The Knoxville independent. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1894-current, 1918-05-18

I iSh and French there out of s4ne of
4. their first-line trenches. But liter in
the night the British counter-atl backed
and regained all that had beeV lost
Two Hun divisions carried out this at
tack and they suffered heavy dasual-
ties. On Thursday morning the Enemy
| made new attack on the FLINDERS
front north of KENNEL and slightly
bent the British line. AT the safn& time
troops from Nova Scotia and New
Brunswick made a great raid Sh the
German outpost line at NeuvilldNitas-
Sc, southeast of Arras, taking tFison-
ers and guns and inflicting mani cas-
tlalties.
Most of the American troopsl that
have been moved into the battle re-
gion appear to be placed along thf line
between Montdidier and NoyoY and
they are giving good account oflthem-
selves there, as are also thoseI hold
ing the Toul sector. There have been
no heavy operations in either sector
recently, but the artillery in bbth Is
always active and the American gun
ners have proved their excellencel They
are now using their heavy artillery
northwest of Toul after several weeks
of preparation. The American casual
ty lists, still relatively small, are in
creasing daily.
-E-
There is no Indication that lie Ger
man high command will abanIlon its
plan Of smashing the BrltishT and
forcing a breach between 1t bSid the
French. Ludendorff is inereaing his
resources in every way possible and
Austria and Bulgaria have been called
on to supply troops for garrison duty
in order that the Germans may be sent
to the front Intimations such as have
appeared in some German papers that
the attempt to reach Paris will be
abandoned mean nothing. No doubt
there will be repeated great offenslves
throughout the summer, and the allies
are preparing to resist them to the ut
most, their intention being to main
tain their lines unbroken until Amer
ica's men are there In sufficient num-
bers to enable General Foch to do more
than resist. 1t is admitted that with
out our army the allies could not gain
a military decision over the Germans
under existing conditions. How long
hn will cfpp 4ha
slaughter of their men is another ques-
ton. From captured mail and the more
outspoken of their newspapers 1T Is evil
dent they are becoming sickened by
the awful bloodshed, but they prob
ably will continue submissive so long
as they think there Is chance of q
final victory.
Ia
The movement of Americans to
France continues with increasing
swiftness and it Is the avowed in
tention of the war department to have
not less than 100000 men there by
the end of May The administration
and the congressional leaders, except
ing such men as Kitchin, now view the
situation comprehenslvely and agree
that no limit should be put on the size
of our army, as it Is likely as many as
100000 men will have to be placed
under arms within three years. A total
of about four millions will be available
Immediately, and Provost Marshal
Crowder and others believe 1t will be
necessary to increase the draft age
limit to forty years within year. In
deed, many details have been worked
out with this increase in view. Classes
I 2, 3 and Of the draft are being care
fully combed out to eliminate slackers
and many names will thus be added
to class /.
I'd
Austrian reports tell of the presence
of American troops on the Italian
front, though this had not been an
nounced by Washington The expected
offensive on that front has not yet ma
terialized, but 1t is believed 1t will not
abe much longer delayed, because of
the critical state of affairs in Emperor
Carts realm. Hunger and discomfort
are increasing so greatly that troops
have been concentrated In the most
disaffected parts of the empire. Also
there have been serious disturbances
in the Austro-Hungarlan fleet the
Z crews of which are largely Slavs and
men Of Italian origin.
la
Roumania has submitted to what
seemed the inevitable and signed d
peace treaty with the central powers.
OF course she loses much and gains
nothing. The instrument provides that
most of the Dobrudja be coded to Bull
garia and other Roumanian territory
to Austria and Hungary; the central