The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1917-04-27
GERMANS MAY
RESUME ATTACK
CRITICS BELIEVE
Desperate Efforts to Drive Allies
From Captured Arras
Heights Fail
RISING CURRENTS OF ,~
DISTRESS AGAIN HEARD
Teutons Employ Old "Kamerad"
Ruse Nearly Resulting in
Disaster to Enemy
(By Associated Press.)

(6y Associated PreS0.)
The desperate efforts of the Cor
mans to drive the British from cap.
tured heights of the Arras front have
failed, after four days of the bitter
est fighting that the world has ever
seen since the bloody days of Yer
dun.
Tens of thousands of Germans
were hurled forward again and again.
only to recoil blasted and Withered
tish fire
May Resume Attack.
Military critics expect That the at
tack will he resumed if the German
man power can stand the awful drain.
They base this expectation on the
great strategetical importance Of the
blood soaked heights, which the Bri-
tish have wrested from their foes.
These hills crown the great plain
of Douai, and their unmolested re-
tention by General Haig spells almost
certain doom to the Wotan line, the
last protecting barrier before DOuai
and Cambria.
In the lull of the great battle, the
murmurs Of the rising currents Of
discomfort which are seeping through
Europe can be heard more plainly.
Despite all the wondrous war weap-
ons modern science has created, the
cold steel Of the bayonet has asserted
itself anew in much OF the recent
bitter fighting as the arm of last
appeal. The struggles round Money
M-Preux since Wednesday have It,
tanned a fierceness not equaled on the
Somme last year
There was one German position
north of the town and paralleling tho
Scarpe river which resisted four des.
perate attacks. 1t was finally decid-
ed to take this position at the point
of the bayonet without shot Of any
kind being fired to rob the attack Of
its surprise nature. The attack was
made along three-quarters Of mile
front under cover of darkness
Attack in Darkness.
The British battalions were formed
in comparatively close order and at
the whispered word Of command the
line thrust forward into the night.
Grim and silent figures, they were,
some in kits. some in plain khaki,
each man wearing a steel helmet.
each having a firm grip on his ride
with fixed bayonet, the polished sur
face of which, however, caught no re-
hecting CLINT in the enveloping dark.
ness.
Overhead shells were droning and
back of the lines guns could be
heard. But it was only a desultory
bombardment going on and there
were t1eeting intervals Of strange
quiet just when the determined line
of British troops was approaching
their uns Inspecting gray-clad foes.
Wipe Out Former Defeats.
-Four unsuccessful daylight assaults
had left touch of chagrin which was
to be wiped out in this getting" Of q
man. There is little more to tell. The
sound of the fighting in the trenches
was lost in the British barrage which
closed down some distance behind
the German position Immediately the
British signaled they had entered the
position. This barrage cut off any
German w;o attempted to fee from
the hayonet charge. Thus. in 10 min
utes with the silent bayonet was sc.
cured position which has held out
for two days.
The bayonet also has come in effec-
lively in dealing with the ever-trou.
blesome machine gun and gunners.
A few brave men, stealing out In the
night. have been able to accomplish
much.
Using Old Ruse.
Several British battalions have re-
ported in the last few days that the
Germans are again employing the old
"kamerad' ruse, suddenly standing
up in the shallow trenches and hold.
ing up their hands and shouting
across to their opponents that they
would surrender. Two battalions BE-
lieved the sincerity of this proposal
and started across to bring in tAe pri-
soners, but were Immediately At
tackled
Incidents like this have helped ma.
terially to give the element Of bit
terness to the fighting to a degree
which has startled even those men
who have been in the battles since
the first German rush through Bel.
GUM.