The Dolores star. [volume] (Dolores, Montezuma County, Colo.) 1901-current, 1917-04-20
BRITISH DRIVEN
FR0MLAeNICOURT
pespeRAre ONSLAUGHT ~ oGR.
MANS SAVES KEY TO HIN
DENeURo POSITION.
BRITISH CAPTURE LENS
ALLIES PUSH ON TO st. QUENTIN
AND IRRESISTIBLE THRUsTs
FORCE ENEMY BACK.


western Newspaper Union News Service.
London, April 17.-Apparently the
city OF Lens, the great coal center OF
! northern France. has fallen before the
British drive. British troops are tight
ening their grip on the outskirts Of
st. Quentin. The night British Of
ficial report speaks only Of progress
least Of LEVIN, where our troops are
approaching the outskirts Of Lens"
but the correspondent Of Lloyds News
with the British army telegraphs that
British patrols entered the city be-
tween 4 and S O'Clock Sunday after
noon. The Germans ordered the civil
population from the town on Friday,
preparatory to their own departure,
and seized three months provisions
accumulated in Lens by the American
relief commission.
The German trench system among
the Stag heaps in front Of the city has
been virtually pulverized by the blast
fire from Gen. Horne's batteries. East
of the city they have another network
Of trenches in which 1t is believed
they will make q temporary stand be-
fore retiring to the supplementary
Hindenburg line between Drocourt and
Queant
A powerful counter assault launched
against the newly-formed British line
converging on st. Quentin and Lens
Monday gained the Germans a foot
hold in the village of Lagnicourt, &C.
cording to word received from Gen.
Haig's headquarters In France. Sew
eral divisions were hurled upon the
British, the enemy's attack being de-
livered with desperate ferocity be-
cause Of the extremely important
strategic value of Lagnicourt, which
commands the principal approaches to
the Bapaume-Cambrai highway, pos
session of which is necessary for the
defense of both Lens and st. Quentin.
At all points where counter attacks
were delivered the Germans were
thrown back with sanguinary losses.
The Turks have sustained another
defeat at the hands Of the British. in
Mesopotamia. The war office an
nounces that the Turks are In retreat
after battle in which they suffered
heavy losses.
Two German attacks in Verdun sec
tor repulsed.
Seventeen British, French and
American" airplanes destroyed by
Germans.
London, April 14.-The far-reaching,
important and sweeping success won
during the battle of Arras Is being
revealed in successive chapters to the
British public, which hardly realizes
yet that it h the most effectual and
decisive event to the credit of the
British army during the war. 1t may
well rank with the battle Of the
Marine, which turned back the German
invasion directed against Paris, and
may prove the turning point of the
whole war and change the balance of
the world struggle.
Field Marshal Haig's bulletin to-
night, giving the number of guns cap
tured as 166 and the aggregate of
prisoners as $4,000, and the details of
the new territory gained for France
from the invader, marks the battle of
Arras as great victory.
But the significant statement from
Field Marshal Haig is that the British
are astride the Hindenburg line.
On twelve-mile front from north
of the River Scarpe to south of Loos,
British troops pressed back the Ger.
mans all along the line and captured
six villages. Field Marshal Hafg's
men, the official communication from
British headquarters in France adds,
also have gained footing in German
trenches northeast of Lens. Prisoners
and guns also were taken in the ad.
vance.
London, April 13.-Notwithstanding
the amazing April storm the British
attack widened Thursday by a blow
north Of Vimy ridge. the latter hay
ing been firmly held and consolidated
by the Canadians, against a bitter
German fire. The troops which
struck north of Vimy penetrated to
point few hundred yards northwest
of Givenchy. having carried out their
dawn attack with the same precision
as has characterized other operations.
Rio Janeiro.-The government has
decided to seize all German ships in
Brazilian harbors.
London.-The British hospital ship
Gloucester Castle was torpedoed with.
out warning and sunk In mid-channel
on the night of March 30-31 and the
British hospital ship Salta struck q
mine and sank in the English channel
on April 10th. the admiralty officially