Luxemburger gazette. [volume] (Dubuque, Iowa) 1871-1918, 1918-03-28
ENEMY OPENS
DRIVE in WEST.
Attack British Line On Fifty-Mile
Front and French At Several
Points; Austrian Artillery Aids;
Foes Aim Seems To BE To Drive
Wedge Between British and French
At Junction Point On Disc; S0mme
Battlefield Scene Of Supreme Clash;
L. S. Men i'm Great Battle.

London, March 21.-What happened
today is roughly this:
The first timid rays of sunshine
vas just beginning to peep through
the darkness to usher in the opening
day Of spring when back Of the Ger
man lines flashed NJ the signal Drum
fire." Since 3 o'clock the Bavarian
Crown Princes heavy artillery had
been booming away In a steady thun-
derous o But now began a gun
drumming that tore the tiles from
roofs in English coast towns and shat
tered windows in villages not far from
Paris. What this volcano did to the
advanced British lines is yet to be
told the fact is that when the Ger
man infantry legions were finally sent
forward the very thought OF holding
the foremost trenches would have been
suicide. 1t vas the same old story Of
every offensive-tremendous concen-
tration OF artillery on a specific front /;
the result, not the beginning Of the
subsequent infantry rush counts.
In the early morning hours the
weather had been foggy and the
eyes of both armies were vainly try
ing to serve the guns and fighting men
below. But as the spring sun brought
a clearing, the cavalry of the air
dashed into action. Der Tag" had
come for the aviator, and he was go
ing to give a good account Of himself.
A myriad planes volted and swooped,
spinned and Just lowered overhead;
many machines toppled to earth as
clash after clash was fought.
On and on stormed the kaiser's
picked battalions; in many sectors
they bit granite, and where the Krupps
and the Skodas had ~pulverized every
bit Of defense, the "Tommies' made
the German in~fantrymen pay dearly
for every yard. Nor we're the British
guns idle. A terrific counter barrage
was Embossed Immediately after the
"drumire" signal had been rocketed
up on the other side. 1t was kept up
throughout the day.
Then came word from the French
front, at Rheims, Nerdun and in the
Champagne, the German guns were
tuning up TO big time action. Was
that to be the real battle after all, or
but a "side-show"? But the a and
pitch Of this fifty-mile battle on the
British front again stunned specula-
ton. Here was today's chief action.
London. March 81. - Armageddon
broke loose just before dawn yester-
day. Hindenburg's boosted western
drive seems to be in full swing. A vol
cano of steel is being hurled against
the British lines on a fifty-mile front
extending from the Scarpe. known as
"the river OF blood" down to Ven
deul. below st. Quentin. The enemy Is
driving In the direction of Arras, Ba-
paume, Epehy. Ham, and Chauny. The
battlefield of the Somme was the scene
yesterday Of a supreme clash between
Teuton and Britain. The battle is
spreading %northward to the coast, and
severe fighting has also broken out on
several sectors of the French front.
Verdun. Rheims. and Champagne being
storm centers. The main immediate OBJ
~iectives Of the enemy seem to be: First.
TO try to drive a wedge between the
British and French Armies near their
junction point west Of La Fere; sec
ond, to extend the drive north from
MesSines to the coast. with Dunkirk
and Calais as detectives; thirdly, 10
attack the French on every important
segment of the front with a two-fold
aim of preventing re-enfOrcements be-
ing sent TO the British and feeling for
a weak spot for an attempt to break
through to Paris. Austrian guns are
aiding the German artillery. This was
announced In an official enemy bulletin.