Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1917-04-17
Associated Press COrreSpOn-
dent Graphically Pictures
Huge Drive Commenced by
British and French.
TEN OF GERMANY'S BEST
DIVISIONS DESTROYED
Horrible Slaughter Occurs
When Retreating Teuton
Forces Are Caught in Their
Own Barbed Wire,
lay MORNING ,ousa.L SPECIAL ls.srO w,pri

British Headquarters in France,
April 16 (via London, 1910 p. m.
From a Staff Correspondent of the
Associated Pross) With the hot
flames of war raging along the entire
western front, British and French
alike, it can be stated that each detail
of the offensive plans has been work
ed out at prolonged conferences be-
tween General Nivelle and Field Mar
shal Haig and the war councils of
France and England.
The part to be played by each bel
ligerent has been definitely agreed
upon and a schedule has been ar
ranged as for one great cohesive
force, Various tasks have been pre-
cisely allotted along the wide-reach-
ing battle lines, and the results thus
far attained iustify the conclusion that
the supreme military test OF the war
is near at hand
British 10 Strike First.
1t was planned that the British
should strike from Arras while the
French guns still were roaring their
preparation for infantry hostilities
along a wide front farther to the
south. The successes gained in the
first stages of the British advance
have given the French great conf
dence in the inauguration of their
own enterprises
The whole struggle in the western
theater promises to be a titanic one.
The allies are prepared as never be-
fore both in material and personnel
and are cooperating with smooth %
ness which comes from a complete
understanding and thorough appre-
citation Of the work IN hand. The
Germans have more divisions on the
western front than would have been
thought possible a year ago, and,
however much of an ''easterner' Field
Marshal Won Hindenburg may have
been in the past, he will have to de-
vote his entire time and attention to
western events for some weeks to
come,
Best Divisions Smashed.
Already half score of Germany's
best divisions have been smashed to
pieces. The Bavarian divisions were
sacrificed first but the Prussian guard
divisions, thrown in to stem the Brit
ish flood tide, have been suffering
such casualties in the last few days
that they will have 70 be relieved.
The Canadians accounted for
ldTSp contingent VI Sitilhulplo III viz
fighting about the Pimple, while yes
terday's affair at Lagnicourt took its
heaviest toll both in dead and pris-
oners from five German regiments.
Trapped by Barbed Wire.
It will ever be one of the most
striking pictures of this war, the rout
of the Germans at Lagnicourt after
what they believed to have been a
successful attack. Running from
their own trenches, which were part
OF the famed "Hindenburg line" they
were trapped by the barbed wire en-
tanglements. which had been built
with such great strength and thick
ness in front of them. The boast OF
the Hindenburg line has been its belt
of protective wire.
slaughter Is Terrific.
Caught within the meshes of this
wire, the German guardsmen
screamed madly for help and guild
ance. Some, like trapped rats, sour
ried up ard down the outer barrier,
searching in vain for openings. The
British troops, meantime, had the
greatest opportunity for open field
rifle shooting since the battle of the
Marne. Lying upon the ground, they
poured bullets into the panic-stricken
gray-coated Germans until each man
had fired full 100 rounds.
While this was going on, the Brit
ish field guns came into play with a
shrapnel barrage, which completed
the demolition of the entrapped en-
emy.
Dead Piled i'm Field
1t was little wonder that later 1900
German dead could be counted or
that 400 euardsemn surrendered with
upheld hands and emotional cries of
-'kamerad, kamerad." Everywhere
they have been pushed back from
the British front, and especially north
of the rolled up" portion of the Hin
denburg line, the Germans are endea-
wording by every means to gain time
in order to complete defenses upon
which to fall back. Their efforts to
dig in. everywhere and seek the shelter
of strongly fortified lines do not tend
to corroborate the oft-stated German
hopes that the warfare might become
open again.
Use Captured Guns.
Lens virtually was invested today,
although the Germans are making a
~s~~~s~s~~~s~>-~--~-~~~>~
Continued on Page Two.J