The Greensboro patriot [April 1, 1918]

              BHr "-V-. "«v
V
■
•*~ss« ■ • ■' -
M ■^i*."<
■ - '-'
■
PUBLISHED EVERY MONDAY AND THURSDAY
3C
ESTi
RUSHED 1821. GREENSBORO, N. C, MONDAY, APRIL 1, 1918. VOL. 97-NO. 28
FRIDAUllS NEWS FROM FRONT MIES HOLDING THEIR OWN BIG BATTLE STILL RAGING WILL BE A LONG BATTL1 AMERICAN TROOPS IN FRANCE
0>K ''
fl.K-
. r^T^i'KKATK BAT- ^GEN. FOCH SUPREME COMMAN- GERMANS MAKE TERRIFIC AS- GROUND BEFORE THE FRENCH
U IB WAS FOUGHT
..,,,-SKS GREAT.
IS.
On
J.Jtp
les
IHeels
k>
'5
!5
>o
|Slip-
.75.
fords,
'5 to
:: nil
T'.u- '
•ll.'-i
{ uJi!
;- mi -
:. r'.'-'-'"!
■Til -
■•/:"•> '
; - :
I [?«•■
» ar?-'-
':'■" -
".j a! '
• Bill-
•la
y."
in.
iuth of
ing, 3
122.50
!Ssion|
CO.,
ale
huCtiO!. *■•*!
£ 0-re-:.=Mro.l
h 29th,
the v.vinjl
e. one '-
row, one
. ,AJBjl
t*9"|
keel too': -'ar"|
,d UlcUeB fur-ies
too ".-.me'-l
)TEI$
ExtSI
ND,
Ids, Cou*l»'|
fervout
■ess.
3NIC
Tonic
Mlic of >'■
Ig s«w
" Store.
, v ir,u 2S.-Atter «0 al'.-
.. ,rth and south of the
. .\rras as the chief cen-i
v.:S!i forces have beaten
. ,'.,„*. with heavy losses to
'.;.., at'-ording 13 the report
Marshal Haig tonight. -
, , , „• the .statement -,ays:
r.;i,ting occurred' durf.ng
... the whole British line
,,-t .if the Somme to
Arras, a .battiefront of
DER OF ALUEO AND AMERI-CAS
FORCES IX FRAXCE.
8AULT ON THE FRENCH, WHO
COUNTER ATTACK.
•i.-'-nins. after an intense
::.o:.r.im.T.i and covered by
■• smoke, the enemy opened
'.,..-* m great strength on
..; south and north of
A ti.e same time a series
attacks were delivered by
•-,■• line -autkward to the
■. ..,.,-. sector of battle. e.st
-.,-.,- enemy succeeded in
■..ay through our outpost
;••! fighting has been pro-
. ' iiy in our battle posi-i\\
the enemy's assaults
. -pu'.sed with heavy leas
.'.■.:ii
"Pi :
'■• :' "
"At ':
,IBX'! "
■:■- i
,• I
t Ot »
. r •::.-
.-••' '■•
•
"Sou".
e ::•• i
::K! U:
y.ii-
: satin*
aiata:
.HUea '•
■ ;.;;ing is still taking
. .. ; i',ie Scarpe.
.■".•-.-. Moyenaerille. Ab-
:.-r.ioy and Puisieus. our
.ave been repeatedly at-r.'.
".-.are beaten off a nuni-
.-•n'.ned assaults. At Der-enemy
succeeded in
. iay for the second time
..,:■■. but was driven out
;■>■ our counter attack.
.. ii many killed or taken
i the Sjmme. our troops
freely engaged all day In
. r'.iood of Arvillers, Vrely
-y. Different localities hajre
ids frequently in bitter
.- mr positions have been
.-•! Heavy fighting con-
:. • :■ sec-tor also."
Washington, March 29.—Official
information has reached Washington
that General Foch, the French chief
of staff, has been appointed to su-preme
command of all the allied and
American forces in France.
This means unification of all the
armies opposing the Germans, a step
which the American and French mil-itary
men long have urged and whioh
apparently has been brought about
by recognition of the imperative de-mand
for concentrated effort to hurl
back the gigantic thrust of the enemy
in Frame.
The first hint of the historic devel-opment
came in press cable dispatch-es
telling how General Perehlng had
placed the American expeditionary-forces
at the disposal of the French
commander. This 'was confirmed to-night
in a message from General
Persning to the war department.
General Pershing's message made
public by the acting chief of staff,
follows:
"Have made all our resources
available and our divisions will be
used if and when needed. French
are in fine spirit and both armies
seem confident."
UN COVERED WITH READ
RESTORE LIXEH.
Frrn'h » ounter Attack.
Lor.: :• March 28—French troops
< moruxj i-ounter attacked wiith
.-ea-. ■'..-: and drove back the ene-
. . i;i . :: .::: of
itpt.i
! N ■: ■..
:. Millar. .
The <;
. vision-
- . it •'
: ?er .:'•
_ ne
. : ...
i.-
V..:-
10 kilometers to a
:• - • kilo-meters southward
. ; the British official
.-amp-
.::•: threw at least seven
. ..a attack on the Brit-bola
sides of the Scarpe
u heavy bombardment
'.L- Ti.e British forward
! rnetrated and a fierce en-
:':: place in the battle
...... delivered opposite
:•. -. re;! or. affected the
!•.- i.:>w runs from Arleux to
■■■'.--Vitasse and Boisleux.
London, March 29.—Apart from
local fighting at different points, the
enemy has not pressed his attacks
today north of the Somme, according
to the official statement issued by the
war office tonight.
"We gained ground at certain
places," the statement continues.
"South of the Somme heavy hostile
attack? developed during the morn-ing
In the neighborhood of Mezieres
and lieramn. iFlghtlng is still going
on in this sector.
"It is known from captured docu-ments
that the German attack yester-day
astride the"Scarpe had for its ob-jective
the capture of Viimy ridge and
Arras. This attack was carried out by
at least six divisions in the front
line, with four assault divisions in
support.
"Despite the force of the attack,
the impression made upon our battle
position -was inconsiderable and the
fighting resulted 4n a severe defeat
for the enemy.
"In heavy fighting further -south
between Bolry and Serre, which had
no greater success, no fewer than 11
hostile divisions were identified."
Paris, March 30.—The battle on
the MoreulT-Lasslgny front continued
the whole day and extended along
sixty kilometers, aays the war office
announcement tonight.
The German assaults multiplied In
force, were Incessant, but French
counter-attacks everywhere stopped
the onslaught.
French troops now are meeting
the shock of a German attack on a
25-mile front in what may develop
into the most important battle
fought since the start of the offensive"
ten days ago.
Foiled at Arras in the attempt to
take that place from ths British and
disorganize the northern British line,
finding themselves able to advance
only step by step at great cost in
their thrust along the Somme to-ward
Amiens, the Germans Friday-night
turned southward and hurled
heavy' masses up on the French in
the .Montdidier salient. It is here,
from Moreauil ten miles northwest
of Montdidier in a curving line
around the latter place and eastward
to any beyond Lessigny, nearly 15
miles away, that the battle was rag-1
ing at last accounts. Violent as-saults
were delivered upon tht
French lines, which developed a pow-erful
resistance and were further
strengthened by the arrival of fresh
reserves.
Germans Occupy Additional Villages.
The initial forces of the impact,
however, was sufficient to drive the
French back short distances at and
near the point of the salient. Push-ing
westward from the branch of the
Avre which runs In a northwesterly
direction from Montdidies, the ene-my
forced his way into several vil-lages
within a stretch of about five
miles along the front. The advance,
as shown 'by the locations of the vil-lages
announced as captured reached
a maximum of about three miles in
this sector. South of Montdidier the
wedge also was further driven in
about two miles. Fighting at this
point, around Ayencourt, was still In
progress late on Saturday in a heavy
rainfall.
EN'THUSIA*mO OVER PROSPECTS
OF EXTERIXG BIG BATTLE—
BAKER COMIXG HOME.
Lcndoa, March 31.—The- British
hare restoredj their line south of the
Somme |n the Luce valley, after a
vigorous^ counter attack, saya the
official communication issued this af-ternoon.!'
Two D..-ong attacks by the
Germans' on the front from Marcel-cave
to the Somme were repulsed
with heavy losses to the enemy.
North ot the Somme, the Germans
attacking ;wltlr tour waves of infan-try,
were beaten back at all points—
In the--neighborhood of Serre
(north of the Somme, seven miles
above Albert), the British advanced
their lln«, taking 230 prisoners and
40 machine guns. The otatement
follows:
British Line Advanced.
"South "of the Somme our line in
the Luce.valley was restored yester-day,
after a vigorously executed
counter attack. Two strong attacks
made by (he enemy in the course of
the day against our front from Mar-celvace
ti the Somme were repulsed
in each case with heary loss to his
troops.' In his attacks delivered yes-terday
immediately north of the
Somme the enemy's infantry ad-vanced
to the assault in four waves
and wera ,repulaed at all points by
our outpost line. The enemy's cas-ualties
o* this portion of the battle-front
alone are estimated in the
thousands.
"Early yesterday afternoon a suc-cessful
local operation was carried
out by us in the neighborhood of
Serre. Our line in this locality was
advanced a 6hort distance, and 230
prteoners and 40 machine guns were
captured by us.
*Our line also was carried forward
slightly on other parts of the battle-front,
and prisoners were taken.
'•Hostttf^rtfHery- trw aetiw-early
yesterday ■ evening in the neighbor-hood
of Bucquoy."
HEFLIN IS COMING TO SPEAK
REPRESENTATIVE FROM ALA-BAMA
WILL ADDRESS CON* '
VENTION SATURDAY NIOHT.
BRITISH PRESSED BACK IN
FIGHTING SOUTH OF SOMME.
I!-/ .
-=•■■[ ■
'■-', ::. ..
■-•: •>' :.
Tie- :
--'.oil!'! ;;
'-: in I'
- '- '.
r-n-tiHted 37 Mile*.
':tr.;i JS.—Troops of the
rr.-wn prince having pene-depth
->t 60 kilometers
:rom S;. Quentin, ueros-s
have captured Montdl-
• '.'.day s official report.
: prince's troops, in their
faulted in the taking of
- advanced their lines as
■ r-pant (on the Avre four
V-e.-n of Montdidier.)
Wa ■ ■::
E'.atea
:''-'<rcii.
• A>i
• '*e '.■.
... VI*; -.-
■- ■:• n
• nph :■,
• '.'.- >;
.'->:i •
Uifeg
' .n.'
1 'MM For Alarm.
fon, March 28.—In a
tonight Major General
:ag chief of staff, assured
r. people that there is no
alarm in the advances
■-' Germans in the great
• i!?ing in Picardy, and ex-
• u'.ete confidence in tri-
• allied arms,
lurch said: "Whatever
present ground held by
: whatever sacrifice of
i'-uatien must entail, the
-<-»- it through and will
;J be f„
rai* .:,
•'•a!'!:,.-
I'-l
' all Class of 1910.
"•arch 29—The soldiers of
of 1919 are to be called to
a: an early date, which is
': by the ministry of war.
•••'i'led on by a vote of the
Of deputies this afternoon.
London, March 29.—Heavy fight-ing
has taken place south of the
Somme in which the British have
been pressed back to a line running
west of Hamel, Marcelcave and De-mum,
says this evening's war office
announcement.
North of the Somme all the Brit-ish
positions were maintained. There
were no serious attacks by the ene-my
in this region during the day.
The text ot the announcement
reads:
"North of the Somme we maintain-ed
all our positions. No serious ene-my
attacks have been launched dur-ing
the day.
"South of the Somme there has
been heavy fighting. Our troops
have been pressed back to a line run-ning
west of Hamel, Marcelcave and
Demum. On the French front south
of Demum the French line runs
through Mezieres, Le Neuvllle-iSire-
Bernard and Gratibus to just west of
Montdidier. There has been further
heavy fighting today on this line.
"Between Montdidier and' Lassig-ny
the French counter offensive con-tinues.
Fresh French troops are ar-riving.
East of Lassigny there is no
change in the French line.
"A captured German order shows
that on March 21, the objective of an
enemy division which attacked near
St. Quentin was to be the Somme,
near Ham, a distance of at least 11
miles. Actually the division in ques-tion
penetrated rather less than
three miles."
British War Office Statement.
London, March 30.—The Germans
forced their way into the village of
Demuin this morning, but were held
up at the western outskirts of the
village, according to the statement
issued by the war office tonight,
which also reports strong enemy at-tacks
on the line a short distance
south of Arras.
The summary of the situation Is-sued
by the war office reads:
"North of the Somme. on the Brit-ish
front there is no change in the
situation. South of the Somme we
maintained our positions.
"Further south, during the course
of the day, heavy attacks on the
French front have enabled the Ger-mans
to gain ground west of the
Avre and south and southeast of
Montdidier. The uermans have cap-tured
the villages of Aubvlllers, Grlv-esnes,
Cantlgny, Mesnil-St. Georges,
Le Monchel and Ayancourt. East of
this latter place heavy fighting Is go-ing
on and the exact situation is not
known.
"The weather has broken and a
heavy rain is falling."
's k"'»*n that the ministry of war
-dii (1
'•'sport
m i,
German Official Statement.
Berlin, March 30.—(Via London.)
—Between the Somme and the Avre
the Germans have driven from parts
of their foremost positions British
and French troops freshly brought
up and have captured Boaucourt and
Mezieres, the war office announces.
French attacks against Montdidier
are said to have failed.
Ayette, the statement says, has
been cleared of the enemy forces.
The situation north of the Somme
is unchanged. It is said.
The Laon Cathedral, which has
been considerable damaged by the
continuous bombardment Is threat-ened
with destruction from the fire
of the French guns.
creed that the recruits shc'I
Vil 5. The chamber voted
■ -!■ f>r • Kw P--V-".,"--; Ih-it |
■•;'::!£ :: :'.:k c:a:s Ls
Seventy Thousand Taken Prisoner.
Berlin, March 29, via London.—
Since the heginning of the great bat-tle
now in progress the German
force* lhave taken 7O.000 prisoners
and 1.100 guns, siys today's army
■:;-■-,•. luarte-? report.
•;<-:• the RMUte. t'. c r*«rrr-as
.„ ■ ? S----. ;• -ct rf :'. e'r o'a --"-
• V.-.r.£ from bravely defended
FRENCH GUNS LITTER THE
GROUND WITH GERMAN DEAD.
With the French Army in France,
March 30.—A great flood of German
infantry flowed against the French
lines today between Moreuil and
Las-signy. It was purely a battle of
foot soldiers. Heavy masses of Ger-mans
were hurled against the French
time after time, only to be cast back
again by counter attacks.
This was especially the case
iround Lassigny, the town which
formed the limit of the German line
before their retreat in March of last
year. The battleline fluctuated sev-eral
times In the course of the day,
both sides displaying the greatest ob-stinacy.
The French and Germans
met often in hand to hand fighting
In the villages of Orvillers, Plemont
and iPlessier de Roye, where bayo-nets
and hand grenades did deadly-work.
Moreuil was the scene of some of
the hardest fighting of the day. The
combatants struggled In the streets
until one or the other succumbed.
Deadly Execution of French 75's.
At one point German attacking
columns came under almost point-blank
fire of French 75's, which did
terrible execution in their ranks and
caused a panic-stricken retreat of
the survivors.
The line ot attack was extended
both northward and southward dur-ing
the day. Toward evening a slight
lull occurred, but renewed activity-was
observed after dark, German re-serves
evidently having arrived on
the scene.
The ground before the French line
is covered thickly with German dead,
l'he attackers are compelled to ad-vance
under a constant hail of bullets
from cleverly placed, detachments
equipped with numerous machine
guns whose presence is hidden from
the view of the uermans until they
coma within a short distance. French
avrators had virtually cleared the
skies of their German adversaries, so
that the attacking Infantry was with-out
the valuable assistance generally
afforded from the air.
The opinion is general that tlm
battle will be a-long one. perhaps
keeping up for months, with a series
of pauses between the various pt?i-
•*. Whether the Germans will t°
able to make a kenoaitr3t!tf) 'X "'•
jther d'r«3tlC3 v.. .:= th-? r -?--»r.-
%IZK.Z''' is pro ..-resin? remains le r>»
ee-'. bu: Indications p>ic: '-■> '"
- i.irs'ion of -a ereat part n' th»H
With the American Army lr,
France, March 30.—"I am delighted
at General Pershing's prompt and ef-fective
action in placing all the
AmericaB-Aroaps and facilities at the
disposal «i the allies In the present
situation^' said Secretary of War
Baker in ft. statement given out
headquarters today.
"It will meet with hearty approval
in the .United States, where the peo-ple
desire their expeditionary forces
to be of the utmost service in the
common cause," the secretary con-tinued.
"I have visited all the American
troops in, France, some of them re-cently,
and had an opportunity to
observe the announcement that they
would be used in the present conflict.
One regiment to which the announce-ment
was made spontaneously broke
Into cheers."
Secretary Baker, for obvious rea-sons
declined' to discuss just what
part ''the American expeditionary
forces may play or are playing. This
will become known in due time.
Met With Shouts of Delight.
The news that the force was to
participate at all was met with
cheers and shouts of delight from
one end of the American zone to the
other, -even at the front.
The officers and men had about
come to the conclusion that they
were to be forced to sit back and
watch the progress of events, and
they were glum. Tod-ay they are
smiling and demonstratively congrat-ulating
each other. There was much
slapping of each other on the back,
while some of the troops tossed' up
their hats and danced when the news
reached them.
- There Is 'still no news from the
fighting engineers.
Baker Cottlng Home With Valuable
Information.
Secretary Baker having conferred
with the allies commanding officers
and statesmen, desires to return to
the United States as soon as possible
and make available the information
he has secured from his observations
and confefcnees'. He has completed
the inspection of men and material.
-49-
.lORE AUSTRIA NS FOR
ITALIAN WAR FRONT.
Waehngton, March 29—Forty new
Austrian divisions have been distrib-uted
along the Italian front, the Ital-ian
embassy was advsed today by-cable
from Rome, and ths activity-has
convinced Italian military men
that the battle in France will not
prevent an offensve against Italy.
This view also Is shared by the allied
leaders, the cable said, and conse-quently
not a single man of the
Franco-British forces in Italy has
been withdrawn to reinforce the
armies withstanding the great Ger-man
attack.
"That the battle in France will not
prevent the Austrian offensive
against Italy," said the message, "is
the founded opinion of competent
military men of Italy. The allies are
also ot this opinion, so much so that
not one sngle man of the Franco-
British forces in Italy has been with-drawn.
This statement disposes of
the assertion of the German com-munication
that the British forces in
Italy had been brought to the French
front.
Will Attempt Blow Soon.
"In connection with the expected
drive against Italy it is stated that at
least forty new Austrian divisions
have been transferred from the Rus-sian
and Rumanian fronts1 to the
Italian front. Italy must therefore
be prepared for the coming blow,
which the situation in France may-have
postponed, but which must be
met in a very near future."
Congressman "Tom" Heflin's
promised appearance at the Munici-pal
theater next Saturday evening to
make an address following the coun-ty
Democratic convention is a source
of pleasurable anticipation to mem-oers
of the party in this section of
the state. Not only will Gullford
county and tile city in particular fur-nish
a large crowd to hear Mr. Hof-lln,
but many Unrounding towns and
communities wi.l oe largely repre-sented.
County Chairman Hlnes
aaid Saturday that he had received
communications from Winston-fia-lem,
Thomasvllle, Asheboro, Bur-lington
and Reiosvllle to the effect
that a large number of persons would
attend from these places. High
Point will be represented by more
than two hundred business and pro-fessional
men ot that city.
Mr. Heflin will arrive from Wash-ington
Saturday, and will be accom-panied
by .Congressman Stedman, of
this district, who will Introduce Mr.
Heflin on this occasion. They are
warm personal friends. The visiting
.congressman will not come to
Greensboro as a stranger. He was
here in 1912 advocating the nomina-tion
of Representative Underwood
for president, and two years ago he
opened the campaign tor the Demo-crats
with a great speech in the Mu-nicipal
theater. The recollection ot
that address will have much to do
with securing a large audience for
him next Saturday evening. The
business session ot—the county con-vention
will precede the speaking
and this, will be brief, because the
work of the convention is the elec-tion
of delegates to the state conven-tion,
and the election of precinct
committees, ihe county chairman
announces that the convention will
he called Co order Shortly after 8
o'clock (new time) and that Repre-sentative
Heflin will speak at 8.30
o'clock. The party chairman Is anxi-ous
to secure the names ot all Demo-crats
who either expect to attend or
desire to be delegates to the state
convention, which meets In Raleigh
April 10. During the next few days
a number of committees will-be nam-ed
to arrange for the convention and
visit of Mr. Heflin;
Mr. Heflin is about the best speak-er
the Democratic party has. Hi3
negro stories are not soon forgotten.
AMERICA TO TAKE OVER
BIG JAPANESE SHIPS.
villages in a westerly and northwest-erly
direction by way of Warfusee-
Abancourt and Plessier.
The British, the statement adds,
•cntinuec »»!* frrit'.o" sr-1 <■■?'.
->--r.".2r tt.aclii re ir Alien anJ f-
-.-_5 r.'ir.-i ci i:.
He .Vii-. :\:e Somme ar-j the Avre
.he Germans have- attacked again. ' available troops in tue huge effort.
MEN REACHING 21 SINCE
JUNE 3 MUST REGISTER.
Washington, March 29.—The res-olution
amending the selective draft
act by requiring registration of
youths reaching 21 years since June
5. 1917, and estimated to add 700.-
000 more men to the roll n' *"-•••-:
was -"Jo-ted itte today by :i:e ••??.-
:te. It BOW eo*.» 'o the r-'-v-■?.
i'• i :':r -—-..-j-—. n.'- --.- .-, , - .
Washington, March 28.—Under
the agreement between the United
States and Japanese shipbuilders, 12
big steamers of about 100,000 tons
dead weight capacity soon will be
brought under the American flag in
return for supplies of steel at the
rate of a ton of steel for a ton ot
shipping.
The war trade board hopes to
have Japanese builders turn out
200,000 tons of new construction
with 6teel furnished by the United
States.
The board issued this statement:
"Arrangements have now been
made tor the purchase of 12 Japa-nese
ships of approximately 100,000
tons dead weight capacity, which
will be added to the fleet of the
United States shipping board within
the next few months.
"Deliveries ot the ships at Amsri-can
ports are to begin not later than
May and to be finished in September.
"In return for the sale of the ships
the war trade board has agreed to
reliver to the Japanese shipbuilders
a corresponding amount of steel for
shipbuilding, ton for ton against de-livery
of the ships.
"Further negotiations are in prog-ress
to secure from Japanese ship-builders
200,000 additional tons of
new constructions." _
•:! rifj '.:;;--»ee:: 1J ara - i ?e*rj, but j
deferrics their military ?enr*e* t-r.'il
after majority. #«• rejected by tic- °*' »*e r'r:t'":' "d F^en^,, arm!e* m
Gen. Glenn Lands U. S. Troops.
An Atlantic Port, March 29.—
Major General Glenn, commander of
Camp Sherman, located at CkflX-cothe,
O.. arrive! lier? !•"•" r— •
'"•-ay. H? ■;•? '.::..?.- -, c.»t.m.-rr- ■ -.
the German
:r-.::'.- :• t
Ge-sral file;
"I never i
.n Each fine
He deseri:
..!:■><•-
.•• •. r Aner can ; .i-.y
-1 ;:or. as '.'. Ji Ci>« "
l tiu spirit and morals
senate 36 to 26. wonderful."
■ ... .v.--—~-i-^-«-*('..».j«^