The sun., 1918-04-09
BRITISH HOLD
FOE ON ANCRE
Desperate Efforts to Gain
Higher Ground Defeated
by Hard Fighting.
GERMAN LOSS ENORMOUS
Only Scant Advance Made, and
This Largely Offset by
Counter Thrusts.
GERMAN LOSS ENORMOUS

SopDIv0dt. Iyt, W V0hS Se6<rted.
LONDON. April S.-The Daily Erpress
publishes to-day a despatch giving fur
ther details Of the recent tremendous
aifort Of the Germans TO break through
tho British line and OF the futility Of
their operations. There 10 no disposition
to discount the asEressiveness Of the
enemy or the fact that the Offensive
may be expected to continue furiously
for some time.
NJ PERC1vAL PHILLIPS.
BRIrIsH ARMY HEADQUARTERS IN
FRANCE, April THE repeated attacks
upon practically our entire front have
yielded the enemy only a scant gain
IN ground. His position generally has
not been improved since Friday morn
ing. Additional masses Of the foe have
made a number Of attempts to advance
upon many sections o. the front. A.
one or two places on GU. right. south.
east OF Amiens and near Albert. they
took q little ground. but their only sue.
cesses Of any importance were nuilined
Fighting evsD~here is extremely
heavy. The enemy showed great de-
termination from early Saturday morn.
ing until niEhtfall. his infantry tryina
60 Est through our bombardmant and
machine gun fire. In most onses his
constant exposure on open ground gave
u the advantage. The Germans vainly
sought TO overcome the decisive failure
they made Friday. These operationt
eAused them to attack. less vigorously
Yesterday. Our men had no dificulty lr
breaking up all serious concentrations.
Ready for New Attempt.
The result o. the Two days hghtins
can be viewed with satisfaction, al
though the Germans may rot have put
In their greatest e:riSinE :orce, but the
ATTACKS were delivered with q dash tina,
showed they formed q part OF the gen
Aral scheme OF advance. Their failure
means II further delay. They will tr.
again. with harder blows. as soon a!
! possible. and will endeavor to strengthen
the f,ghting line. Our men await tho
: fresh blows with equanimity.
/ The number OF Germans killed einc|
! Friday has been prodigious. The hght!ns
on Friday and Saturday extended OF
both sides the Somne. south Of our juno
tion with the French, and In the north
! nearly to the ne.ghbnrhood OF Arras
I Tho intention OF the ten German
! divisions attacking on both sides OF A.
| bert apparently Is to relieve the almos
I intolerable pressure upon the crampe'
! Teuton front in the Ancre marshes b,
! throwing us of the high ground In
mediately above the west bank, incident
ally enlarg,ns the bridge head below th'
town. :,
stronsho!ds at THE, .al and Ov'l'ers TN
enemy has been unable to make his In
fantry Climb our narrow valley. He ma
been held closely against the RAILWAY
! Albert. Two and a half miles below
the Ancre again inclines to the south
west For a distance OF seven miles u
this direction the Germans vainly tr'e'
to make progress.
Csutuve Of Aveluy wood.
Machine gun posts clung dizzily to IN
eastern fringe OF trees. almost at IN
waters edge. but our troops contro''e'
: the remainder OF the mile deep nett o
timber that screens the chalk ciins be
hind Generally our front line was no
far from the railway. save for the back
ward loop through part OF the AVeiu
wood. Elsewhere We commanded IN
opposite hills. The German assemnl
Sor battle could be seen In all Its move
nents during the daylight over the fur
rowed white slopes that mark the iron
tier Of the old Somme battlefield.
II was obvious that the enemy woul
attack In force TO free himself and &c
out OF tho river bed. where he had los
no many men, We knew that the at
tack was coming. and the preparedness
and promptness Of our artillsrymen an
machine g,,nners contributed In no sma
measure to limiting its success Tn
0erman infantry suffered very severel
from the concentration OF IRE. As