The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1918-05-22

| French hold the most mileage, lhe
British rank second, and the Amrri-
cans third. exceeding the mileage held
by tho BolgianS.
Paris. May c0.-violont artillery
fighting north and south of the Avre
river ON ,ha front below Aniicns Is re-
ported In the official statement.
London, May 2n.-IIeavy artillery
/ fighting between Glvonchy and Hohecq.
on the southern side Of the Flanders
salient. IS reported by the war Office.
Foe Has Trouble Filling Ranks.
Fair weather during the last few
| days and great increase in aerial nc
tiyitv have not yet resulted in q re-
newal Of heavy infantry fighting. The
artillery c9mhuts 20 ON violently on
! important sectors. hut neither the Ger.
man infantry nor artillery displays the
/ activity which usually marks the COM
ing Of n blow against the allies lines.
The enemy, It is believed In London,
is preparing for mighty attack great
er in force, If possible, than the smash
+ on March ~ along the iifty-mlc front
/ southwark from Arras. The Germans,
/ however, are having difficulty In filing
up thcir greatly depleted ranks, some
! divisions having lost more than 80 per
! cent and one 20 per cent of their ef-
fectiNcs in the recent fighting.
Artillery Is Causing Havoc.
Tn addition the allies artillery Is
causing havoc with German rreDnra-
I tions near the front lines. while their
railway stations and hilletS hchind.the
( lines are under an almost continuous
rain Of bombs dropped by allied air.
men
! Enemy artillery and man power con
ceutrotlons probably become stronger
rs Field Marshal Won Hindenhurg de-
/ lays new advance but the allies de-
/ fonSeS gain strength i'm the same ratio
md new source OF fighting power,
+ tho American army, grows in power.
Americans Are on TWO Fronts.
/ General Pershing's men are now on
| both the imnortunt battle fronts-Flan-
| dprs and Picordv-but in what num-
hers is not disclosed. Their coming,
however, is having great moral effect
on the British and French and the
longer the Germans delay the greater
will the American aid become.
Aerial activity is the most prominent
/ feature Of the news from the fighting
zones. French and British airmen have
dropped many more tons Of explosives
on enemy military targets, while the
Germans are becoming more active in
attemntS 10 get behind the allies lines.
I'm aerial fighting the British have
brought down 20 German machines,
while British guns accounted for ten
more. Berlin claims the destruction
Of IS allied airplanes.
German Losses Are Enormous.
London. May 20.-The most definite
figures vet announced regarding Ger
man losses on the western front this
spring have been given TO the Asso-
ciated Press. Since the beginning of
the offensive on March 81, 206 German
divisions have been on the western
front, of which 1876 actually have been
engaged on the Somme and Armen-
there's fronts.
The 2Osth German division. which
was one of those suffering most heav-
lily, lost 10 per cent of its electives.
Seven other German divisions are
known to have lost more than 80 per
cent and at least seven other divisions
are named as having lost 40 to 30 per
cent.
Only forty men to the company were
left in the 10th division after the
fighting of March % and %. The first
division was In similar straits after
reaching Sailly-Laurette on March 2S
and the 234th division was weakened
similarly on April 6. One regiment of
the 4th ersatz division virtually was
annihilated on April o and there are
scores of instances of companies and
battalions which almost disappeared.
In n five page closely typewriter
list of losses to German regiments and
divisions engaged in the offensive,
which have been substantiated by
British Intelligence officers, there is
scarcely single instance where the
losses were not so large as to cause
gripping Of the efficiency Of the unit.
Estimate of Losses impossible.
While 1t Is impossible to make from
these figures any exact estimate Of the
total losses of the Germans, IL Is sufli-
GENTLY evident that the enemy's casu-
alties have been exceedingly heavy.
One evidence of this fact Is that the
Germans, after calling upon all avail
able reserve depots I'm the western
area, have already been compelled to
draft into crippled divisions men
drawn from Germany Itself, including
those of the 1920 class. From this II
may be concluded that the demand for
men to replace losses has been greater