Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1917-04-17

e aeast twenty divisions and an enor-
MGus number Of guns, well supplied.
The battle opened on the left of the
line, where the French infantry swept
Forward in an Irresistible wave. In
spite OF stdH resistance the Germans
ysos1 1tiven back and inside OF q half
s hour prts0nsrs hegan streaming toward
-. WellAs in thA-Ehole sector Of Berry,.
nus Bac and to the east Of Craonne. but
the French heavy shells were too much
q for the Germans and before noon the
whole nrst line was won!
Desperate Resistance on Right.
On the right the action began q little
I later In the morning. The French met
q desperate resistance and the strug-
gle was terrible The French finally
forced their way, after several hours,
I into the German first line.
In the afternoon tho Germans coun-
ter attacked with the extreme violence
{ all along the front. The majority Of
their reserves were engaged south and
east OF the Grimont ridge. It Is from
the Brimont fort that the Germans
/: have bombarded the city Of Rheims.
The French troops now are close to
this ridge which is likely to play a
prominent part in coming lighting.
In capturing Loivre they are nearer
Bermicourt and have gone far beyond
the famous position they lost in the
battle Of the Marne.
strussls Desperate Near craonne.
According to the latest news the
Germans are bombarding the lost
trenches furiously, counter attack after
counter attack having been delivered
during the night The struggle Is par
tfcularly fierce near Craonne.
y The French advance averages in
l depth between two and two and q half
4 miles beyond the first German posi-
tions, composed Of five to six lines OF
trenches.
,'he victory does not compare with
the Somme Offensive In point Of ter
ritory. but Viewed from the amount
ssof destruction to the enemys armed
force it Ia a far greater success. Here
there can be no question either of a
Il previously planned retreat or sur
prise. The enemy expected an attack
and made every preparation to defeat
1t.
ss& New Curtain Fire Effective.
From Soissons to Craonne the Ger
man line runs along a series Of hills
.of an average height Of 500 feet. The
attackers advanced up the valleys un-
der a cross fire on each flank, but the
y artillery curtain on new plan in
4 vented by = British general was SO
effective thatSthe operation was car
r.ed out at less loss than might be ex-
pected.
The weak point in, the German line
I: Is from Craonne to Rheims where the
I ground Is more level. Here the at
( tack made more progress and danger
L 4of a rupture Of the line became so i'm
nlinent that the Germans threw in all
their reserves. The reserves were
smashed by the French artillery.
1S7zs sS4s9E f7cpujss German Counter Attacks.
German counter attacks in force in
II HE region Of Allies and Courcy were
tepulsed last night by the French ac-
4 cording to an official statement. Heavy
iosses were inflicted on the Germans.
The statement says:
North and south of the Disc there
vas intermittent artillery fighting. Our
patrols brought back prisoners.
Between Scissors and Rheims our
{ troops are organizing the positions
3 captured In this region q strong Ger
II man counter attack on our new lines
Vas broken up by our artillery fire
4 which inflicted severe loss on the
esselny Other German counter attacks
! ~. Ire sector of Ceurcy were broken up
sS1i;S weather continues bad over the
y vysvlIo1e 'front.' \
III ~ \ s,hsnpasns the night ~