Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1918-01-10
ENEMY'S OBSERVATION J..
POINTS SPECIAL .OBJEC-. -
TIVE TO AIRMEN
MANY ARE WIPED OUT
POilus Have Perfected a Plan Of
Attack that Has Put the -
Tuetons to Great Dis
advantage
By W. S. FORREST
UNITED Press Staff Correspondent

With the French Armies in the /!
Field, Dec. 8-(By maif-French
troops are methodically taking away
the German 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
issued have registered mere local ac-.
tions, these have had for the main OBJ
jective 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 "over
the top" in actions of signal import
ance in Alsace, North of the Chemin
des Danes and North of Verdun at
Hill 344. Nearly 1,4OO prisoners and
valuable war material is the "by-pro-
duct" of these local, strategical
drives. r
The first "spy-glass seizure was
that of the "Schonholz," a powerfully
fortified German salient jutting into
the French lines in Alsace, serving
the double purpose. Of German OBJ
servation of the French organizations
and preventing the French seeing in
the direction Of Altkirch. On the at
ternoon of November q; after brief
but violent artillery preparation,
three companies of French Chasseurs
Blue Devils-attacked the iSchon-
holz completely wiping out the salient
in q fierce fight lasting into the
night. The enemy desperately counter
attacked but failed leaving in all 12O
prisoners, including six officers, in
the hands of the Blue Devils. Com
plete German losses, high because Of
their fierce effort to retain position
which they know to be of extreme
value, were estimated at least GOO
men.
The following day French Gener-
al pinned military medals on the blue
tunics of two adjutants and q cor
poral for exceptional valor. Though
there were no such medals in the dis
trict, the General sent fast automo-
bile to find them, wherever possible,
and the little presentation ceremony.
in an Alsacian village was happy
aftermath to q victory that took from p
the Germans priceless observatories
which had bothered the French for
two years.
The French command next decided
that the Germans were seeing too
much North of Chemin. des Danes.
Consequently following a brief artill-
cry deluge, four companies of poilus
passed to the attack against the en-.
emy lines forming a salient between
the small river Meta, and the route
to the German held village of Juvin-
court as far as the village Of Ville-au-
Bois. Here the enemy held valuable
observation posts overlooking Juvin-
court and ground 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 an hour, swept over posi-
tons on a front Of 1900 yards and
penetrated to a depth Of over half
mile. They wiped out the salient
took all the observatOries and cap
tured ATS prisoners-a number al
most equal to half Of the entire at
lacking force. Six German officers
and A5 under-officers fell into the
net.
The third and most important
French action of November was in q.
region where constant helliSh fight
ing has been the daily routine, Hill
S44 on the right bank Of the Aeuse,
North of Verdun. Here = dull drum.
like artillery roar has never ceased
night and day for nearly three
months. German attacks and French
eOunter-attaclEs, almost daily, almost
daily since the latter part Of August
have had small place in the eOmmuni-
ques because Of thar routine nature.
The snmy's positions permitted him
IcOnti1nSd on last PagS)