Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, March 26, 1918, Image 1

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Atlanta semi-weekly journal., March 26, 1918, Image 1

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Newspaper Page TextO c Atlanta Saamal VOLUME XX. British Counter Attack SHELLING OF HUIS INTERRUPTED AFTER FOUR -SHOTS FIRED German Long-Range Guns Re sume Bombardment Monday Only to Cease After a Few Minutes PARIS. March 25.—The long range bombardment of Paris was resumed at »:30 o’clock this morning, but was in ’errupted after the second shot. Another air raid alarm was sounded shortly alien 1 o’clock this morning After three-quarters of an hour fire men’s bugles and church bells an nounced that all was clear and the Pa risians were able to return to their beds. After a brief interval, two more shots were fired. The bombardment was again suspend’d at 9:19 o’clock. As was the case yesterday the peo ple did not take to shelter. Cellars which were tilled on Saturday remained »mpty this morning. Little interest eras shown in the bombardment. Soon after they were awakened by the first shot the people were brought io their windows by the rattling of drums. Policemen circulated through “adit quarter of the city, introducing the new system of alarm, which is distin guished from the alarm in the case of air raids. IVork was resumed under normal onditions. All the transportation linea were running The streets were full of people whose sole subject of con versation was the new battle of the Somme, which is generally compared with Verdun. Twenty-four shells reached Pans Saturday and 2< yesterday. The inter .aj between shots was reduced from fifteen or twenty minutes Saturday to an average of nine minutes yesterday. On two occasions there was an inter val of only one or two minutes. This was accecpted as confirming the theory that at least two guns were firing. The time of flight of the shells is. es timated at ten minutes, at the least: the curve traversed at 120 miles, and the maximum height attained at 15 miles. Several Casualties From Sunday’s Raid on Paris . PARIH. March 25.—Several eaauai •>ee resulted from yesterday** air raid ,->n Paris, it was officially announced to day. A namber of enemy airplanes suc ceeded in crossing the battle lines at a •ugh altitude and attacking the city. They were pursued immediately by u ’rench airplanes from the front and .hose attached to the Paris defenses. They were driven oft after dropping -everal bombs. , Hope Career of Big Gun Will Soon Be at End PARfcs. -March 25. —It is to be hoped •hat the gun which shelled Paris will rerv shortly be silenced, says the Figa -o. which gives the following quotation from a man who is said to be in a posi tion to know: -The HO-millimeter gun which bom barded Dunkirk two years ago from a distance of twenty-five miles was locat ed by our airplanes and soon put out of o-tion The same methods will be tdepted with regard to the 240-miHi meter gun which has been bombarding Paris for the last two days Since Sat i-diy our airplanes have been looking for i.. and the fact that it stopped firing s due. perhaps to their arrival. It will sot be long before the gun is definitely placed; then its career will soon be The military authorities, according o another morning newspaper, are convinc 'd that the Germans are using two new guns, while Richard Arapu, the military xpert of LOeuvre. believes there is s * hole battery of them. The Germans undoubtedly desire to read the belief that they have devel ped such a gun. in hope of demoraliz ing public morale in Paris and London the English coast, including Dover be ing within its range. NEW YORK. March 25. —"It is my belief and that of my associates that the missiles falling on Paris are aerial »orpedoes—nothing more." said Henrr Woodhouse, of the board of governor ef the Aero Club of America today, after reading all the reperts in the morning papers. Washington Officials Are Still Skeptical WASHINGTON. March 25.—Skepti cism over the ability of the Germans to bombard Paris from a range of 70 or more miles continued here today. There was a tendency to believe that the Ber lin claims of such bombardment was based upon the fact that Berlin knew that shells had been dropped, and hence desired to claim credit for it and cast fear among the allies. "They've got to show me. even now.” »aid General Snow. American chief of artillery. The general shared the feeling that Berlin was camouflaging, and expressed he view that an airplane standing off -ome distance was shooting a shell or a bomb filled with portions of a 240-milli meter shell therein. He felt certain that some device nearer Paris than 70 miles was responsible. He pointed out that beyond a certain uoint the addition of extra explosives gives very small added range. The longest range known, according to his reports, is 31 miles, and even that, he said, was not verified. An ordnance expert who ranks among the foremost of the country declared to day that he would stake his reputation on the statement that the Germans have no long-range gun capable of shooting from the German lines into Paris. If it is assumed that the shell is fired from that line, it means, according to -ome authorities here, that a new meth od ol propulsion has been developed •uch. for instance, as an application of the ancient catapult, which threw rocks through a mechanical rather than an ex plosive arrangemeoc. Full Associated Press Service NO AMERICANS HAVE BEEN SENT AGAINST ADVANCING GERMANS Uncle Sams Boys Are Indig nant Over Report That They Had Been Defeated by the Huns WITH THK AMERICAN ARMY IN FRANCE. March 24. —No American reg iments have participated with the Brit ish in meeting the German offensive, it was stated authoritatively here today. American soldiers on the Toul front were indignant when the German offi cial wireless statement regarding the defeat of a Franco-American reserve force was picked up. One Place in Enemy Line Virtually Abandoned WITH THE AMERICAN ARMY IN FRANCE. Sunday, March 24. (By the Associated Press. Precede). —American artillery on the Toul sector continues today to shell effectively enemy first line and communication trenches, the town of St. Baussant. and billets and dumps north of Boqueteau. Many of the American shells have fallen in the German trenches and the first two lines in at least one place have I .en virtually abandoned. One American patrol freely inspected this point in*the enemy line without molestation last night and this morn ing, and remained there several hours. There have been no contacts between the infantry during the last twenty four hours. American Engineers In Throes of Conflict BRITISH ARMY HEADQUARTERS IN FRANCE, March 25.—American en gineeers have again been in the throes of fierce conflict, in which they have done excellent work in transportation. The presence of the American engi neers on the battle front has long been known. They were praised highly for their gallantry in the battle of Cam brai. last fall. Gas Shells Dropped on • Town in American Lines WITH THE AMERICAN ARMY IN FKANUA Bunday, March 24. — (By the Associated Press.)—For the third suc cessive day German artillery today bombarded heavily with gas shells a certain town within the American lines. Today s bombardment was made in fwo periods, each a half hour in length. Many gas shells and a few high-explo sive shells fell on the American posi tions. An enemy airplane early this morn ing cut off its engines at a great height over the American lines northwest of Toul and planed down. When close to the ground it dropped a quantity <f bombs. Some were of a new variety which explode in mid-air with a bluish red flash and give off a cloud of-mustard gas. Being heavier than the air the mustard gas quickly descended toward some of our battery positions and road. After the machine disappeared the German gas shell bombardment began. Another enemy airplane hovered over the town while the bombardment with German shells was in progress. The weather was especially suitable today for aerial work, and the Germans took advantage of it. On one portion of the sector fourteen enemy airplanes crossed betweeen noon and six o’clock in the evening, mhile four friendly ones were over .the American line in the same period. One group of seven ene my machins, apparently on a bombing expedition, was discovered at midnight and driven off by the rapid fire of Amer ican anti-aircraft guns. An American patrol has brought in quantities of valuable papers from the bodies of five Germans killed in a shell hole by American artillery fire a few days ago The entire American front, from gen erals to privates, eagerly awaits news from the British front. All are confi dent that the Germans eventually will be defeated severely, even If they should strike hard at the outset. The German offensive is the sole top ic of discussion on the American sector. Official communications are caught by wireless operators, and newspapers are circulating rapidly along the front. Damage to Hun Positions Photographed From ’Planes WITH THE AMERICAN ARMY IN FRANCE. March 25.—(8y The Asso ciated Press.) —Gn the Toul front there was considerable artillery activity dur ing the night. American Ans heavily shelled the German front line positions. Enemy batteries replied, using many gas shelis. Later photographs were ta ken from airplanes of the damage in flicted by the Americans. Wood Believes Shells Were Launched From Air NEW YORK, March 25.—Major Gen eral Wood, jpst returned from France, emphatically declared his belief that no mysterious new German gun is fir ing on Paris. “I have read the reports regarding the attack on Paris,” said General Wood, in a statement to the NeW York Herald, ’’and 1 am convinced that no new gun of marvelous range is in volved. In my opinion, a great aerial attack is taking place, and it seems very possible that radical development of airplane guns by the Germans is in volved. I hold this belief despite the assertion that the position of a great new gun has been accurately ascer tained. I am sure that within a short time it will be established that an air plane bombardment has resulted in a misleading report." Paris Bombardment the Great Mystery of War LONDON, March 25.—The unexplain ed arrival of high wad German I PALM SUNDAY 1 —l-tiQgfefgtE, ISSiiHI p paiiw Sl AUG- 0F «E R M AAj S’ —By order OF~' <' 1 ; »<$ majesty the // saw J wiOT 1 ® wkvi x SUM-- ißflliSF’' wW™ ' i ' : 111 \ Vwwßifw ) / s • 11 it -kM'WvWlt aaSS / /" 'S 4 i rT 'SiRI J r GEfIMW LOSSES OUT OF HL PROPORTION TO GOIN Daily Chronicle Says Eight or; ’ Ten Per Cent of Effectives Are Destroyed ■ LONDON. Kiarch 25. —Commenting on , the results of the German offensive, the t Daily Chronicle says: "Assuming that the German losses . are at least 150.000. the enemy has sus tained a reverse for he has not obtained .1 strategical success directly conducing | to a decision, while he has lost 8 or ten per cent of his effectives without sim ilarly lowering the efficiency of the ■ allies. ■ “This matter is of ihe greatest im portance for Germany at present is at the critioal moment when the man pow er pendulum is swinging in favor of the allies. No weakness at the Anglo- French junction has yet been disclosed, and the task before the enemy in the next days of the battle is more formid able than that already accomplished.*’ shells in Paris today is regarded as the greatest mystery of the war. British experts suggest the poss’bil ! ity of the shells being propelled from Zeppelins at a great height, possibly behind the German lines. Reports of a big German gun being located more than 70 miles from Paris has not been con firmed. Experts here, who are frankly skep tical. considered various theories, in cluding the possibility of a new discov ’ ered propellant o* power hitherto un known expelling a* sectional shell. Such a shell by explosions at intervals in ’ the air. might surpass any previous pos sibilities Franco-Americans Thrown Back, Berlin Office Claims BERLIN tvla London), March 25. j French and American troops have been i thrown back through the pathless, wooded country near Launeville, Ville qnire and Aurr.oat. the Berlin war of- , flee declared today. American Wounded by German Long-Range Gun PARIS, March 23. —An American cor-I poral of marines was struck in the chest I bv a splinter of one of the first shells I which fell during Saturday’s bombard-1 ment of Paris by the Germans. He | was wounded seriously but h‘.s life prob ably was saved by the deflection of the 1 splinter by a cigarette case. So far as ‘ has been reported he is the only Amer ican victim of the bombardment. The Matin says one of the shells > tired in the direction of Paris yesterday • struck a church in the suburbs. Sev- > eral persons who were attending a Palm Bandar «errtc» wore kflM, , K , I ATLANTA, GA., TUESDAY, MARCH 26, 1918 AIRMEN ARE GIVING VALUABLE HELP TO INFANTRY TROOPS Greatest Struggle of All His tory Rages Back and Forth Under Eyes of Kings and i Military Chieftains BT WILLIAM PHXLLP SIMMS WITH THE BRITISH ARMIES IN THE FIELD. March 24.—Under the eyes of captains anti kings the great battle crashes on without pause. Haig and others are fingering its pulse on this side. The kaiser. Crown Prince Frederick William, Crown Prince Rup precht, Hindenburg and Ludendorff are in consultation on the other. Bombing planes soar out carrying bombs across the battle ground. . They broaden the area of death scores cf miles, few villages escaping. When the sun rises the bombers, like prowling birds, return to their roosts; ground fighting speeds up and scout fleets, succeeding the bombers, fly low over the crashing infantry, harassing enemy columns and observing for the artillery. British airmen have smashed records. The forty-seven German air planes downed Friday were equaled again Saturday and probably today. The battling is almost exclusively between the Scarpe and the Oise. While the | struggle continues throughout the line i it is hottest on the British right. Prus- • sian cavalry hurled forward at various points attempted to back through the British lines, but was foiled every where. Terrific encounters with mount ed and unmounted enemy in the re- ■ gion between the Tergnier canal and I Ham resulted in driving the Germans back. Although making' some progress, the Germans have been unable to main tain all their gains. In the midst of the most stubborn fighting, the British can not resist smiling at the German wireless claim t hat a considerable portion of the Brit i ish army is defeated “Exthaordinrry! We didn’t know it ! ourselves,” exclaimed a British officer. The wireless said the offensive was j"a su •prise.” Personally, I announced an offensive 1 was imminent, in my reent dispatches I from Zurich, and repeated the announce i ment upon my return to the British front —giving the exact point of at ! tack. Wilkes County Jurors Paid in Thrift Stamps WASHINGTON. Ga., March 35.—Mem ; bers of the Wilkes county grand jury, ■ sitting for the February adjourned term , of the superior court here last week, voted unanimously to accept only thrift I iwxieoi fhr ttafr,. CLllffl TO SLIMTTB EXPECTED IN H HDUfIS If British Can Hold Lines Hin denburg Will Begin Big Losing Fight NEW YORK, March 25.—The next 24 hours will probably mark the climax of Von Hindenburg’s unprecedented slaugh ter of his own troops in an effort to overwhelm the British armies in France. If the British lines hold their own during that period. Von Hinden burg’s great gamble must begin to go against him. For the present the Germans have gained two objectives. They have large ly improved their own defensive posi tions guarding their chief lines of com munication in western France, and they have undoubtedly disarranged British offensive plans for the coming summer. But the Germans have not regained all the territory they voluntarily aban doned last March, when they retired to the Hindenburg line. The British front is resisting all tendency to give way in disorder. As long as this slow, orderly retirement proceeds, the German attacks must con tinue to exhaust Germany’s power with out compensating offensive advantages. The Germans confess to an improved British defense in their statement of captured prisoners. During the first two days of fighting Berlin reported 25.000 British had been taken. For the second two days of the combat only ! 5,000 additional captives have been an -1 nounced from the German headquarters. This sudden decline in the number of prisoners is very reassuring. The present German objective in the attack shows evidence of not being ! fixed at any one point. The British re tirement has caused Von Hindenburg apparently to search madly at numer ous sectors for any special weakness of the line, with the intention of trying to break through there. (Otherwise, it is difficult to explain satisfactorily the scattering nature of the German blows. After attempting to outflank the Brit ish positions at the southern end of the British front and failing. Von Hinden burg has turned for a new drive nearly 50 miles north, near Arras. A break ing up of the German strength in this manner indicates Von Hindenburg is now acting as an opportunist. The fail ure of opportunities has been almost in variable in the present war. We Club With the Cultivator The Semi-Weekly Journal is the best newspaper in the South. The Southern Cultivator is the best Farm paper for the Southern Farmer. Send us 51.25 and we will send you both of these papers for one year ! each. Address all orders to t The Atlanta Semi-Weekly Journal, i • Atlanta,- | 45,000 BRITISHERS CAPTURED, BERLIN STATEMENTCLAIMS Berlin Official Statement Claims the Capture of Bapaume and Crossing of River Somme, But Haig Reports Repulse of Enemy at Bapaume and That Germans Who Crossed Somme Were Driven Back WASHINGTON, March 2».—President Wilson today cabled Field Marshal Haig, congratulating him on the British stand against the Ger man offensive and predicting a finaJ allied victory. The president’s message read: “May 1 not express to you my warm admiration of the splendid steadfastness and valor with which your troops have withstood the Ger man onset, and the perfect confidence all Americans feel that you will win a secure and final victory?’’ LONDON, March 25.—The British this morning were counter attack ing between Nesle and Ham, Heater’s correspondent at British headquar ters reports. The French also were in action. North of Bapaume, he states, the Germans were attacking in consid erable force at dawn, but did not get through the British barrage. The Germans, says the correspondent, are relying upon sheer weight of numbers in their heavy attacks on the British lines, relieving their tired troops by fresh divisions, which press forward without waiting for artillery support. The enemy all day yesterday and through the moonlight last night kept up his hammering of the British positions, the message states, the British troops resisting with valiant stubbornness. The Germans are employing many small bodies of Uhlans, mainly as scouting patrols, it Is added. Fresh attacks by the Germans developed Sunday afternoon northward and southward of Bapaume, the war office announces. The British repulsed powerful attacks yesterday afternoon northward of Bapaume. The British drove back to the eastern bank of the Somme bodies of German troops which had crossed the river between Uconrt and Brie, south • of Perrone. The statement follows: “The battle continues with great violence on the whole front. Power ful attacks, delivered by the enemy yesterday afternoon ana evening, of Bapaume, were heavily repulsed. Only at one point did the German in fantry reach our trenches, whence they were immediately thrown out. Else where the enemy's attacks were stopped by rifle, machine gun and artillery fire in front of our positions and his troops were driven back with great loss. • ’ “During the night and this morning fresh hostile attacks have again developed in this neighborhood and also to the south of Bapaume. “South of Peronne bodies of German troops who had crossed the river between Licourt and Brie, were driven back to the east bank by our counter attacks.” This mav be regarded as the most optimistic official statement issued by Field Marshal Haig since the German offensive began. According to the British commander the enemy’s advance has been stopped all along the line, temporarily at least. ♦ ♦ ♦ BERLIN rVia London). March 25. —The German war office today announced the capture of Bapaume. Passage of the Somme river was forced below Ham. the Berlin war office also announced. “We mounted the heights west of the Somme, the statement con tinued. , Near Bapaume the enemy was twain defeated. Northeast of Bapaume Ger man troops broke through and drove the enemy back byway of Yters and Saelly. Hot fighting is in progress for the possession of Combles. Nesle was stormed during the evening. Strong positions west of the Croxat canal were captured. Guiscard and Chauny have been captured, according to the state ment. Enemy losses are unusually heavy. ' Forty-five thousand allied prisoners have been taken, with more than 600 guns and quantities of other war ma terial. Field Marshal Haig, in his official statement, admitted the Germans cross ed the Somme south of Peronne, near Licourt, but declared they were driven back. It is not plain whether the Ber lin war office and Haig referred to the same action. Ypres and Sailly are southeast, rather than northeast, of Bapaume. It is probable the German statemem meant the British retreated in the direction of those two towns. Haig admitted the enemy gained a slight foothold in the new British lines north of Bapaume during powerful at tacks Sunday evening, but declared they were later driven out. Combles is midway between Bapaume and Peronne. It is 13 miles west of Villwrs. the nearest point in the line previous to the start of the offensive. Nesle is 15 miles south of Peronne and seven miles west of Hani, the cap ture of which has been admitted by the British. Nesle is 18 miles west of the original line and if it is in German hands, as claimed by Berlin, this marks the farthest enemy advance to date. The Croxat canal starts at Tergnier turns westward to Ham, then hangs north to Peronne. It passes three miles east of Nesle. French Join British; Latter Holding Fast NEW YORK, March 25. —(By Euro pean Cables to the Associated Press.) — TJranee has thrown the weight of her forces into the great battle raging with unexampled intensity on the western front and the British and French armies are now battling together against the onslaught of the common enemy in his desperate attempt to break through the allied line. The British armies are holding fast along the line of the Somme and alsd in the region north of Bapaume, Field Marshal Haig reports today. The Ger mans in their thrusts in the latter sec tions reached the British trenches at only one point and there they were im mediately ejected. Their assaults else where were smothered by the British fire with great losses to the enemy. On the Somme line bodies of German’ troops which had succeeded in forcing their way across the river between Licourt and Brie, south of Peronne, «er» driven back -to the easterly bank. NUMBER 52. On both sides of the Bapaume the German attacks were resumed today. The greatest danger point at present seems to be further south, where the Germans apparently' have driven through the great width of the region they devastated in retiring in 1917, as the Paris statement today reports heavy fighting in the region of Noyon. This town itself is some ten miles to the west of Chauny, in the region of which Berlin yesterday reported the repulse of Fra neo-American reserves, but the German advance probably has been met considerably short of Noyon. The wedge driven into the allied line is evidently a deep one, however, as the French troops are reported by Paris to be contesting for the heights to the north of the Oise with important Gfer man forces. The Oise on this part cf the front runs southwest past Chauny and passes to the south of Noyon. Field Marshal Haig’s withdrawal, pre viously planned in ease of a heavy en emy attack, has been executed in a manner described as masterly, and great credit for its success is given to the small units which, sometimes outnum bered eight or nine to one. clung to their posts and impeded the German advance. The British have made few counter attacks, but every one attempted has been successful. The British ef forts are centered on withdrawing as occasion requires and permitting the enemy tc wear himself out before the British defense. Sunday the ■ fighting forces in the north reached 'the oid battlefield of the Somme, from which the Germans retreated a year ago. Again Bapaume and Peronne are the centers of the most bitter fighting. Bapaume is the key position between Arras and Albert, and Berlin reports that a “gi gantic struggle” is being made for its possession. The capture of Peronne is claimed by the Germans, but heavy fighting Is taking place north of it, and southward along the Somme river. Between Ba paume and Peronne. the Germans have reached the Transloy-Combles-Maurepar line, where they are held up by th* British. On the northern end of the great battle line, where the sanguinary struggle has rot halted for many hourK the Germans have reached Chauny. an important point on the Oise river south west of LaFere. Here, however, their advance lias not been so great as di rectly west of St. Quentin, where they have progressed more than ten miles. The British and French battie lines meet near Chauny and the French lines along the Chemin des Dames and eastward toward Rheims would be menaced if the Germans advanced as far as Com peigne, on the roau to Pari.:. Rut Com peigne is a good twenty miles south west of Chauny. The intensity of the struggle la shown by the official announcement that Brit ish aviators on Saturday brought down 54 enemy machines. The British lost only nine In addition to carrying out (Oonttamd -on. Pago A SQ