The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1918-03-21

Fifty Mile Front of Allies from
Arras to Vendeuil Under
Terrific Bombardment of
Germans.
BRITISH HOLD LINE
(By Associated Press)


The German big guns have onenad
up terrific bombardment on a front
OF approximately so miles in northern
France and the long heralded German
offensive in the west may be under
way.
| we are at the decisive moment NJ
the war;" Emperor William declares in
Telegram given out today. His dec
laration follows many others of a SIM
llar nature from the emperor himself
ana his generals. These utterances.
seemingly OF concerted nature. have
ied TO the belief that a German Of.
lenslve on the Franco-Belgian front
was imminent or at least have made
II apparent that the German leader.
nad strong reasons for desiring such
belief to prevail.
| Offensive on Old Front.
me 'front.' under artillery attack
stretcnes south from the river Scarpe
the vicinity of Arras to vendeuil
south of st. Quentin.
All OF this line is held by the British.
whose war orfice today reported the
| open.ns OF the bombardment. Nearly
l
IN engagements Of the last two years
the areas Of the Somme. Arras and
| Cambrai battles, being included within
| the limit of the front attack.
A naval battle between German do
stroyers and British and French ton.
pedo crafts off Dunkirk, NAV have az.
counted for flashes at sea seen from
Ramsgate. In this sea fight, two Ger
man destroyers and two torpedo boats
on the German side are reported sunk.
while only one British vessel was
DAMAGED out OF the five British and
french destroyers engaged.
German Destroyers Fooled,
ine German destroyers evfdentlv
came out to lombard Dunhrk and
tney mad been occupied with this bonn.
nardment for 10 minutes before the
British and French engaged them.
American troops in the sector east Of
Luneville participated tonight in a raid
on German trenches, penetrating the
enemy lines for some distance. Hand.
to-hand fighting ensued.
The raiders returned to the Ameri-
can lines after about forty minutes.
The raid was carried out in con.
junction with French troops after a
brief but intense barrage. The Ger
mans retaliated with a heavy fire OF
gas and high explosive shells on the
American batteries.
Preparatory Work Done.
From Vendeuil north to the river
Scarpe is a distance of nearly so miles
and the beginning by the German ar
tlllery of heavy bombardment along
this wide front may mean that prep
aratton for the much advertised Ger
man offensive in the west has been
begun.
The preparatory work was about due
to begin today, il the advance an
nouncements were to be taken at their
face value, judging from the news OF
a day or two ago that party Of neu-,
tral correspondents had been invited
by the German high command to start
for the west front on Wednesday "to
witness the offensive"
Exact Place Indefinite.
1t Is OF course impossible to say
whether the present burst of artillery
fire on this front means that it is
along the line indicated or somewhere
within its limits that the heavy Ger.
man blow, If one indeed is coming, Is
to be struck
There is the consideration that the
bombardment in this particular area
may be feint, to cover a stroke IN
an altogether different sector. The
most ratural conclusion, however, is
that the drive is to be made at some
point in the area now under fire.
Area is Large.
This area embraces most Of the ter.
ritory outside of Flanders. over which
the British have been fighting, some
times alone and sometimes in coz
junction with the French, for the last
two years. It takes in, for instance,
the entire field OF the battle OF the
Somme. fought In the fall of 1916, and
a great part ofthe area evacuated by
the Germans last spring.
Within these limits also is the battle
field of Cambria where the British and
the Germans successfully won victor.
les in last falls fighting. Virtually all
the territory fought over in the great
battle Of Arras, during the spring of
1917 also lies in the area under bom-