Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1917-06-24
GREAT 'C0UNTERDR|VE
OF TEUTONs ON IN WEST
Crown Prince Passes Word Along
Forty-Mile Line North Of the
Aisno and In Champagne.
PAYS HEAVY TOLL AT FIRST
For France This Front Is Believed to
Be Crucial, and Bitter Struggle
VIII Be Fought Out Hand.to-Hand
and Grenade to Bayonet.

bluff is over on the Franco-G erman
front. Friedrich wilhelm. the Ger
man Crown Prince has been raising"
up to tho limit. Louder his cannons
cannot roar. hercer than the last weeks
drum Are none Is possible, not even
from Krupp's finest. Petain has fol-
lowed bis royal onent right up to
tho limit and 1 .rcing him to show
his cards. 1t Is low a question OF the
better hand, which in battle means
tho better man. Hand to hand and
grenade to bayonet Teutons and
Frenchmen will argue It out. Up to
this evening the poilus were decidedly
holding their own. The crown prince.
abandoning his local thrusts-'feel-
ers." designed to deceive tho French
passed the word along the whole
forty7mile front, north of tho Aisne.
and in the Champagne. Tho concerted
Teutou counterdrive Is on.
Not an inch had been gained by the
fieid-sray legions up to tho time Pe-
tain issued his day communicate. In
stead. he reported the Germans paid
terrible toll OF blood for their vain
assaults Berlin disputes this, assert
ing that French positions on a front
OF ono and one-half kilometers) nearly
mtle) were taken, with 800 prisoners.
PLANS TO TAKE vIspDUN
IN AN INDIRECT WAY
For France this Aisne-Champagne
front 10 tho crucial front Closely In
tsrdopendent with 1t Is Verdun. I'm
able to tako that fortress in direct
way. tho crown prince, 1t Is believed,
has been for months planning to take
1t In an indirect way. by cutting the
Paris-Verdun railway. Al any given
point between Scissors and Soaine a
break through would have that re-
suit. But the French are holding a.
| watch on tho Aisne. And In the Cham
pagne their recent drive netted them
some vantage points, attempts at re-
taking of which they are confident will
spoil the crown princes appetite for
further detectives.
Up to yesterday the Germans had
been centering their fury upon the
front southwest OF Laon. between
IVauHaillon and Filain. Late ycstcr-
day they began to extend the line Of
eruption from their heaviest cannon
alternated with massed charges all
tho way to Chamhretton. All these
assaults were stihed in the French
IbarraEc.
But the end is not yet. Bitter fight
ing. perhaps the bit,erest of the year.
Is still ahead. Tho crown prince IS
out TO redeem himself for his Verdun
failure. Petain is ready to back up
his immortal words Of Verdun: They
shall not pass"
GERMAN CROWN PRINCE
IN SERIES OF ATTACKS
Little activity Of a major sort is visi.
in ~
along the front in tho Aisne region Of
Northern France. Here tho German
Crown Prince is engaged In a series of
attacks on the French lines. along ard
near the western end Of the Chemin-
des- Danes. where tho curvins front
protects the German fortress OF Lao,.
which further French advance would
menace.
These attacks have been launched In
force on narrow fronts at various
points. Al one or two places they met
with some success. notably near Froid.
siderable salient in the French limo
fell into German hands.
Friday night serious attempts were
made by the Germans to debouch from
Ibis salient. The French fire was too
further progress was made. The In
fantry attacks were not renewed on
Saturday. but the artillery lighting
continued all day with some violence
n this and other sectors OF the French
front
In the eastern war theater there are
Indications that important lighting
may again soon De under way.
While conditions in interior Russia
continue uncertain and mixed. the ma
ions armed forces seem to be regain
Ing their morale and to be nearly
ready to attack once more. The OK
ample of "storming battalions," COM
prising new organizations of troops
who have indicated their eagerness to
Eight. is having a salutary effect. and
is said to be proving infectious.
Everywhere there are signs that the
GENERAL demand that tho army move
without further delay cannot much
longer be resisted.
While the Italians have let up In