The sun., 1917-05-18
IS
WON BY BRITISH
Only Sixty Germans Left in
Village After Two Weeks
Battle.
BIG RETREAT EXPECTED
Fires Behind TeutOn Line Are
Taken as FOreshadOwing
New Withdrawal.
BIG RETREAT EXPECTED

Hindenburg's efforts to stop the British
progress in the Arras battle is shown by
the fact that the last Germans who held
out In Bullecourt have beeen captured
and the whole village is in British hands
tonight On the French front German
attacks were incessani but vain. Paris
announces.
The desperate German counter Of
fensive against the French, now In its
third day. is considered in competent
quarters In Paris as intended to mask
a further retirement of the German first
line on other parts Of the front, says a
Paris despatch. During the last few
days the number OF fires in villages be-
hind the German front north and south
of st. Quentin has greatly increased.
st. Quentin has been burning for some
time.
Hard Fight for Bullecourt.
Incessant fighting has been going on
at Bullecourt for exactly two weeks to-
day Last Saturday British and Austria
lians almost had the village. but n small
force of Germans held out in the western
outskirts. Hemmed in on two sides,
these troops held out until to-day with
bombs and machine guns. There were
sixty of them left. and tonight they
were sent to the rear as prisoners.
The position of the Australian troops
In the Hindenburg line east of Bulle-
court. between that village and Queant.
is now more secure than at any time
since they first penetrated the trenches
of the famous defence system. Oueant
is practically uncovered from the west
and the next attack in this region Is very
likely to he on that village.
on the French front the fierce lighting
about Laffaux mill. a position more
vital than Bullecourt. continued night
and day. with the Germans coming for
ward time after time " the attempt to
retake the lost ground There Is some
conflict In the official statements as to
how that fighting went.
French Reestablish Lines.
The German night statement says
There is nothing to report The
French night statement says: THE Ger
mans renewed their attempts in the re-
gion Eprth of the Laffaux mill. where
We have entirely reestablished our lines. ="
The French afternoon. statement says
that "ail the German efforts to recapture
the ground gained by us were repulsed.'
The German afternoon statement says.
however. that near Vauxaillon and east
of I.affaux the German line was ad-
vanced some hundreds of meters" and
2tS prisoners and several machine guns
were taken.
According to the German official
statement to-day. thus far in May the
Allies have lost 5000 men in prisoners.
OF these $500 are British and 2.700
French. The total of German prisoners
taken by the Allies Is twice this num-
Der. The official statement follows:
All BuiIccOurt Occupied.
British Night Statement - To-day
our troops completed the capture OF
Bullecourt. taking some sixty prison
ers
The whole OF the village, for the
possession Of which constant fighting
has taken place since May 3. Is now
in our hands
French Night Statement The
Germans renewed their attempts in
tho region north OF Laffaux mill. where
we have entirely rcestablshed our
lines. Near Freidmont farm an
enemy surprise attack failed.
On our part we made appreciable
progress east OF Craonne. capturing
some trench elements in the region o!
Hill los. south of Berry uBac. We
took number of prisoners
French Aviators Victors.
In the period from May to lS
Sub-Lieut. Nungesser brought down
three German airplapes. which brought
up to twenty-seven the number of
machines destroyed thus far by this
C,th NJ liant hro,.ylt
down in the same period his twenty
third adversary, Lieut.. Duellin his
fifteenth. Sub-Lieut. Chaput his elev-
enth. Adjt. Jailler his ninth, Adjt.
Casale his eighth. Finally. Capt.
Auger increased to five the number OF
enemy airplanes brought to earth by
him.
French Afternoon Statement-The
night was marked by new enemy at
tacks in the region north Of Laffaux
mill. All German efforts to recapture
the ground gained by us were repulsed.
Germans Suffer Heavily.
Northwest of Braye- -Laonnois
three German detachments made at
tacks. The enemy made several at
tempts to approach our lines In the
sector between La Royere farm and
Epine de Chevregny. He suffered Sc
rious losses from our barrage and OBJ
tained no result.
German Day Statement-In conse-
quence OF a strong British counter at
tack we were compelled to give up
some ground which we had captured
in the village OF Roeux during the
early morning Strong British ATTACKS
Initiated during the forenoon and after
noon to the north of the Scarpe In
conjunction with the foregoing engage
mcnt were repulsed with heavy losses
for the enemy. Also southwest OF
Riencourt British advances met with
not the slightest success. On the front
occupied by this army group $500
!. British prisoners have been taken since
the beginning Of May.
Near Vauxaillon and east OF LSffaux
we pushed forward our line some hun
dreds OF meters by surprise attack
and held the ground gained against
French attacks. In this fight the en-
| envy, apart from his losses in killed
or wounded. left 2is prisoners and sew
| eral machine guns in our hands
West of Froidmont farm. near
! Braye-en-Laonnois. we succeeded In
wrestling from the enemy a portion Of
an advanced position and some prison.
| ers. As result the number OF prls-
oners taken on the French front Since
| the beginning OF this month has been
increased to 1900. Otherwise the
fighting In the area OF this army group
| and also on the other fronts In the
west was not active. operations being
hanpsred by rain.
f Hs n <t,.tI .ss lsfr :. q AZ Z Il n y i Y