The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1917-04-25
BRITISH TAKE 1000
As YESTERDAYS WORK
Great Battle RACES in Front OF "Wo-
tan Line" With British Firmly
Holding Initiative.
DISPUTE IN OFFICIAL REPORTS
Berlin Claims Failure to Break
Through Constitutes Real German
victory-British Say Every Objec-
tive Attained

. mile on front of fourteen miles.
That Is what the British had to
combat with in yesterdays terrthc
battle on the Arras front. the full
story OF which was not told until to-
night when British headquarters took
occasion to contradict In detail Ger
man official account representing the
battle as sweeping victory for the
Teuton arms.
Today the Britons again smashed
ahead. making more than 2,o00 pris-
oners and capturing number OF i'm
portant points both on the front fac
|, Ing the Wotan line. and further TO
the southeast, toward st. Quentin.
But today's fighting, though fierce,
days battle. the detailed account OF
which took up the greater part of
tonight's official report.
Trying to Explain Defeats.
Taking sharp issue with the Ger
man assertions, the British high COM
mand accuses the German war Office
IT making mendacious statements in
an effort to explain away their de-
feat and encourage the German PEG
u then disputes the German claims
IN detail. But most interesting is the
r"'-t lilo that no fewer than seven
'Nr'"re divisions were engaged yes
terday or the front between CroiseIies
and Gravelle. front OF fourteen miles
t,.ten.cfi Sir Douglas Haig resumed
his great drive. This makes a total
!, Of 100000 defenders on the line OF
~anack. or ten thousands to q mile.
Berlin in its official statement which
combines glowing praise for the Ger
man troops with an indirect moral
spanking of the munition workers
who struck last week. asserts that the
second great British thrust TO break
through the German lines broke
down completely.
The official British answer is that
there was no intention whatever to
break through. that the sole objective
of Yesterdays thrust were three viii
lagos: Gravelie. Germappe and Roeux.
and that the two first named were
captured while the British establiyhed
themselves in the western outskirts of
the third.
Berlin mentioned that beside these
three points three others as the hot
es, places in the fierce struggle. name
~ the western suburbs of Lens Avions
and Oppe To this the British war
Once replies that no attack whatever
was made on these points which are
AZ a considerable distance from our
lines
re German official statement saws
that the attacking front was thirty
kilometers in length. The British
statement disputes this. saying IL was
only fourteen kilometers.
Contrary TO the German claim that
The British were repulsed everywhere
q. except in the ruins Of eiuemappe, the
british bulletin says: We were sue
cc7 SUR everywhere.
Wide Divergence i'm Claims.
Never In the history OF this war
has such wide divergence of official
claims appeared ia the london and
Berlin war office reports.
What the British war office objects
10 most strenuouSy is the imputattor
nv the German high command Of GER
tain objects to British strategy and
the subsequent claim that the British
tailed to attain these detectives"
Neither on April . nor on the 2Srd
did we attempt 10 break through"
says the British counter-report. In
the sense conveyed nv the German
communicate. Our detectives in each
case were limited. and in both cases
we gained the ol,jectives assigned to
our attacking troops"
Except for few buildings in Roeux'
village 1t il stated. the Germans failed
"a wrest from the British any nj the
ground gained In yesterdays battle.
Teu+ou troops who succeeded in pene-
trating the British barraSe fire were
literally moved down Progress was
made ali along the front. one British
corps took prisoners from four differ
emit German divisions
To-day again countless German at
lacks were broken up by the British
IRE.
$40 German official statement to
which the British war office replied
tonight is particularly remarkah'" IN"
!, massage dealing with the home
army" Every German, man or won
an peasant or lahorer. ia praised AMI
thanked for having made possible the
-successes of the recent battles The
statement points out that the soldier
at the front knows that every man
or woman AT home Is doing his or her
duty
Greatest since Marine.
The first great open battle since the
Marine Is raging In the west between
Rritonx and Teutons, in front Of the
now famous "Wotan line" and further
aouthward as far as ST. Quentin
Trenches and dugouts are forgotten
Old-fashioned warfare has been re-
vived It Is now a man to man fight.
Each individual Briton and Teuton to-
day, more than at any stage OF the
world war shares the responsibility of
victory or, defeat: for all Europe looks
npon the present battle as the de-
cisiye military clash Of the great con-
fict Today's official Headquarters
bulletin as well as every dispatch
from the front breathes infiexible faith
in the British arms. All agree that
the initiative cannot be wrested from
Sir Douglas Haig and that his initia-
tive again accomplished today was as
set forth In the official bulletin. All
along the front the British were vic
torious throughout the day. Where
they did not smash further ahead they
beat off wrathful Teuton onslaughts
holding firmly every inch of ground
gained since the big push began two
weeks ago yesterday. More than 1000
prisoners taken in the last eight hours
had been counted up to this evening
during the last forty-eight hours and
many more are still to come in" said
the he's dq,iarters report.
The Berlin war office admitted to-
day the abandonment of the ruins OF
0uemaphe village. but asserted that
the British attempt to break through
near Arras failed with tremendous
losses" to the attackers. Only on the
Cambrai-Arras road did Sir Douglas
Haigs forces gain ground. the state
ment declared
The German report does not. how