The Greensboro patriot [March 28, 1918]

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THE
1
PATRIOT PUBLISHED EVERY MONDAY AND THURSDAY
ESTABLISHED 1821. GREENSBORO, N. C, THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 1918. VOL. 97-NO. 26
Om DRIVEJLOIIHfi OP
„ vVS KKPORT8 FROM THE
^Svr BATTLE ix FRYNCE—
THAT BIG Wm.
! . ,.;,■ --on. March 23.—The Ger-
. vo »t the British lines ap-
*** l",.,' be .slowing under the pol-p,
,. ,«tic defense pursued by
•'■ ° M,'l!-;i! Haig. according to the
.I,'.,.- allied and American army
Baupaume.
tinues."
Heavy fighting con-the
official
Paris and
l'*nl'r'5 ;. ..->■ based on
"ELenu from London
-!"-..> greatest battle of the
far. they believe, ie enter-second
stage with the German
an increasingly stu'b-
The outcome may
Fresh British Troops on Hand.
London. March 25.—In a message
to Field Marshal Haig David Lloyd
George, the British premier, says
that the men necessary to replace
those lost are either now in France
or already on their way. All guns
will be replaced and still further re-inforcements
of men and guns are
ready to enter the battle.
.-erlin-
»-ar. thus
mjits
forces f»<-isg
„,,„ resistance
" ,„. lil.,--riuible for several days.
Repeated reports of the participa-
,( vuerican troops in the bat-fpre-
Vmably with the French on
" i British right flank, caused Gen-.
L| March to say that neither Gen-
°.al penning or General Bliss had
-ported on this point. .
T:,<-re was much speculation here
. jgy as ;,) :'.ie purpose of the Ger-mans
n pressing the main attack in
uiedirctian of Amiens. The capture
I Xwie indicates this to be the apex
of the great wedge that is bein?
,orced into :he British lines.
Which, or Neither?
The question raised was whether
toe German plan contemplated a
•win: i" the right toward the coast.
designed to hem up all British forces
in a restricted field with the channel
behind tfeem: or a sweep
.'•aris to the:r left front.
One vie* expresseJ was that
Mow elsewhere might follow
checking ot the present drive or even j
accompany it. Advices from Italy I
MW indicated enemy concentrations j
■jn that t'r..n: for some time past. At-tacks
alon; the French lines do not
appear to be more than feints at
present.
United Stales Officers' Opinions.
Officers here think the enormous
torces concentrated in the drive
(he Britis;-. front
American Engineers There.
Washington, March 25.—General
Pershing cabled the war department
tonight that two regiments of Amer-ican
railroad engineers are attached
to the British forces on the front
attacked by the Germans. Three com-panies
of the engineers, he said, were
working in the areas in which the
German official statement mentioned
the presence of American troops,
and no report has been received con-cerning
them.
General Pershing said there was
nothing unusual to report from the
American sectors.
ARE READYjOJTRIKE BACl
BRITISH. FRENCH AXD AMERI-CAN
TROOPS ARE FIGHTING
SHOULDER TO SHOULDER.
BRITISH IN COUNTER-ATTACK
TAKE TWO VILLAGES.
toward
a
the
London. March 27.—The British
delivered a counter attack today be-tween
the angle of the Ancre and
the Somme and recaptured- Morlan-court
and Chipilly, the war office an-nounced
this evening.
The French have been heavily en-gaged
west of Roye and were forced
to give ground, the announcement
' states. Reinforcements for them are
arriving.
An enemy attack in the neighbor-hood
of Bucqu'oy has so 'ar made no
impression upon the British lines.
A number of other heavy attacks
both north and south of the Somme
were repulsed with heavy losses to
the Germans. The enemy's troops
are in Albert.
London, March 26.—The war of-fice
tonight announced that the Ger-mans
took Roye at 10.30 o'clock this
morning.
Tin.- ^nemy has been checked west
of Roye and Noyen, the announce-ment
adds
In the Roye area. British, French
and American troops are fi'i'ting
shoulder t> shoulder, the official an-nouncement
states. French rein-f
.rcements are rapidly coming up.
Tin: enemy made no further at-tacks
during the night of March
_-i in our front north of the
So", me," the announcement says.
"During the afternoon there have
'">een local engagements on this part
of the buttlefront in which the
enemy has been repulsed, but he has
attempted no serious attack.
"The line north of the Somme
now runs:
"Bray, Albert. Beaumont. Hamel,
Pueisseux, Ayette. Boiry. Henin.
Wancourt. just west of Monchy to
the Scarpe, and thenco along our
original front.
'The Germans have been attack-ing
heavily south of the Somme this
mori'ing and took Rive at 10.30
A. M."
The Germans croa»ed_ the Ancre
ftt | yesterday afternoon, but" wete caun-preclude
the possi- | ter attacked and driven back across
MBty of a major offensive by the tue rjver.
Germans elsewhere. In Italy, how- , The British have again advanced
eTer. masses of Austrian troops for- ti]ejr [jne Soath of the Somme to Pro-merly
occupied in Russia, now are vart
available to strength the Austro-
C-erman forces for a bi? movement.
Mention today of the allied strate-gis
reserves, not as yet engaged.
caused son." debate as to the devel-opments
if the British is expected to
irinz tii" German drive to a halt
within a few days. If the front of
tbe British proves too firm to be
broken, the Germans eventually will
reach a point of exhaustion both of
men ar.ii -upplies.
Then the Big Counter-Drive.
That would be the psychological
movement :or a counter-drive and
the stratezi'- reserve- of the allies
would IK- kept ready for such a
movemen*. The German wedge is
narrowing ind unless they are able
10 widen !•. they cannot expect to
retain i'- ,,pex against a three-sided
attack.
Officer* expect tomorrow's reports
to shoa ih» efforts of the enemy to
BODY OF BOY FOUND
ON A SMALL ISLAND.
force
iinK<
ba'k •he British
"anks.
and French
Burlington. March 27.—The body
of Charles Thompson, eight-year-old
son of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Thomp-son,
after being in the water 73 days,
was found yesterday just- below the
dam at Swepsonville. Saturday. Jan-uary
12. the boy. with some compan-ions,
was walking on some planks
used for inspecting under the rail-road
trestle at Haw River and he lost
his balance and fell 40 feet to the
water below. His body wias carried
down the river and no trace of it
couid be found until yesterday. The
place where It was found is about
four miles below the railroad bridge.
It had in some manner been carried
over the dam, had lodged In the
bushes and trees on a small island
just beljw the dam and was seen by
some men who were setting a fish
net. The funeral was held from the
home today.
Resume of Tuesday's Fighting.
After eix days of terrific fighting,
the German offensive in Frarce is
beginning to show signs of lcsins its
momentum The progress of the ene-my
has materially slackened and the
form of the dent made in the allied
line wes* of Cambrai has begun to
resemble the familiar wedgelike sal-ient,
instead of the broad, straight,
forward movement of an offensive
which carries all before it.
At its apex this wedge has gone be-yond
Albert, to the south of that
place, and is to the westward of the
old allied line as it stood' a year ago^
when von Hindenburg began his
"strategic retreat." From this point
the line runs off to the northeast at a
gentle angle, with the line to the
south running back until it reaches
the Oise river.
German Effort Defeated.
In spite of tremendous exertions
and terrible losses, the German ef-forts
to widen the tip of this salient
were defeated on Tuesday. The Brit-ish
lines have stood firm to the north
and have forced the Germans to turn
southward toward the point of least
resistance.
Official statements issued at Lon-don
connrra the report from Berlin
that American forces are engaged In
the struggle. They are reported as
'fighting shoulder to shoulder" with
the French and British in the region
of Roye, on the southern side of the
salient driven into the allied front.
There has been no official report sent
to Washington as to the identity of
these troops who are taking part in
this greatest battle in history.
isa to fajl back. Observers at the
front say; that the German losses
have been frightful, and that the
enemy has lost from 10 to 20 per
cent of Ilk men, by the most conser-vative
estimates.
Repetition of Kluck's Dash.
The situation as it stands seems to
be a repetition of the dash of General
von Klucft on Paris, in 1914, when
the Gernian artillery and transport
could not keep up with the infantry
and the French were »ble to turn
back the invaders at the Marne. Re-ports
from various sector? in the last
two days have indicated that the Ger-man
infaptry. relying on it3 muss at-tacks,
lias fought without the cus-tomary
assistance of the artillery. To
bring up heavy guns requires time
and the German advanc? will stead-ily
become more painful and costly.
While the German line of com-munications
has been growing long-er,
the British have constantly mov-ed
nearer their base of supplies. It
is probable that the line Where stern
battle will be given is not Ear away
from the present ■position of tl-e al-lied
armies.
There has been continued artivity
on the Italian front, but no attacks
of importance have been made . by
cither side ;n this theater of the war.
The American lines in he Luneville
and Toul sectors have been bombard-ed
once 'more, but no infantry fight-ing
is reported there. North of the
Somme katttefield there have been no
engagen&nts of significance. The
British troops in Palestine have cap-tured
the village of Es-Salt. in the
hills to the east of the Jordan and
far in advance of the rest of the line
running-west to the Mediterranean.
HEROISM OFJUEMGH TROOPS
BRITISH FRONT IS STANDING
FIRM ALONG WHOLE LINE—
HAIG'S REPORT.
London, March 27.—The British
front is standing Arm along the
whole line, which appears to be the
strongest it has occupied since the
battle began, says Reuters corre-spondent
with the British headquar-ters
in France.
Even at points where the line is
not strong, the correspondent adds, it
is being held in very orderly array,
alike of men and guns, and nowhere
is showing any signs of enforced re-tirement.
The enemy, says the correspond-ent,
attacked at various points today,
but from all reports these efforts
made no progress.
British airmen report the whole
of the enemy front areas to be black
with troops.
FOUGHT THREE DAYS WITH
NO FOOD TO LAST BOUND.
Siill l)..|n 70-Mile Ranffe Gun.
('<>i!-V iv.ion of the bombardment
•'f I',,.-:- •■. ••;•. edium calibre shells
: a i'; - -: ■
tha' . _-,
»vt mi! -i
Germane.
>:-::. n
said ;...
"itll h.V;
Claim :
gM r.'.i, ■
from •_■ ',
■er.ii..
niseovi .
!l>to |\,. .
obuni
mat i
from
"inn
r.vince ordnance experts
with a range of seventy-
. id been evolved by the
They pointed out that the
■facial statement merely
Paris had been bombarded
ii.-tance guns, without any
•t all previous records for
'• had been exceeded by
-J) 300 per cent and con-
:u: eventually it would be
■' 'hat the shells dropped
had not traveled any such
This belief was based on
li'.al calculations drawn
ilnance experience in all
BRITISH OUTNUMBERED
NEARLY FOUR TO ONE.
Marshal Haig's Report.
: 'n. March 25.—"Fighting of
Ma,
he;-.,
'he :r,osi severe description has been
la' ' place all day on wide fronts
sou;.. I'eronne and south and
" »? liaupaume," says Field
•sI Haig's report from British
UHrtew in France tonight.
"'" both sectors the enemy has at-tacked
our positions in great houv
"tKfgth with fresh forces, and, in
SI"'' or the gallant resistance of our
trtci^j, ilas f0rceii ^ ^ give ground.
German troops are in Nesle and
Washington, March 26.—General
Haig is holding the great German
drive of ninety-seven divisions with
only twenty-seven divisions of bat-tling
Tommies, it was staled by Brit-ish
military men here today. Ac-cording
to the British strategy, it is
believed here, Haig will not rush up
greater concentrated forces until he
is ready to assume the offensive at
the break in the German onrush.
During a retirement, it is not well to
over-concentrate men, it is pointed
out.
British officials estimate the Ger-man
losses at approximately 100,000
men a day in killed, wounded and
captured. At this rate, they bold,
they are justified in optimism and in
the belief that the Germans are de-feating
themselves by their enor-mous
losses.
Allies- Ready to Strike Back.
With the slackening of the Ger-man
pace there ccme indications
that the allies are ready to strike
back somewhere along the front.
Just where this blow will be launch-ed
will not be known until it is
struck, but it may be expected that
its impact will be terrific. It is
known that the allied war council at
Versailles created a great strategic
reserve of men to be used in just the
contingency which confronts the
armies which have borne the brunt
of the fighting since last Thursday
morning.
This force proDably will be launch
ed when and where it i3 believed it
will break the force of the German
onslaught and send the enemy reel
!ng back over the desert from Which
the British have slowly withdrawn.
Each succeeding day reveals the
plan of the Germans absolutely' to
GENERAL WOOD WANTS
AN ARMY OF .-MM>.UlHi MEN.
I
Washington, March 26.—Back
from a visit to the western battle
front. Major General Leonard Wood,
for a confidential statement tqday
before the senate military committee
declare! 'hat allied military opinion
is'naafetnnone that the German offen-sive
will fail, and urged a great in-crease—
to 4.000,000 or 5.000,000
men—in America's army.
It was General Wood's opinion,
according to his auditors, that the
Germans on the western front now
are numerically superior, both on the
ground and in me air, but that the
allies are in a better position. While
confident that the German offensive
will be halted before the enemy has
.uned any matei.al objectives. Gen-eral
Wood suggested that the offen-sive
may change the warfare into a
more open contest. For that reason
he recommended the training of
American forces for open warfare as
well as for trench .fighting.
Want 2,300,000 Sent to France.
The general was before the com-mittee
for three hours. Stating that
the French are disappointed in the
size of the American army thus far
sent to Europe, according to com-mittee
members he recommended
immediate steps to increase both the
American expeditionary forces and
the army in training in this country.
Chairman .Chamberlain said Gen-eral
Wood recommended that an
army of 2/500,000 men be maintain-ed
in France at the earliest possible
moment and 2.500.000 more in train-ing.
Another committee member
placed General Wood's recommenda-tion
at 4,000,000 men, one-half in
France as soon as they can be sent
there.
Massachusetts Honse Ratines Amend-
TWO AMERICANS KILL THREE
GERMANS AND WOUND OTHERS
With the French Army in France,
March 26.—The German effort by a
terrific rush to get between the
French and British forces, with the
object of defeating each separately,
has failed up to the present. The
fighting qualities of the allied sol-diers
have served to stay the impul-sive
advance, aud today the Anglo-
French line is on strong positions.
The next few days ma; change the
situation entirely, as the allies have
had time to get their "maneuvering
reserve" to take the initiative.
The correspondent passed today
among troops who have borne a
great share in the fighting of the last
five days. Everywhere cheerfulness
was to be found and perfect comfl-d^
nce in the future. l:oth officers
and men, whether French or British,
tell narratives of wonderful heroism
on the part of individuals and units.
The gunners of a battery of
French'W«~futhe neighborhood of
Chauny were surrounded for thxee
days without food, but fongiit until
the last round was fired; then, taking
advantage of some confusion among
the Germans in the cdurse of the
third night, they somehow made
their way through the encircling fees
i'nd escaped, carrying their wounded
comrades with them.
Men belonging to a dismounted
French cavalry corps, acting us in-fantry,
fought a rear guard action
day after day against immense odds.
The troopers declare that the enemy
came forward in such deep waves
that it was only necessary to fire
ooint blank, to hit with certainty.
These cavalrymen fired into the camp
so rapidly that the Germans fell in
swathes, yet still others came on,
until the French defenders were
compelled to cease fire, because both
rifles- and machine guns were red hot.
The advance of the Germans was
similar in character everywhere,
w-ave succeeding wave in closest suc-cession.
When the first German di-vision
was exhausted, another imme-diately
took its place. In some cases
a single division of the allies while
retiring was attacked successively
by six German divisions.
Such a continued series of shocks
from fresh troops was bound to tell
on tired men, and eventually the al-lies'
were forced to give way. But
they did so still fighting. It is
known that one (Bavarian division
lest 50 per cent of its strength.
Tt was clearly apparent that the
German high command relied on
this method of sacrifice to break
through.
day from south o: Rasleres to north
of AblainzeviHe.
"An unsucce-cfu: attempt made
iy the enemy last night to driva in
oar line south of the Somme was fol-io
ved this morning by a series of
heavy attacks in the neighborhood ot
Ro9ieres and to the south of that
piace. At Rcsieres all the enemy's
assaults have bien beaten off by our
troops.
"Further north our line was m*in-talned
through the earlier part Of
the day in spite of great pressure
from large hoetile forces.
"Later in the day a fresh German
attack developed in this area with
the result that our line was taken
back a short distance to the west.
Later reports show tha't our counter-attacks
have again completely re-stored
the situation.
"During the day the enemy made
a number of determined! attacks
against our positions between the
Somme and the Ancre and north and
south of Albert. Fierce fighting has
taken place in this sector also.
"Part of our position to the south
of Albert, into which the enemy at
one time forced his way, was regain-ed
by us by a counter attack, and a
further heavy attack delivered by
the enemy at this point during !*9
afternoon was completely repulsed.
"Attempts made by the enemy in
the course of the day to debouch
westward from the town of Albert
have been driven back, in each in-stance
with the heaviest casualties."
THE LONG RANGE
GUN STORY IS DOUBTED.
w
r*rtiri*y.
Washington, March 26.—Skepti-cism
over the ability of the Germans
to bombard Paris from a range ot
seventy or more miles continued
here today. There was a tendency
to believe that the Berlin claim of
such bombardment was based uj
the fact that Berlin knew that eh
had been dropped and hence
to claim credit for it and
among the allies. "They're
show msv even- now/"
Snow-, American chief
The general Shared the frfoling thfct
Berlin was camouflaging and ' ei-pressed
the view thjtt, an airplane
standing off some distance wast shoot-ing
a shell or a bomb filled vith por-tions
of a 240 miltmeter shell there-in.
He felt certain that a device
nearer Paris than seven miles was
responsible. ^i\
He pointed ou: that, beyond a
certain point, the addition of extra
explosives give very small added
range. The longest range known, ac-cording
to his reports, is thirty-one
miles, and even that, he said, was not
verified. An ordnance expert, who
ranks among the foremost of the
country, declared today he would
stake his reputation on the state-ment
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, ac-cording
to some authorities here,
that a new method of propulsion has
been developed, such, for Instance,
as an application of the ancient cat-pult
which threw rocks through *
mechanical rather than in explosive
arrangement.
brai, a terrain Which could not be
defended by von Hindenburg a year
ago. Each official report shows that
this sector is valueless from a mili-tary
standpoint and that the Ger-mane
have paid a terrible price for
their advance to the lines establish-ed
by the allies dnring the first two
years of warfare. It.is officially re-
Withi the American Army in
France, March 26.—Two men of an
American patrol, while inspecting
enemy trenches in the Toul sector
early this morning, encountered 15
of the enemy, and immediately open-ed
fire with their rifles.. They also
used grenades, and, after a few min-utes,
managed to get away safely,
crush the allied lines weet of Cam- j taking turns at covering each other's
retreat. They got back to the Amer-ican
lines without a scratch, but it
is known that three Germans were
killed and others were wounded.
Two encounters are reported be-tween
American reconnoltering pa-trols
and new listening posts.
Boston Mass . March 27.—The ported that 70 German divisions, or
340,000 men, have taken part :n the
flgniing and that troops have been
PRESIDENT WILSON SENDS
OEN. HAIG MESSAGE.
BRITISH RESIST ENEMY" AND
LAUNCH COUNTER-ATTACKS.
of tbe Massachusetts legtela-
Estimated German Losses 800.0O0.
iLondton, March 27.—The G-arman
casualties since the beginning of the
offensive are estimated at the front
stitutlon by
resolution now goes to tlieoeffate.
London. March 27.—The British
forces are not only offering strong
resistance to heavy enemy attacks
both north and south of the river
Somme, but have carried out numer-ous
counter-attacks during the day,
resulting in the gaining of ground
and the driving back of the Germans
at various points.
The report from Field Marshal
Haig tonight declares that in these
operations heavy casualties have
been inflicted on the enemy.
Further powerful attacks are ex-pected.
The text of the statement, reads:
"The battle was renewed this
morning with great violence south
and north of the Somme. Intense
Washington, March 26.—"Ameri-cans
feel you will win" .vas the mes-sage
President Wilson sent to Gen-eral
Haig today, as the great west
front battle swept on .in its fury.
The message reflected the confidence
of the president in the critical events
now transpiring in Frame. His cable
read: "May I not express to you my
warm admiration for the steadfast-ness
and valor with vhlchi yonr
troops have withstood the German
onset and the perfect confidence all
Americans feel that you will win a
secure and final victory?
"WOODROW WILSON."-
SUBMARINES INCREASE
WEEKLY TOLL SHIPPING.
London, March 28.—Submarines
and mines have increased their week-ly
toll of British shipping. The ad-miralty's
report shows that In the
last week 28 merchantmen were
sunk, 16 of the vessels being 1,600
tons or over, and 12 under that ton-nage.
One fishing vessel Was lost.
Nineteen merchantmen were un-socceasfully
attacked. The arrivals
1 xes Which have been forcing the Brit- Mail's correspondent.
sit ports in the United Kingdom nura>
flglsttng has taken place during the bered 2.471; sailings, 2,488.
, ■• T r ....fi ,- , ,,,-ft^^tth"