Licking Valley courier., 1917-12-20

The poisonous fumes.
trains carrying vast numbers Of troops
and immense quantities of supplies,
and for days the German artillery was
excessively active. Various feeling-out
movements were undertaken against
the French without success, and on
Wednesday the Germans made three
violent attacks on the British between
Bullecourt and Queant. The first two
were repulsed and the third gave the
enemy possession of an already Oblit-
Grated trench at the apex of the angle
In the British lines.
This, of course, was not the main at
tack planned by Won Hindenburg, who,
1t was believed, would soon start his
greatest offensive on the west In two
years, with the assistance Of many
Austrian divisions. The British and
French were on tiptOe to meet 1t, and
1t was taken for granted that some at
least of General Pershing's American
forces would have part in the battle.
Indeed, some observers predicted that
an attempt would be made to smash
that part of the line toward Alsace
where most of the Americans have
been stationed. Others believed the
main attack Of the Germans would be
delivered against the French between
Reims and Verdun.
y Italian Front Seems Safe.
For several days the Austrians, Hun
garians and Germans made continuous
and heavy assaults on the Italians be-
tween the Plave and Brenta rivers
north Of Monte Grappa. The fighting
was severe and the losses large, but
the enemy made slight impression on
the Italian line, gaining a prccarlous
foothold in some positions on Mont,
Spinoncia and Col Orso. The Italians
are lighting with the utmost determine
tiOn and are greatly cheered by the
prospect of American help. On Thurs
day large number of American am.
bulance men with their cars left Rome
for the Piave river front. 1t Is inter.
esting to note that the first American
shot against Austria was fired by Rep.
resentatlve Tlnkham of Massachusetts
on the lower Piave. On invitation of
an Italian officer he sent a big shell
hurtling across to the Austrian line.
regardless of the fact that If the enemy
should capture him he could be exc.
cuted as ''franc-tlreur."
Bearing out the statement that the
Teutonic effort in Italy has exhausted
Itself Is the welcome news that heavy
snow Is falling in the mountains at the
west end of the front, rendering diff.
cult the further transportation of men
and material. The Italians, however.
expect to hold the enemy by strength
Of arms rather than with the aid of ma.
ture.
The Italian navy is doing its part
In the defense and on Sunday pight n
torpedo boat flotilla entered thu hor.
bor of Trieste and sank two Austrian
battleships, one of them being the
Wien.
Occupation Of Jerusalem.
The occupation of Jerusalem by Gen.
eral Allenby's expedition caused great
rejoicing among Christians and Jews
of the civilized world. The event has
more than sentimental value. for the
possession OF the Holy City by the
British makes safe the Suez canal and
provides them with a base from which
to threaten seriously the Turks to the
east and north. In conjunction with
the British operations I'm Mesopo-
tamia, Allenby's success In Palestine is
very important to the cause of the nj.
lies. As was predicted, Jerusalem was
taken without the necessity Of bom.
bardment, and Its captors are ade.
quately protecting the holy places.
In Mesopotamia General Falkenhayn
launched his expected offensive, at.
tacking General Marshalls army with
n strong force of Turks and Germans
Ihe' British were compelled TO fall
back across the Dlala and Edkem rlv.
ers with the enemy In pursuit. II Is
taken for granted that Falkenhayn's
intention Is to make u great effort to
recapture Bagdad.
Though the number of British YES.
sells SUNK by submarines, as reported
by the admiralty, was stlll too large for
comfort those In II position to know
assert thai the U-boat campaign really
has proved failure and that the sub
mersibles are being destroyed or cap
tured almost as fast as Germany can
hulld them. Moreover, the British ship
yards are now turning out almost as
much tonnage monthly us the Germans
destroy and are fast increasing their
output .A &
investigating Dllatory Methods.
Thetexpected and Inevitable attack
on our methods Of war preparation
came last week In the form of an In.
veshgation by the. senate committee
on military arqffs. Enough Of what