Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1918-04-14
There Is an Improvement in
Allied Position on Somme
Battle Front, Although Huns
Make Some Gains.
AMERICANS BEAT BACK
GERMAN COUNTER THRUST
City Of Rheims Is in FIamesi
French Fight Fire Amid a
Rain of SheIIsi Paris Cas-
uaItieS Total Twenty-four,

tsY MORNING Journal SPECIAL LEASED wisEl
TIFFENING British resistance has
checked the German drive south
~ ward from the Lys toward Be-
thune and westward from Merville to-
wards lTazebrouck, near the Belgian
border,
The enemy pressure Is continuing
with great weight toward the north
and desperate battling is in progress
along the line running southwest
from Messines to the south Of Bail.
loul.
The whole Ypres salient and the
continued safety of the channel ports
are pointed to by observers abroad as
at stake in the fighting now under
way. Hazebrouck and Ballleul. i'm
portant railway centers, arc vital
feeding points for Messines ridge and
the Ypres position In general.
SO far as aZebrouck is concerned
the Germans have been held for the
time, at least, on the edge OF the for.
est Of Nleppe. west of Merville. and
some five miles away from their OBJ
jective.
The Germans have been battering
away at the British line here since
they captured Merville on wednesday
night, but have advanced only q few
hundred yards, being stopped short of
the forest. which is about a mile and
u half beyond Merville
Little additional light was thrown
by Saturdays dispatches upon the sit
uation around Bailleul, to which the
Germans had worked very close in
Fridays fighting. II was revealed.
however, that the enemy was attack
ing heavily in the vicinity of Neuve
Eglise and Wulverghem, which lies In
the region to the northeast of Baii-
leul, between it'and Messines.
The British are on comparatively
high ground here and the reports did
not indicate that the Germans were
making much progress
British Resistance Stiff. &
on the southerly side of the wedge
which the Germans have driven in
between La Basse and Armentieres,
the British resistance was notably
stiff.
There was an Improvement also in
the allied position on the Somme bat
tie front The Germans had gained
a footing in Hangard- -Santerre.
southeast of Amiens, in an attack on
Friday but a combined drive by the
British and French during the night
at the point where their lines join. on
the river Luce near Hangard. re-
stored the situation, putting the
French again in complete possession Of
the village.
! Meanwhile the American forces are
contributing notably to the main
tenance of the line on sectors OF the
French front to the southeast. The
men in the sector northwest of Tout
added to their laurels last night by
repelling in conjunction with the
French. another German attack on
the positions in Brule wood, in the
forest of Apremont, east of st. Mihiel.
A counter-attack was launched and
the Germans were thrown out of the
position at point where they had
gained a footing.
Americans Fight Well.
"Details of the repulse of Fridays
two attacks upon the Americans in
this sector show that during the
fighting which lasted virtually all day,
the American troops inflicted heavy
Casualties on the enemy and took
thirty-six prisoners. They suffered
few casualties themselves and had no
men taken prisoner.
French troops are fighting a fire
in the city OF Rheims set by German
shells. The city has been under fire.
quent bombardment during the last
few weeks, Berlin declaring the she'll
ing was in reprisal for the shelling OF
German dugouts in Laon by the
French artillery. The effort to con-
troll the flames is proceeding under
heavy she'll fire.
Paris suffered casualties of twenty
four persons killed and sixty-two in
juured in Friday nights air raid. The
German raid on England caused the
death of five persons and the injury
of fifteen.