Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1918-01-08
Trench TROOPS TAKE
GERMAN SPY CLASSES
Systematic Plan Carried Out
for Seizing All ObserVa-
ton Points
By w. S. Forrest
DJ w % UIIUbJ
{ Omitted Press staff correspondent


Dec. S.-(By mail)-French troop!
are methodically taking away the Ger
man spyglasses.
One by one, enemy observation
points or advantageous positions have
been carefully spotted by the French
command and effectively eliminated
! Though French official communiques
J issued have registered merely local ac-
/, ltions, these have had for the main OBJ
geetiye that of snatching the binocu-
lars from the Teuton eyes.
A brief artillery preparation a shrill
whistle in the first line trenches and
the poilus have bounded "oyer the
top in actions Of signal Importance
in Alsace, north of the Chemin des
Danes and north of Verdun at Hill
344. Nearly l400 prisoners and valu-
able war material is the " by-product'' -
of these local, strate9ical drives.
The first "spy glass seizure was
that of the "Schonholz, - a powerful
! ly fortified German salient iutting in
to the French lines in Alsace, serving
the double purpose of German obser-
walton of the French organizations
and preventing the French seeing in
1.-THE direction of Altkireh. On the af-
ternoon of Nov T, after brief but vi
olent artillery preparation, three com
lpanies of French Chasseurs-Blue Dev
! lils-attacked the Schonholz complete
ly wiping out the salient in fierce
| fight lasting into the night The enc
my desperately counter attacked but
failed leaving in all 120 prisoners, in
cluding six officers, in the hands OF
the Blue Devils. Complete German los
ses, high because of their fierce effort
to retain a position which they know
to be of extreme value, were estimat-
ed at least 600 men.
The following day a French general
PINNED military medals on the blue
tunics of two adjutants and a corpor-
al for exceptional valor. Though there
were no such medals in the district,
the general sent a fast automobile to
find them, wherever possible, and the
little presentation ceremony in an AL
sacian village was a happy aftermath
to victory that took from the Ger
mans priceless observatories which had
bothered the French for two years.
The French command next decided
that the Germans were seeing too
much north of the Chemin des Danes
Consequently following a brief artil-
lery deluge, four companies of poiIus
passed to the attack against the enc
my lines forming a salient between
the small river Miette and the route
to the German held village of Juvin-
court as far as the village Of Ville-au-
Bois. re the enemy held valuable OBJ |
posts overlooking Juvincourt
and grount east of the Miette.
Under low lying clouds and in a !
pea soup" fog, the former prevent !
ing all aerial work and the latter pre- |
venting enemy observation of the ad- |
vance, the French infantrymen, in less !
than all hour, swept over positions on |
a front of 1900 yards and penetrated to
a depth of over half a mile They wip- I
ed out the salient, took all the obser-
and captured AIS prisoners
4 number almost equal to half Of the
entire attacking force. Six German of
ficers and rs under Officers fell into
the net
The third and most important French
action of November was in region
where constant hellish fighting has !,
been the daily routine, Hill 344, on
,he right bank of the Meuse, north of
Verdun. Here a drum like artillery
oar has never ceased night and day
FOR nearly three months. German at. /.
jacks and French counter attacks, al i
most daily since the latter part of Au-
gust, have had small place in the COM !
nuniques because of their routine ma. I
ure. The enemy's positions permitted {
lin to make constant infantry "'nib-
lies into the French lines on the I,
lorthern flank of Hill 344 and to dis l.
urb French organization which he
opld see in the rear. is
French strategy in eliminating the 5
nemy advantageous positions in the
egion of Hill 344 has probably never ]
'een employed before in this war. 7
taking advantage of the conditions $
ocular to the region, French guns OF It
lany cahbers at 6:30 Sunday morn
ng, Nov %, concentrated their del i
ge of steel on three and one half
ilometer frent opposite 344. The t
hunder of this artillery preparation t
h0ugh violent was unnoticed amidst y
he constant medly of air vibrations b
'hich had become a habit TO German {
ars for almost three months Just four
ours after the beginning of the con-
of fire, screened by its own o
abltual noise, at 10;30 a. m, the +
reneh guns heightened their range +
nd barraged the German rear while |,
he podlus went over the top The sur Q
rise was complete Victory was won q
l several minutes. The French infan-
.ymen in the first waves left the tax :
az OF prisoners to mopping up !"
nits who followed behind. The latter
erded 500 dazed Germans to the
,ar. Enemy losses in dead and wound
b were heaviest. French losses, on ae-
punt of the surprise nature of the at
,ek were extremely light The advan-
tgeOus positions which it had taken
ie enemy over eight weeks to gain
ere wiped out in not much more than
ght minutes.