St. John's Daily Star, 1917-04-17

              The St. John's Daily Star INsu> found land VOLUME 111. ($3.00 per Annum) TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 1917. (Price: One Cent.) No. 87. BIG GAINS ARE HADE BY FRENCH BETWEEN SOISSONS AND REIMS Hun Lines Are Smashed And Ten Thousand Germans Are Made Prisoners KEEP TURKS A-HUSTUNG General Maude's Troops Continue to Press Back the Moslem Forces in Mesopotamia, Although the Terrific Heat Renders Difficult Operations of Any Kind—More Turk Troops Made Prisoners. MOSLEM FORCES ARE DRIVEN FROM HILLS N. OF BAGDAD lONDON, April 16—The continuation of the official report of last Saturday, dealing with General Maude's operations against the Turks in Mesopotamia, was received here this afternoon. Saturday's official told of the fighting from April 10th to 13th, and reported progress for the British along the left bank of the Tigris toward Diala and the withdrawal of the Turks from various points. The delayed portion of the communication issued tonight says; General Maude's troops continue to drive back the Turks during the 12th, making 80 prisoners. The great heat rendered the task of keeping in touch with the retreating enemy difficult. No respite was allowed the Turks, however, and on the 15th General Maude reported they were back to their positions Jabel Hamrin Hills, whence they started on the ninth. The Thirteenth.Turkish Army Corps, which was the force engaged in these Operations, suffered very severe losses. Three hundred and five dead, not two hundred as was previously stated, were found on the battle field on April 1 1 th alone. Vommi.,,aer or British Army that L cperatia. against the Turks. — Jabel Hamrin Hills are situated between the Tigris arid Diala Rivers, where the Turks have been making vigorous efforts recently with the aid of reinforcements, to stay the advance of the British and Russians. On Saturday the British war office announced the Turks had been driven from positions near Chalilyeh, about five'miles above Bagdad and Were with drawing towards Delyababas, which is at the base of the Jabel-Hamrin Hills. isk l*. I*.  The average depth of sand in the deserts of Africa is from 30 to 40 feet. Gem f.5. Maude, FRENCH DEAL SMASHING BLOW TO GERMAN LINES IN THE WEST, CAPTURE 10,000 PRISONERS I '.« .. *'i 4* ] Gen. Nivelie's Troops Attack Huns Between Soissons and Rheims And Capture Many Men and Guns and Much War Material DARIS, April ,16.—The French began an attack this morning after several days' artillery preparations, between Soissons and Rheims. Several German lines were carried and more than ten thousand Germans taken prisoners. Official announcements of this success is sued by the War Office tonight describe the fighting as being of the utmost viol ence. Delivered Violent Attack The French troops in the departments of the Aisne and the Marne have delivered a violent attack against the Germans over a front of 25 miles, made important gains of terrain and captured more than 10,000 German prisoners and large quantities of war material. The battle took place between Soissons and Rheims. Over a distance of eighteen and a half miles, from Soissons to Craonne, the entire German first line positions fell into the hands of the French, while, east of Craonne, the second-line German positions south of Juvincourt and another position on the outskirts of Bermicourt, running along the Aisne Canal to Livere and to Courry also were captured. Violent counter-attacks, delivered by ' the Germans in several sectors, were repulsed with heavy losses. Artillery Preparation The artillery, for several days, has been violently shelling the entire region and, on Monday, while British activity along the front from Lens to St. Quentin had almost ceased, owing to heavy rainfall, the French launched an infantry attack in an endeavor to break thru or to press back the Germans from this point of great strategic value, a German official report briefly referring to it as "A great attempt to break thru with a far-distant object," possibly meaning that a successful breach of the German line here might necessitate a falling back by the Germans along the greater part of the front from Lens to Soissons. To the east, in Champagne, violent artillery activity continues, probably being the forerunner of an attempt by the French at a drive against the German lines in this no-less-important region.Handicapped by Rain Up to that rain storm, which began Monday afternoon, the British had captured from the Germans a village south east of Hargicourt, eight miles from St.' Quentin, and also had made additional progress northwest of Lens. During the week, that the British offensive has been going on. Field Marshal Haig's forces have made prisoners 14,000 Germans and captured 194 guns and large quantities of war stores. From the fact that French troops in Alsace and Lorraine have renewed their fighting against the Germans, preceding it with heavy artjltery preparat ion and delivering infantry attacks which netted them good gains of terrain and resulting in heavy casualties to the Germans, it would appear that all along the French front the moment is approaching for the extension of the battle from Belgium to the Swiss border.Other Fronts Quiet From none of the battle fronts, except that in France, have come reports of any great battles. There have been small encounters between the Austro- Germans and Russians on the eastern front. A Teutonic Allied attempt against 1 Entente Allied positions in the Cerna 1 River region, Macedonia, was repul, sed. . .., In the Austro-Italian theatre, oper-1 ations have been limited to patrol en| counters, owing to snow storms. , I British airmen aided by French ay• j iators have carried out, for the first time, the announced policy of reprisals threatened by the British Government for the sinking of hospital ships by Ger man submarines. The town of Froeburg, Germany, has been heavily bombarded by the airmen with good results according to. a British official report. The most useful contribution the United States can make in the fight against the German submarines will be small craft, from tugs to torpedo boat destroyers, according to the British Sea Lord, Admiral Jellicoe. The Admiral says the possibility of submarines oper ating on the American coast is negligible, unless they have a base on tha: side. . j GENERAL ROBERT GEORGE NIViSMiE. » AS reported in to-day's cable despatches, the French troops under General A Nivelle have launched an assault on the German positions between Soissons and Rheims, smashing the enemy's front line and capturing ten thousand prisoners'and many guns and much war material. ■». lit*. IS SUPREME TEST OF WAR Great Offensive on the West Front, Decided on at a Conference Between British and French Leaders and Military Councils of These Nations, Developing Smoothly According To Pre arranged Plans. HINDENBURG MUST GIVE FULL ATTENTION TO WEST DRITISH HEADQUARTERS IN v FRANCE, April 16—With the hot flames of war raging along the entire west front of the British and French alike, it can be stated that each detail of the offensive plans has been worked out at a prolonged conference between General Nivelle and Field Marshal Haig and the War Councils of France and England. The part to be played by each belligerent has been definitely agreed upon, and the schedule has been arranged as for one great cohesive force. Vari- [ ous tasks have been allotted along the wide-reaching battle lines. The results so far attained justify the conclusion that the supreme military test of the war is at hand. It was tha' the Briti<:!-i should strike from Ktih* . the Fiench were their preparation for infantry hostilities along a wide front further to the souih. The successes gained in the of the B:itish advance nave given the French great confidence in the inauguration o-f their own enterprises. The whole struggle on the We>t front promises to be a titanic one and the Allies prepared as never before in material and personnel, are co-operating with a smoothness which comes from a complete understanding and thorough preparation of the work in hand. The Germans have more divisions on the western front than would have been thbught possible a year ago. However much of the Eistcrn-.-.r Field Marshal Yon Hindenburg may have been thought in the past, he will have to devote his entire time ...nci attention to Western events Tor some weeks to come. HALF A DOZEN HUN DIVISIONS (Comprising Germany's Most Efficient Troops) ARE PRACTICALLY WIPED OUT Germans Using best Men In an Effort to Delay British Advance Long Enough to Enable Hin denburg Line To Be Strengthened.. DRITISH HEADQUARTERS FRANCE April 1 7—Already half a score of Germany's best divisions have been smashed to pieces by the British onslaughts and their own unsuccessful counter-attacks.- The Bavarian divisions were sacrificed first but the Pruss ian Guard divisions were thrown in to stem the British flood tide and have ibeen suffering such casualties the past few days that they will have to be re lieved. The Canadians accounted" for a large contingent of Grenadiers in the fighting about "The Pimple" while yesterday's affair at Lagincourt toak its heaviest toll in both dead and prisoners from five German Guard' Regiments. It will be ever one of the most strik ing pictures of the war, how the Germ ans at Lagnicourt, after what they believed to have been a successful attack running for their own trenches, which were part of the famed Hindenburg Line, were trapped by barbed-wire en [ tanglements which had been built with such great strength and thickness in front of them, that they were the boast of the Hindenburg Line. Caught wilhin the meshes of this wire the German Guardsmen screamed mad ly for help and guidance. Some, like trapped rabbitts scurried up and down the outer barrier searching in vain for openings. The British troops, meantime, had the greatest opportunity for open-field rifle shooting since the battle of the Marne. Lying flat on the ground, they poured bullets into the panic-sericken "gray-coated Germans, until each man had fired his full one hundred rounds. While this was going on the British I field guns came into play with a shrapnel barrage, which completed and demolished the entrapped enemy. It was little wonder that later fifteen hundred German dead could be counted or that four hundred Guardsmen surrendered, with upheld hands and emotional cries of "Kamerade." Everywhere they have been pushed back from the British front especial' ly north of the rolled-up portion of the I Hindenburg.line and the Germans are endeavoring by every means to gain time in order to complete defences upon which to fall back. Their efforts to dig everywhere and to seek shelter in a strongly fortified line do not tend to corroborate tales of the German hopes that its warfare might become open again. In fighting these retarding actions the Germans are sacrificing picked troops, as they did during the rearguard engagements in the recent retirement on the Somme. The character of the troops selected for the.«v engagements is considered the best evidence of the importance the Germans attach to what plainly appears their desire to avoid decisive battles just at ; this time? Lens was virtually invested to-day, Lens Virtually Surround ed and Advance On St. Quentin is Being Actively Pushed to Accom paniment of Much Hand to hand Fighting although the Germans are making a desperate effort to hold the positions about it, as Lens seems to be the pivot of the new back-swing German lines necessitated by the battle of Arras. Against these German strong points many German guns were turned today for, with the heavy pieces captured by the British were thousands of rounds of ammunition. British gun crews were rushed up to man these weapons which were turned around their own pits, thus forming British gunnery outposts, while their own guns were moving forward. Explosions continue within Lens and outlying mine districts. There seems little doubt the mines will certainly be destroyed as far as possible. Lens Cathedral was still standing today, apparently little damaged. Fires were seen within the German lines. About St. Quentin, at the southern point of British activity, there has been hard fighting, much of it being hand-to hand. As one officer expressed it: "our men got in well with the bayonet, causing heavy losses to the enemy." Prisoners taken at southern parts of the line had heard nothing of the Arras fight, except that a British attack was somewhere crushed by the Germans who had taken hundreds of prisoners.A certain Irish Regiment, fighting in the vicinity of Lens, has, during a breathing space, taken pains to inform the enemy of results at Arras. Some of the adventurous spirits planted boards in No Man's Land a few nights ago, saying: "We took nine thousand Huns yesterday." The Germans endeavoredendeavored all next day to shoot the boards down, but they did not succeed. That night the Irish planted a second board reading: "Sorry we made a mistake, should have been eleven thousand Huns instead of nine." The Irishmen fought with great bravery just under the brow of "The Pimple" on Vimy ridge and were up against a steady stream of machine gun fire frow "The Pimple," until the Canadians wiped ft off the face of the earth. "We knew the Canadians would wipe them out, so we did not worry,*' said a smiling Irishman. PLAN HONORS TO VISITORS American Government Will Accord Highest Possible Respect to Foreign Minister Balfour and his British and . rench Associates During Their stay In he United States for War Conferences.HIGH AMERICAN OFFICIALS REPRESENT UNITED STATES WASHINGTON, April, 17.—Major- General Leonard Wood, ranking officer on the active list of the army, was designated today to represent the military branch of the Government on the Committee which will welcome to, the United States the distinguished Brit ish War Commission, headed by Fore'V Minister Balfour. The selection of Gen eral Wood is in line with the admL.. ration plans for according every possible honor of a high rank and notaMe character to Britain's Commissioi rs. I The State Department is rep esented on the' Committee by Breckenridge Long, Third Assistant Secretary of the Navy, by Rear Admirat Fletcher, of the General Board, and Commander Sellers, and the Army by General Wood and Colorel L. Michie. It was stated at the White House dur ing the day, the President has arranged to receive the British visitors on Wednesday and the French Commissioners at the same time, if they have reached Washington. The State Department an nounced, however, it was not certain when Mr. Balfour and his party would come and that nothing definite was known concerning the arrival of the French Commission. - FALL OF S. QUENTIN AND LENS IS NEAR British Patrols in Streets of Lens and in Outskirts of St. Quentin—Destine tion Done by the Enemy JONDON, April 16—Although the British patrols have been in the streets of Lens and General Haig's men are in the outskirts of St. Quentin, the fall of neither of these towns has as yet been officially announced. The Germans, ii is apparent, have sent in their reserves and are making a desperate defence to enable their engineers to complete the destruction of the mines and factories of Lens, which might have been useful to the Allies. »* >v. sft <Mk w* m GERMAN LABOR RIOTS General Strike in Berlin, Dutch Travellers Report London. April 16—Travellers, arriving in Holland from Germany according to a despatch from Amsterdam to the Central News, says a general strike was commenced this morning in Berlin and that riots have taken place in the German capital. IKk  Invoke Divine Blessing Manchester, April 16—A special service will be held in Manchester Cathedral next Friday to "Invoke the Divine Benediction on the strengthened ties between Great Britain and the United States." The Lord Mayor will attend in his official capacity as representative of the city. ! WE* INVITE ! SPECIAL ATTENTION : To Our Lines of ! 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