The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1917-04-28
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WHITEHEAD IN
CANNON BLAST
Again and Again They Try
to Retake Blood Soaked
Heights of Arras.
BRITISH STILL
GRIND FORWARD
French Drive Wedges Into
German Defense in the
Campaign Region.
By ASSOCIATED PRESS

The desperate efforts of the Ger
mans to drive the British from the
captured heights on the Arras front
have failed after four days of the
bitterest fighting that the world has
seen since the bloody days of Ver-
dun.
Tens of thousands Of Germans
were hurled forward again and again
only to recoil blasted and withered
from the inferno caused by the
British fire.
Military critics expect that the at
tacks will be renewed again if the
German man-power can stand the
awful drain. They base this expec-
tation on the great strategical i'm
portance of the blood soaked heights
which the British have wrested from
their foes. These hills crown the
great plain of Douai and their I'M
molested retention by General Haig
spells almost certain doom to the
Wotan line, the last protecting bar
rier before Douai and Cambria.
Forging Ahead.
Having withstood all the violent
attempts of the Germans to drive
them from the commanding positions
they have taken on the Arras battle
field, the British have again begun
to forge ahead. General Haig's re-
port today shows advances for his
troops in two of the most important
| sectors of the front.
On the two and one-half mile line
between Roeux and Gavrelle import
ant positions have been captured,
driving still further the wedge into
! the German lines toward Douai.
| Likewise in the Monchy- Guemappe
region near the Arras Cambria road,
| similar telling inroads have been
made in the German defense system.
| The French armies along the Aisne
front are also employing their infan-
try to good effect. Gains Of ground
in the Hurtebise region where Ger
man possession of Craonne is being
menaced, are reported by Paris to-
day. The French position near Cerny,
west of the Vauclerc plateau also has
been improved. The French like
wise have advanced near Moronvil-
liers and elsewhere in the Cham
| payne.
The British campaign in Mesopo-
tamia continues to score marked
progress. General Maude has fol-
lowed the Turks northward from Sa-
mara, from which they have retired
several miles, and now reports the
British in touch with them along the
foothills of the range between the
| Diala and the Tigris, where they are
entrenching.
| With the exception of a slight
French advance, only artillery activ-
| ity continues Bombardments are
| heavy between Lens and Auberville.
While the Germans have apparently
checked the British advance, their
efforts to retake positions recently
captured by the British and French
met with sanguinary failure.
Reports from Paris say the recent
German attempts to break the French
/ grip in the northeast of Scissors re-
suited in the loss of more than two
hundred thousand men in killed,
wounded and captured. In air fights
the Anglo-French airrnen brought
| down ten German machines and in
iured twelve others.
Berlin claims the destruction OF
eleven entente machines.
The British in Mesopotamia are
preparing to attack the Turks who
are intrenched in the Jebel Hamrin
hills after retreating from Samara.
The French have advanced near to
Cerny and Chemin Les Danes, where
German attacks were repulsed Thurs
| day