The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1918-04-05
important Incidents OF First Week
Of Great Battle Are Given
to Public.
GERMAN AIMS NOT REALIZED
Moved Down by Hais's Heroic Men.
the kaiser's Troops Push To-
ward the somme by Sheer
Force Of Numbers.

/ tAhNf 8hite the URHtlnK mas been mol
severe than In any previous offensiv
there has been no cause for pessimlsr
The German losses have been te
rifle, probably 100000 casualties ha,
ing been suffered by the kalser's host
AZ such cost they won less than on,
third Of the ground on which they Ia
counted. The morale of the BIRTHS
troops has been perfect throughot
and they have fought magnificently.
Million Germans In Action.
These facts stand out:
II Is known that at least 1,OO0.OO
Germans were engaged on the Who'll
front Of attack. In the Somme are
not less than 80 army divisions wer
Identified, The British line sufferet
Its most severe bufeting In thi
stretch, but was firm everywhere.
The Germans believed that los,
Of 100000 would be cheap price fol
success In the west, but with loss
already OF $4,000 there is no pros
pect Of their attaining the victory they
seek.
They regalned all the ground lost in
the Cambria battle and have taken
back sections OF the territory taken
from them In the Somme offensive of
last year.
The fighting was not by any means
a continual German advance. The
British CONGRATULATED heavily and
fought for every foot OF ground.
Details Of the Fighting.
In one battle on the extreme left
he Germans employed not less than
iine divisions In an effort to break
trough For three days the three
British divisions held them at bay.
'inally, under weight of numbers, the
ritish retired behind the line marked
Y the ruined villages of Bullecourt,
asst Nogueil and CroIselles.
The next morning the Germans re-
WED the attack, striking northward
ON Fontalnelles and Croiselles and
from Cherissy. They drove
mass formation, wave afte@-wave,
ward the heights between Henin-sur-
,ieul TO Henin hill.
Two hours of drum fire, In which
is and high-explosive shells We're
ingled, preceded the infantry attack.
rom eight o'clock In the morning un-
noon continuous waves Of gray-clad
oops stormed the heights.
British machine guns posted on the
dye swept down line after line OF
ermans. BY three o'clock in the aft
moon the Teutons had succeeded In
ressing past Henin hill on both sides
nd threatened to cut off the machine
uuners posted on the crests, Not
ntil then did the latter retire and re-
DIN the main British force.
Similar fighting was going on at the
anne time on the right wing. Tremen-
ious pressure was brought TO bear
Iround st. Leger, vaux and Vrau-
curt. II lasted all day
AT times under the German blows
he British line sagged heavily, but at
no point did II give way.
Desperate Defense Of VauIx.
A bitter battle was fought for pos
session OF Naulx, hut British machine
gunners posted in the ruins of the
village held the Germans at bay. A
ruined factory served as fortress
despite the Smelling to which 1t was
subjected
Not until late In the afternoon was
II impossible for the British 10 hold
the town longer Even then the re-
treat only went for thousand yards.
The British rear guard fought every
step Of the way, and, returning TO the
main body, counter-attaCk was
launched against the Germans In nos
session of Naulx and the village was
regalned
The fighting continued all night
Finally Naulx had to be abandoned
before heavy night attacks, but only
because German forces had pushed
past further up the line and wer,
driving to the attack OF Mory.
| Another bitter struggle was Tough
around CroIselles. At Mory Scottish
and English troops inflicted tremen
dous losses on the Germans.
Sunday Battle South OF Peronne.
The fighting Sunday was tremer
dous, All day long heavy forces Q
Germans endeavored TO force a eros,
ing Of the Somme south Of Peronnt
while further along the line they con
centrated their efforts against RI
paume.
Repeatedly German engineers a
tempted TO throw pontoon brldg,
across the river, ON the near-t
heights British field guns firing pra
tlcally AT point range smashed eve
effort. ON some occasions British |
fantry. counter-attacking, dashed in
the water to fight the Germans.
With the object of capturing Z
vtllers and Essigny, southwest of !
Quentin, the Germans employed
least six divisions. or 1900 men
storming troops, the 50th, 45th q
servesl. nth, SSth, 1STth and 23Si
in the proportion of one division
every British battalion. The ayera
width Of each attack was 1000 ware
Ten Tanks Wreak Havoc Amid r