The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1918-03-24
LOSS ON BOTH SIDES
HEAVY, SAYS REPORT
huns Exceed That OF British BY One
Third, According to Oficial
Statements.
WASHINGTON Is Confident
Believe Barricade Of Britons VIII pc
Too Much FOR Kaiser's Hordcs.
Look For Five Days More of Fierce
Fighting.

]
/ Washington. March 23.-Report,
( OF huge losses on both sides reach.
. ing Washington tonight from ths
! can brai front failed to shake oticla
confidence in the ability of the British
I TO checkmate the enemy in what has
] developed to be the biggest battle
! ever fought in the history OF man
kind.
/ Up TO a late hour official reports t.
+ the British embassy p laced the losses
OF the Germans at 150.000 and thoae
| OF the British at something less tttau
! 100. 600.
! Advicas from the other side by way
of neutral countries declare that Der.
lin claims to have captured no less
than $4,000 men,
Staff officers at the war department
digesting reports that came in at FIRE
| quent intervals and poring over huge
maps in the chief OF STATS office, held
to their view that the British retire.
ment was strategic In charncter and
marked an orderly fallAsg TACK upon
prepared positions
II Is estimated that five days of the
frtghtfui slaughter must continue be-
fore the issue Of tho struggle can be
| definitely determined.
In that space of time, war officers
calculate the Germans will lose two
men for every one that is killed
wounded or captured from the Brit
ish ranks.
All through washington the opin-
! ion prevails that the kaiser has staked
everything on this gigantic push ana
| that the brooding Prussian war lord
depends on sheer weight OF flesh and
ctr l. 81.
:, Earrtcade. From this 1t Is taken for
granted the kaiser is prepared to
spare no men or material.
Congress awoke with a start today
to the tremendous consequences that
are hanging in the balance With "A
common impulse members of iportant
committees in the house and senate
buried minor differences Of opinion
in an effort TO speed the war bills.
And all during the day Repuhli-
cans and Demo crats alike in both
branches of congress kept in con-
slant touch with the war department
in an effort TO verify wild rumors and
reports that swept through the capt
toll.
Bomba rdmcnt Of Paris
tnofffcial advices. that Paris was
undergoing 4 BON bAardment by field
artillery created CONSERVATION for a
while but staff officers at the war
department promptly indicated a be-
lief that the bombardment referred
was being carried on by German
aeroplanes
The German aircraft, II was stated
by army experts. are known TO be
using for bombing purposes shells
that had proved defective for field
probably explains the impression
that the bomhardment was being car
ried on by field guns
Inasmuch as the Camhrsi front is
about sixty-two miles from Paris a:
the nearest point officers secuted the
idea that German field guns could
have ben brought up within range Of
the French capital The longest
range guns the Germans are known
to have cannot carry over twenty
five miles.
The same absence Of panic noted
at the war department was apparent
at both the british and French en-
basstes. where again confidence was
strong that the fun force az the Hun
drive win have spent itself before
irrepaAable and permanent losses are
sustained by the British.
Haig WI Strike Back.
Then for the counter attack In
that much confidence is placed.
Haig will strike when the. German
tide, having dashed Itself in futile
fashion against the rretssred post
tions OF the British will begin to ebb
If the blow lis what the british intend
It to be Democracy viii have won the
bloodiest contest the hatred OF ma
tons has ever staged
While the general impression
grows in Washington that the OFTEN
sive In the much heraided drive Of
Won Hindsnburg there are those in
the general staff OF the American
army who stsll insist that Germany
has other purposes in view
The most that the Germans can
expect" said a staff officer OF high
rank this afternoon. lis to drive the
British back to the line OF 1915. The
British prepared positions upon which
Haig is now falling back extend for
a depth of twenty miles and the Ger
mans know this"
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