, 1918-05-16


ish and French there u of some of
their first-line trenches. But later In
the night the British counter-attacked
and regained all hat had been losS
Two Hun divisions carried out this at
tack and they suffered heavy casual
ties. On Thursday morning the enemy
made a new attack on the
front north of KENNEL and slightly
bent the British line. At the same time
troops from Nova Scotia and New
Brunswick made a great raid on the
German outpost line at Neuville-Vitas-
Sc. southeast of Arras, taking prison
ers and guns and inflicting many cas-
ualties.
Most of the American troops that
have beer moved into the battle re-
gion appear to be placed along h line
between Montdidier n Noyon, and
they are giving a good account of them
selves there, as are also those hold
ing the Toul sector. There have been
no heavy operations in either sector
recently, but the artillery in both rs
always active and the American gun
ners have proved their excellence. They
are now using their heavy artillery
northwest of Toul after several weeks
of preparation. The American casual
ty lists, still relatively small, are In
creasing daily.
There is no indication that the Ger
man high command will abandon its
plan of smashing the British army and
forcing a breach between 1t and the
French. Ludendorff is increasing his
resources in every way possible and
Austria and Bulgaria have been called
on to supply troops for garrison duty
in order that the Germans may be sent
to the front. limitations such as have
appeared in son German papers that
the attempt to reach Paris will be
abandoned mean nothing. No doubt
there will be repeated great offensives
throughout the summer, and the allies
are preparing to resist them to the ut
most, their intention being to main
tain their lines unbroken until Amer
ica's men are there in sufficient num-
bers to enable General Foch to do more
thai resist. 1t is admitted that with
put our army the allies could not gain
a military decision over the Germans
under existing conditions. How long
the German people will stand for the
slaughter of their men is another ques-
ton. From captured mail and the more
outspoken-of their newspapers II is evil
dent they are becoming sickened by
the awful bloodshed. but they prob
ably will continue submissive so long
as they think there is a chance of q
final victory.
The movement of Americans to
France continues with increasing
swiftness and It is the avowed In
tention of the war department to have
not less than 100000 men there by
the end of May. The administration
and the congressional leaders, except.
ing such men as Kitchin, now view the
situation comprehensively and agree
that no limit should be put on the size
of our army, as it is likely as many as
100000 men will have to be placed
under arms within three years. A total
of about four millions will be available
Immediately, and Provost Marshal
Crowder and others believe 1t will be
necessary to increase the draft age
limit to forty years within a yea In
deed, many details have been worked
out with this Increase in view. Classe.
2, 3 and 4 of the draft are being care
fully combed out to eliminate Stacker.
and many names will thus be addet
to class 1.
Austrian reports tell of the presenc,
of American troops on the italian
front, though this had not been an
nounced by Washington. The expected
offensive OIL that front has not yet ma
terialized, but 1t is believed II will no
be much longer delayed, because O
the critical state of affairs In Empero
Carl's realm. Hunger and disconten
are increasing so greatly that troop
have been concentrated in the mos
disaffected parts of the empire. Ais,
there have been serious disturbance
in the Austro-Hungarian fleet, tn
crews of which are largely Slavs an,
men of italian origin.
Roumania has submitted to wha
seemed the inevitable and signed
peace treaty with the central powers
OF course she loses much and gain
nothing. The instrument provides tina
most Of the Dobrudja be ceded to Bul
garia and other Roumanian territor
to Austria Inc Hungary; the centra