they held their gains against swiftly organized counter attacks in which the enemy suffered devastating losses. Over four thousand unwounded German prison CTS have thus far been counted.
 The French offensive extended from Avocourt wood. the two summits of onvaux on the west. Midway between these two points the Mouse winds down, to pass in front of the citadel of Verdun. On the left bank of the stream the French seized all of the Avocoust wood, the two summits of Le Mort Homme Dead Man Hill) Corbeaux wood and the village of Cumieres. On the right bank of the river they took the Talou Ridge. the towns of Champ and Champneuville.
 
 north of Fort Louvemont.
 The immediate results of Petain's victory today is the pushing forward of the French line approximately to the front the French army occupied on February 25, 1916, just after the Grown Princes terrific drive for the fortress had developed, and the ex- tinction of direct German observation upon Verdun itself
 The Talou ridge stretches across 8 peninsula formed by a bend in the Mouse. The German official state ment says that it has only been oc- cupied by German outposts since last March, which is probably true, and that the French today were allowed to occupy it without fighting, while the forces of the Grown Prince with drew "according to plan.' But Tal- bou ridge was the last point from which the Germans could look down upon Verdun, and their artillery fire must hereafter be blndly directed, as the French not only stormed this high ground, but clinched the cap ture by taking possession of Dead Man Hill, to the east and Hill 344, to the north.
 Almost Back to Old Line.
 The whole peninsula across the river and northwest of CumiereS is now firmly in the French grip. One more such stroke by Petain and the French line will be back where it was before the Grown Prince in 1916 launched his campaign to bleed France white' and achieved a failure which in it's far-reaching results has been compared to the Confederate fai1ure at GettySburg,
 Proba bly, Petain has larger strate- gic aspects in mind than a mere ex- tension of his lines. Obviously the blow today on the West front, and supplementary to the heavy British pressure in Flanders. The Entente command is seeking at many points to find place where the German line has thinned to the danger point and to prevent a concentration of hostile reserves behind any one battlefield. Moreover, the Briey Valley lies not far to the northeast of Verdun. and it is there that the greatest deposits of French iron lie. the loss of which is said to have crippled severely the intuition manufacture of France and to have more than doubled Germany's output.
 There is also a political aspect to the attack. After the poilus had coined and made good the phrase '"They shall not pass!' and the armies of the Crown Prince stood exhausted outside the citadel General Petain congratulated his men upon the an- swer they had given to tho Kaiser's