Omaha daily bee., 1918-06-14
CUT
UP BY Bic;
GUNS FIRE
Many Dead and Wounded Left
on Field After Unsuccessful
Attack on French Near
Montdidier.
(By A.sociated Press.

The offensive movement or
the Germans between Monti.
didier and NoyonN and from
south Of the Oise river to the
eastern fringe Of the forest Of
Villers Cotterets apparently
are on the wane. In the former
region the fierce resistance Of
the French and the allied
forces, for the time being at
least, have checked the enemy
at all points and on some sec
tors the allies have even turned
vigorously upon >the foe and
forced him to cede ground he
had gained.
Only one attempt apparently was
made by the enemy Thursday to
better his, positions near Montdidier..
Here he launched a violent counter
attack from Courcelles to the north
of Mery--a front of about mile and
a half-but was bdly cut up by the
fire OF the allied guns and forced to
retreat, leaving numerous dead and
wounded on the field.
German Gains Small.
Likewise. south OF the Aisnc the
invaders are meeting with unexpected
opposition, and Notwithstanding the
large numbers OF men they have
thrown into the battle, their gains
have been relatively small. East Of
Scissors they penetrated to the
village OF Laversine. but were unable
to advance on any of the other Sec
tors, although at one time north Of
Courcy French trenches were enter
ed under the force of the impact A
counter attack resulted ID these
trenches being recaptured almost i1ia,.
Enediatcly.
The sole result of the cncyiiy,s at
tack on, the Montdidicr-Noyon line
up to the present is that he has BY
the, violence of his attacks eact of
the Disc and the forced retreat of
the French from the region west of
the stream, blotted out the awkward
Noyon salient and brought the battle
front more into direct alignment with
that beginning at the Aisne. And =
terrible price has been paid by the
Germans for this .recti1cation Of the
line. Whether they are prepared
again to offer hugs sacrifice in bend
ing back the other salient from the \
Aisne to, Villers Cottcrcts and bring
the Picardy and Aisnc battle fields
into more continuous front remains
to be seen.
Americans Take Heavy Spoils.
In addition to the large number OF
prisoners taken by the allied forces.
10 cannon, four being heavy weapons.
and large number of machine guns
have fallen into their hands. The
German war office admits the loss of
some German guns but asserts their
forces have taken at least $50 allied
guns and more than $4,000 prisoners.
The Germans again have cndeavor-
ed to force the Americans from posi-
tons captured northwest Qf Chateau
Thierry, but again met with defeat
and the loss Of numerous men. The
attack was delivered between Bou-
resches and Bellcau wood, bnt no-
where was the enemy able to gain
his objectues,
American officers and men to the
number of 1903, fighting on the Toul
sector have been awarded the French
war cross for bravery and fidelity.
Aside from Macedonia, the opera.
tons in the other theaters of the wat
continue Of minor character. con-
sisting mainly Of mutual bombards
ments and patrol encounters. In
Macedonia the French troops have
captured territory to depth oi
nearly nine and half miles over an
II mile front, occupied II villages
and taken $40 Of the enemy prisoners.
According 10 an unofficial report
.emanating from, Berlin, the German
admiralty is to declare the waters oi
the American COAST from Mexico to
Canada danger zone for neutral
shipping.