Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1918-07-16
HUN DRIVE FAST Of RHEIMS STOPPED' WITHIN 5 HOURS French Initiated Counter Attacks Late in the
 Morning. GERMANS GAINED MORE ON WEST SIDE Then They Advanced Only q Mile Be. y0md the MarNo on a Ten.Mi
 Front-Ententp Leaders
 Optimistic.

London, July 15.--The great Ger man attack was definitely held up on the whole front east of Rheims five hours after it was launched accord ing to latest advices reaching Lon don and the only German gains worth mentioning were in the neighborhood of the Souain road and Prunay, where they succeeded in pentrating for about one and on-half miles on narrow trent. At both these points the Fresch initiated strong counter attacks late ! in the morning.
 On the front west of Rheims the Germans had rather more success but the only important gain to their credit of the mornings work was the crossing of the Marne and a zone a little more than a mile beyond on a front of about 10 miles.
 The Marne in this district is only small river It is shallow and can be easily crossed in the early morn ing mists. Its loss to the allies, how ever, deprives them of a fairl V val uable defensive landmark.
 Unprecedented B0mbardment
 The battle began with wholesale bombardment inaugurated about mid- night along the whole front from Chateau Thierry to Messages, ex- cept for narrow sector around Rheims. This intensified lombard ment of the French lines with the usual accompaniment of trench mor- tars by the thousands, also was rein forced by long range bombardment cf back areas on scale greater than heretofore attempted This back area bombardment was systematically dir ected along the line of Chalons, Mont mirail and La Forte-Sous Jouarre. and the map shows that this line is situated from 12 to IS miles behind the French front. The bombardment lasted until 4:30 o'clock.
 Then came the German attack. launched at dawn under the cover of morning mists which are particularlv heavy in the Marne valley. The French communications. however were fairly well maintained thru the morning and news of the German penetrations here and there came thru promptly to the general staff enabl- ing proper dispositions of the re- serves to be made rapidly and accur ately.
 The general view of the men who watched the progress of the battle from afar wa; that the Germans have lost some of their punch since their last big attempt, for nowhere did the present attack gain the sweeping sue cess which their previous efforts yielded them.
 By mid-afternoon the entente mili- tary experts were actually feeling optimistic, altho the danger was not vet over. But it was evident that the first big push had failed to yield the Germans anything like the re- suits which might have been expect ed.
 FOch Expected Attack
 One reason probably is that the attack this time had no element of surprise for General Foch knew of the German intention days in ad- vance and the French made their plans for it last week Even in the main region where the Germans made their most important gain they have not reached the high ground south of the Marne which is startegically very :, important.
 In their previous attacks the Ger mans used one division to each mile of front. Hence it is estimated that they are using at least 60 divisions in the present operation which would mean between 100000 and 8OO,O0O men.