The Washington herald., 1918-04-30


II was one Of the bitterest disap-
pointments the German stan has yet
had to swallow. After the fall of
KENNEL. the taking Of Ypres hac
looked like q wolkover. An earth
shakiES drumire along the whole
Flanders front ushered in the great
concentric, assault.
The sun had not yet risen when the
furious cannonading began. Sector
after sector, in true systematic Prus-
sian fashion. was covered with a vol
cano OF hot metal until the whole line
was ablaze. Field Marshal Haig was
just issuing his early morning report
when the German shock troops left
their trenches.
Infantry attacks are now develop.
ing" he bulletined to the war ONCE
At the same time front correspond
ents telegraphed that o s sig.
mails had been rocketed from the Brit
ish positions asking for artillery sup,
port.
Tense Hours for British.
The hours that followed were th'
tensest Britain has been through il
this war. Anxiety rose to a fevei
po;nt as the hours rolled by. bringing
no definite news. A note Of pessimisn
was in the air. Everybody knew Vor
Arnim. and Hindenburg behind him
| and the Kaiser behind both, mean
business. For after KENNELS fal
the Teutons thought they had uht
Briton where they wanted him, anC
| today IS onslaught was to be tn
| coup de grace"
Then came the first bulletin from
headquarters TO the war office:
Enemy attacks repulsed."
Apart from handful OF super
| optimists everybody had looked TO
the natural thing" namely. a nev
enemy advance, bending the lin
again. The concern of the hour haC
been that the line might break. Nov
came the news that it had no
budged, and the full text c
Haig's statement revealed that ono,
more "very heavy losses" had beeI
inflicted on the foe. Haig seldom
| uses the WORD very.
Fighting stIn Fierce.
The battle is by no means over
Fighting is still in full swing a
nearly all vital points. but the frs
shock, the kind that an attacking
army can exert only once in Sc
many weeks. has been met, and it
force broken.
| Nor does the allied success In beat
ing on the enemy legions mean tha
Ypres is once more permanently saf
In their hands. The all-importan
thing is that. had the Germans bro
ken through in their attacks today
diaster would have befallen the en-
tire British front. Haig, accordin
to military opinion, is prepared t
get out Of the nasty salient, but h
means to do it in his own time and II
his own fashion, not at the enemy
dictation.
To the north Of Ypres the Belgian
| were violently attacked by Won Al
MINIS right in an effort to flank tn
city from that direction. Every as
sault was beaten off by the Belgian!
The French positions aroun
Scherpenburg Hill and on Mon
Rouge, both to the west Of Kemme
] were subjected to equally terrific or
slaughts. At some points the Gel
mans managed to get foothold, onl
to be driven out from practically a
the sections penetrated.
Intense bombardments were direc
ed by the foe against the line be
tween La Bassee and Houtholst Fo,
Jest as well as against the Vimy-Len
sector, Up to a late hour tonight n
infantry attacks had been reporte
/ on these fronts.
Arnim's right is frantically strus
i Cling for possession of the three mai
heights dominating the ground sout
j of Poperinghe. These are Scherper
berg. Mount Rouge and Mount Noir.
On the Somme battle field, befol
Amiens, where Americans are now |
the front lines. according to officiail
released news, the "quiet before tn
storm" continues as far as infantr
4 Sighting is concerned. There wei
J heavy gun dueis along the whole z