Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1918-10-06
Do Utmost to Bring to Halt American Offensive in
 Verdun Sector.
AMERICANS DRIVE
 SLOWLY AHEAD
Artillery of Germans Was Terrific Germans Con-
 serving Airplanes.


 west of Verdun. Oct. (By the Asso- ciated Press.-7 p. m.)-Fighting with all the ferocity of the early days of the war, the Germans did their utmost today to bring to a halt the American offensive.
 Early this morning and in the fore noon the Americans pushed forward through a blanket of fog a yard at time and later in the day when the mists lifted they drove forward a further distance against the German line.
 Almost no change has been made on the right near the Mouse, but on the left the operations of the French west of the Argonne forest and the Ameri- cans on the east defined more clearly the salient in which the enemy still has considerable force opposing the 1 Americans who have been steadily clearing the forest of machine guns nests. Again the Germans concentrat- ed their greatest efforts on the cen- ter in an effort to prevent the swing ing upward of their line to the point which would endanger yet further, that part of the army left in the Ar 
 gOnne woods.
 Altho the artillery action of the Germans today was terrific-the volume was greater than yesterday there was a notable reduction of aer- ial effort.
 1 Only occasionally did the German aviators accept the challenge of the ! Americans today and even bombing expedition to Landres-Et-St Georges. where more than two tons of bombs were dropped, did not develop resist ance.
 The contest in the forenoon was not surprising because of the low vis- ibility, but conditions in the after noon were excellent and full advan- tage was taken of them by ahe French and Americans, who carried out a hundred missions, ranging from sinn- ple observation to bombing the back areas.
 The theory of the aviators is that the Germans have adopted a policy of conserving their airplanes, using thm to great extent only on cloudy days such as yesterday. On cloudy days they can fly by compass above the clouds, sweeping below them when occasion demands then disappearing above almost inn mediately, and so escaping all but momentary observation. The Ameri- can planes were an active factor un- til laae tonight. Before the fog actual ly had lifted they were over the Ger man lines, machine cunning the men in the trenches and harassing the transports and artillery. Time and again the roads behind the lines were choked by fliers, who with their machine guns, dropped the horses dragging guns and transports. This choking on the roads was ac- complished without the loss of a sim gle plane. 7, '.
 Of the few enemy planes that did fly over the American lines, one was brought down by an anti-tank gun captured a few holrs before. Tanks were used aagin by the Americans but somewhat less extensively than on the first day.
 It was a day of araillery action more than anything else. Each side sent hundreds of thousands of shells both. high explosive, shrapnel and gas lnG0 Cn0 QUIET S
 Repeatedly the Germans gathered in force to launch counter attacks, but always with negative results.
 The Americans, most of whom have now had experience on battle fields. stood like veterans here and there changing their defensive to of- | fensive and gathering in another tiny bit of ground between them and the Kriemhilde positions.
 The Americans threw flood or artillery fire into the German lines and moved infantry up with machine guns. ..., and up to the crest of the high mn m line they slowly edged their way for rours, When t$e top of the hill and ridge was attained there stretched tefore them the narrow valleys on whose further slopes are the defen- ses the Germans have fought so hard to retain. .,o~o,o-o-o~osooo~oo Continued on page six)