The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1918-03-23
THAT
100000 GERMANS
PARTICIP
IN GREAT ATTACK
Artillery Preparation is
Described AS Most Vio-
lent Ever Endured
GUN FOR EVERY
FIFTEEN YARDS
Trenches Obliterated and
Gun Positions Drenched
With Gas Shells
(By Associated. Press.)

London, March 2S.-The artillery
preparati OF the Germans in the
drive against the British lines, which
Ia now In progress, lis described by
those who took part in Ii as the moss
violent they ever endured, according
So The Daily Mails correspondent
On the British front. The tatng that
stands out az characteristir Of the
hehtinR up to the present, says the
correspondent, 'is that we did so well
under the terrific impact" Continu-
fnr the correspondent says:
tupon one corps front there was
a gun every fifteen yards. The
strength Of the mortars. which the
enemy brought up in such great num-
bers.S sent over such an overwhelm-
ing weight Of iron and high ex-
plosives that In most. parts OF the
front wire ceased to be an obstacle
and trenches were obliterated AT
the same time all OF our known bat
terry positions we're drenched with
gas but their gas shells failed to
reach all our batteries, nor did they
succeed anywhere In breaking down
our fire. At one point where the
Germans found our wire unbroken
they set to work with scissors until
they had made a way through, an
incident reminiscent Of the methods
of fighting inculcated by Frederick
the Great. All OF this was done under
our machine gun FIRE.
Wore New Uniforms.
"a curious fact reported by our
airmen, was that the Germans COM
posing the special assault divisions
wore new uniforms. Got on their
best clothes for visit to Paris COM
mented one Of our generals.
Z tds14Vrs rsnTn vino unYsTNn- did V2lHl hlR
work despite adverse weather condt-
tions. One Of our men In the early
morning reconnaissance spotted sew
eraI thousand Germans moving west
ward south OF Bullecourt and another
reported three thousand Of the enemy
in 8. sunken road in this area waiting
to advance. Few enemy machines
were seen and they mostly few low,
peppering our trenches with their
machine guns.
This Is the first battle where Brit
ish gunners had to serve their guns
in gas masks and IL was a dif11cult
task. Fortunately practices with gas
masks had been taking place fire.
uuentiy for an hour daily. I found
everyone / saw pretty confident. At
first they did have hard job to meet
the masses OF Germans who came on
in denser formation than ever before,
yet all reports show that they fought
magnificently. For example south Of
St. Quentin one of our divisions had
to bear up against the repeated as
divisions, possibly $4,000 men, and
only when the assaults ceased with
did our troops withdraw to
strong positions behind the canal
system, between st. Quentin and the
Oise.
"It is estimated that altogether
nearly 100000 Germans participated
in the offensive. The enemy fought
well and his gunners did good service.
The uuickness with which the guns
were brought forward into No Mans
Land after the infantry had advanc-
ed was marked. He had In many
places the advantage over us in posi- /
tons and he was at all points largely
superior in numbers