Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-05-03
BATTLE
WORST DEFEAT OF
BIG TEUTON DRIVE
Fighting Declared Most San
culinary of Whole Campaign,
Object of Allies Being to
Wear Down Huns

LONDON. MAY (via ottawa AS
details o. Mondays fighting are re-
ceived confirming the fact that it was
the worst day the Germans have expe-
rienced since the opening of the great
offensive. the English newspapers
hitherto reticent in view of the fluctus-
lions of the battle, new comment on the
operations in a tone of confidence they
have not hitherto displayed.
The Times says: of all the violent
COIN bats witnessed in the last few
weeks, we know Of none which is
more hopeful augury for the allies than
this ten-mile German failure
Ii is pointed out that the public is
ant to reckon victory i'm terms of Of
fensive success, but a defensive victory
like that on Monday may contribute
equally toward the ultimate object Of
the campaign, namely, destruction OF
the enemy's fighting strength. From
this viewpoint, the Germans. despite
their spectacular successes, can be re-
garded as having had the worst of the
balance of nearly six weeks hghtlng
for it must not be forgotten that they
sustained a series of destructive losses,
of which that NJ onday was the most
sanguinary of the last fortnight.
Indeed. apart from the capture OF
KENNEL hill, it has been one complete
failure including four separate defeats
in pitched battles. These were on La
Bassee canal, on the Belgian front, at
Villers- Bretonneux and now on the
BaiIleul-Ypres. The eliminating effect
Of this has been to immensely increase
the confidenc of the Angro-French
troops whom correspondents describe as
now feeling that they have got the
measure of new enemy divisions.
Other strokes undoubtedly will come
before the German reserves are eX-
hausted. but confidence is felt that
wherever the Germans try thy will find
the allies ready. Now that the attack
of no fewer than a hundred thousand
Germans has been broken in sheer
trial of strength on ground none too
favorable by the thinner tilted line.
there is a growing hope that Ypres VIII
not be abandoned.
The Germans apparently are as
anxious to capture Ypres as they were
to take Verdun two years ago, and it
now looks as though their experience
at the French fortress was about to
be repeated. The loss of Ypres, the
newspaper says. would be less serious
than the loss of Verdun would then
have been. But now the allies have
shown their ability to hold positions
with a force smaller in comparison to
that of their assailants, ii may be ad-
vantageous to hold Ypres and continue
to inflict enormous losses.
The correspondents emphasize the fact
that everything favored the Germans on
Monday. They had magnificent artillery
support, a favoring fog, innumerable
machine guns, masses of men and un-
limited explosives, yet they failed after
experiencing a ray of steady slaughter
which only slackened with the fading
light.
The British alone between La Clytte
and Zillebeke defeated five German divi-
sions, but French valor also is praised
in the highest terms. They were fighting
alongside the British with their bat
teries firing from the same fields in
the spirit OF the most loyal co-opera-
ton.
The Daily News concludes a hopeful
editorial on the whole position with this
paragraph:
The now British advance in Meso-
potamia threatens the most vulnerable
heel of the German military system.
Things are not going too we'll in Russia
The TACT that Germany wants her
prisoners in Russia back on her own
terms throws some light on the state
of her manpower problem, nor is it clear
that Germany's effort to browbeat Hol-
land is working to her advantage. Add
ed to her economic anxieties. Germany
mas her hands pretty full"