Arizona republican., 1917-07-08
PERSONAL ELEMENT
 WINS VICTORIES
IRepubIican 4. P. Leased Wire]


 FRENCH FRONT IN FRANCE, l July 7.-(By the Associated Press.)- Personal initiative, combined with bravery and tenacity, won for the French a splendid victory when the Germans attempted last Tuesday night to re-take Chemin des Danes by furious attack The commanding gen. eral, after inspecting the entire 11-mile line where the battle occurred, declared to the Associated Press today.
 "The German crown prince had ar ranged a surprise party for us in order to offset the Russian victory in Galicia. but he knocked at the wrong door and received disagreeable. reception,
 Before the enemys attack began an uncanry silence reigned along this famous road where the hostile armies are facing each other at close quarters. Suddenly the German bombardment opened and it's intensity impressed the French general as being greater than he ever before experienced on the Somme or Nerdun or in the Cham pagne, where he had taken part i nall the battles since the beginning of hos tilities.
 The shell smoke was thick and the fumes from poisonous and lacrymose shells were so heavy it was impossible to take observations. The French general attempted to communicate with his battalion and artillery commanders. but the wires had been broken by projectiles Then, to his astonishment, { he saw his own artillery, without wait ing for orders, open a barrage fire. He earned later that his artillery colonel,
 suspecting something was about to occur. had gone to a much exposed lis tening post between the opposing i trenches and from this vantage point observed an unusual activity in the German lines. The colonel therefore ordered curtain of fire directed in front of the Germans.
 Meanwhile, the French infantry in l the first line swept the German front
 lines with rifle fire and hand grenades while the French trench mortars
 worked as never before The German l infantrymen who could be seen wait
 ing with bayonets fixed now found it l impossible to leave their trenches and l go over the top. At this stage of the 1 battle, on the line from California | plateau above Craonne to the Case i matsson plateau, ? 900 yards westward, ! the greater part of two German diViS- l ions joined in the attack. Their artil- i lery, owing to the close proximity of
 the French and German lines, was un- | 1 from fear of hitting their own men,
 The French gunners. more accurate in 1 firing, managed to shower shells on the 1 German trenches.
 l Several strong detachments of Ger man infantrymen notwithstanding the ! severity of the French cannonading 1 succeeded in crossing the intervening
 space and obtained a footing in the French trenches at few points. The i defenders, composed of regiments from l southern France who had originally | captured the position. were determined 1 to maintain their hold They then coun-
 ter attacked and everywhere ejected
 the Germans Then they impetuously
 advanced and captured several German 1 trenches which they still hold.
 The whole action here 2s at other 1 points in this battle on the II mile 1 front was not mere trench raid, but a carefully planned attempt by the Ger mans to reconquer Chemin des Danes, to whose loss they cannot reconcile 1 themselves. The nature of the attack 1 is proved by the fact that the German 1 infantrymen carried into battle with their whole equipment and several 1 days rationS and they evidently were confident of success.
 Hundreds of their dead, many of
 whom were youths of the 1918 class, lie
 with packs still wrapped on their backs l in front of the French lines and in the
 shell craters. The French commanding
 officers are enthusiastic about the un-
 diminished dash and vigor of their men
 which they regard as largely attribu
 table to the moral aid provided by the
 arrival of American troops in France
 and the Russian forward movement in l! Galicia
 The commanding general declared tC
 the Associated Press that the presence 1 of American fighting men not only en | couraged the French soldiers in the
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