Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1918-03-25
and AMERICAN TROOPS GO
TO AID OF BRITISH AS HUN H0RDES
CONTINUE EFFORTS TO BREAK Line
Ebb and Flow
of Battle Tide
and Its Result

| Persistent attacks with strong
forces of infantry and lavish use OF
artillery has not enabled the Ger
mans to break through the British
defense, and, after four days, the
! great offensive blow in northern
France has not yet brought a de-
/ cision for the attackers. Heavy
! fighting is in progress around Ba-
| paume near Peronne and where the
French and British fronts join.
Field Marshal Haigs withdrawal,
| previously planned in case of a
heavy enemy attack, has been ex-
ecuted in a manner described as
mastery and great credit for its
success is given to the small units
which, sometimes outnumbered
eight or nine to one, clung to their
posts and impeded the German ad-
vance. The British have made few
counter attacks, but every one at
tempted has been successful.
British efforts are centered on
withdrawing as occasion requires
and permitting the enemy to wear
himself out before the British de-
fense.
Sunday the fighting forces in the
the Somme from which the Ger
mans retreated year ago. Again
Bapaume and Peronne are the CEN
ters of the most bitter fighting.
Bapaume is the key position be-
tween Arras and Albert and Ber-
lin reports that a gigantic
struggle" is being made for its pos
session.
The capture of Peronee is
claimed by the Germans but heavy
fighting is taking place north of it
and southwark along the Somme
river. Between Bapaume and
Peronee the Germans have reached
the Translioy-C -Combles- -Maurepas
.hne held by the British
On the southern end of the great
battle line where the sanguinary
struggle has not halted for many
hours, the Germans have reached
Chauny, an important point on the
Disc river southwest of La Fere.
Here, however, their advance has
not been so great as directly west
of st. Quentin, where they have
progressed more than ten miles.
The British and French battle lines
meet near Chauny and the French
lines along the Chemin Des Danes
and eastward toward Rheims
would be menaced if the Germans
advanced as far as Compeigne, on
the road TO Paris. But Compeigne
is a good 20 miles southwest of
Paris.
The intensity of the struggle is
shown by the official announcement
that British aviators on Saturday
The British lost only nine. In ad-
dition to carrying out their work
in the fighting zone, British airmen
again have dropped bombs success
fully on Mannheim, Germany.
Berlin claims that French and
American detachments aided the
British in the fighting Saturday
but the identity of the American
units have not been learned. 1t is
possible that American and
French troops from the Chemin-
Des-Dames sector have moved up
to the Disc or north of it, but 1t is
more probable that American en-
gineers with the British army were
concerned. Berlin also has an
nounced the capture of Ham, be-
tween Peronee and Chauny and
claims that the number of prison
ers has increased to 10000.
There was little except artillery
fire activity on the remainder of
the British front and on the French
and American sectors. The Ger
man artillery fire has been violent
along the Chemin Des Danes in the
Champagne northeast of Verdun
and in Alsace.