The Knoxville independent. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1894-current, 1917-11-03
forms the southern extremity Of the
Hindenburg line, and can enfilade the

forms the southern extremity of the
Hindenburg line, and can enfllade the
crown princes troops that still hold
the northern edge of the plateau that
parallels the Chemin des Danes 1Ae
German line running north to the for
est of st. Gobain is in danger, and If
this gives way, the enemy would have
to give up his present front from
Chavignon to st. Quentin.
In this operation the French cap
tured Fort de la Malmaison and other
strong positions and routed some Of
the finest troops in the German army,
taking more than 5000 prisoners and
a great number of guns. The French
aviators did especially good work dur
ing the battle, flying at very low al
titude and breaking up with their ma
chine-gun fire several German attempts
to counter-attack.
The first French smash was made
on Tuesday, and again on Thursday
Petain's forces struck hard, driving
the Germans from Monkey mountain
and other strong positions and advanc-
ing to within eight miles of Laon. The
number of prisoners was increased to
$4,000.
Another Advance in Flanders.
The British, in Flanders, with the
French cooperating, pushed forward
about thousand yards on a front of
mile and half on Monday, taking
some important positions and getting
astride. the Ypres-Staden road The
Germans made desperate attempts to
recover the ground, but ~ seded in
t-regatnilfg only ore fs
of the Houtholst forest
On Saturday the French Imd' Bel
gians made a remarkable1 advance
across the flooded marsh lands of
Flanders under heavy fire and occu-
| pied the Merckem peninsula south of
Dixmude.
All week the allied aviators made
destructive raids behind the German
lines, dropping many tons of explo-
sives on munition works, lines of COM
munication and other military estab-
| lishments.
kerensky Attacked in Russia.
In many respects the weeks develop
ments in Russia were unsatisfactory.
, Though the fleet succeeded In keeping
the German sea forces out of the Gulf
! Of Finland for the time being, the
enemy completed the occupation Of the
! Islands at the mouth of the Gulf of
Riga. The civil population of Reval,
Kronstadt and in part of Helsingfors
was removed, and the government pro-
ceeded with its plans of moving to
Moscow. The worst of the news, how
ever, was that the council Of soldiers
and workmen had adopted resolu-
ton declaring the salvation Of the
country lay in the conclusion of peace
as soon as possible and that all4power
must pass into its hands, and accusing
Kerensky of openly favoring the kaiser
and seeking to give Petrograd into his
hands. Furthermore, the council has
given to its delegate to the coming con-
ference of the allies in Paris instruc-
tons that cannot fail to be displeasing
! to the other allies. They cover the
{ whole ground and would result in a
peace In some respects more German
than Germany itself dares to hope for.
Another source of anxiety to the al
lies, Great Britain especially, Is Ire
land. With the able assistance of Ger
man agents, the militant Sim Feiners
are becoming more defiant every day
until now the whole west part of the
island is said to be on the verge of
open rebellion. Several of the con-
spirators have been arrested in the
United States and others in Ireland.
Germany Loses Zeppelin Fleet.
! Germany, ridiculously indignant at
the promises of reprisals for her MUIR
derous air raids, threatened that "for
every brick which falls from peaceful
German homes whole rows of buildings
will be overthrown in Paris" Then
she sent big fleet of Zeppelins over
England, their bombs killing "a per-
sons From there the monster airships
sailed across to France to punish
Paris. But the Frenchmen were awake
and such an army of aviators and
storm of antiaircraft gunfire met the
invaders that four of them were
brought down and three others were
partly disabled and fed. One of the
Zeppelins was captured unlnjured and
as 1t is of the latest type 1t has been an
interesting object of study.
Preparing for Two Years More.
Although Americas land forces have
not yet begun to participate In the con-
t1ict, 1t becomes more apparent daily
that we will take commanding part
in the war. Great Britain and France
make 1t plain that they rely on the
United States to clinch the victory,
and Uncle Sam is girding up his loins