St. John's Daily Star, 1918-04-06

              the st john's daily star volume iv 3.00 per annum saturday april 6 1918 probs : w winds fair and cool no 77 titanic struggle rages allied and german forces are at grips in great battle british and french repulse fierce foe assaults machine gunners held advancing huns at bay sprayed hun mass with deadly missiles main taining vigorous defence against great odds held line until the british got reserves up to the front attawa april 6.—the work of the canadian motor machine corps iih'e great german drive is dealt the following article by roland hill correspondent with the canadian forces dt the front which was given out by premier borden today wai correspondents headquarters france in dealing with the great german attack on the somme the in machine gun corps did heroic nd lias gained special mention lie commanding officer of the forces which bore the brunt .... he drive several times these swift armored cars found themselves lighting alongside tanks and more ihan once they followed the track of their heavy allies the tanks were the battleships of the great fight the canadian armored cars were the light cruisers they re mained hidden in broken buildings un til sections of huns had rushed down the main roads then like juggernauts drove down on the enemy sweeping clean paths with the batteries of ma chine guns at the cross roads the villiers car bonncl or st quentin road they de layed the hun advance fiye hours and gave the tired infantry time to dig some resemblance of shelters the germans brought up light field 1 guns to try to catch some of them but they shifted too quickly to ever become a target one car only was lost in this sharp engagement it had run off the road into a ditch and the germans had come on so densely that it was impossible to get it back on the road the last the others saw of it was when only two of the crew re mained alive and one man was firing the remaining gun at a body of ger mans who were trying to surround it some british infantry had an almost similar affray but without loss of any cars this happened at bray three cars worked along a road which cen tered on a village they dropped lit tle parties with extra guns in farm buildings on the outskirts and held back the huns until fresh infantry bat talions could come up and take up the defence we just slaughtered them by the thousands said one derby blood stanfed officet and more than once they broke back into their second waves when we got all our guns spraying on them at the same time on a section about 100 yards wide in hot corners where we were fighting the british must have taken a toll of ten to one makes apology to swiss people kaiser expresses regret to killing of swiss official by long-range shells london april s.—the exchange telegraph correspondent at amster dam reports the german newspapers as announcing that emperor william has sent a jpersonal letter to the president of the jswiss confederation apologising for the killing of the counsellor of the swiss legation in paris during the bombardment of good friday m strohelin counsellor of the swiss legation in paris was one of the wor shippers in the paris church struck by a shell irocn the german long range gun on good friday and with many others was killed by the explosion ger many has already expressed regret for the death of strohelin _ foe sacrifices men recklessly despite superiority ot ger \ man forces attacks on \ french positions are failures . daris april s.—german forces con tinued their atacks during the night says the official statement issued today by the war office despite the supe iority of the german effectives which the statement says were spent reck lessly the teutons were unable jo reach their objective which was the railway from aqnens to qennont.c the french regiments by their re sistance and counter-attacks maintain ed the line in its entirety the war of fice announces the french troops < conquered the greater part of epinette north of the town of orvillers serel all german efforts to dislodge the frenchmen were in vain the french captured st aignan farm southeast of grivesnes and held it against all assaults in the north the french withdrew their positions to the west of castel they threw back the germans from arriecourt wood west of mailly ram eval moulders want increase sydney n.s april 6.—officials of the moulders union declared yester day that they would ask for an in crease of wages at the sydney plant enemy makes big attacks german attacks between buoquoy and the somme fail — enemy casualties . are very heavy strong entente resistance made london april 6.—strong attacks by the german infantry between the somme and the vicinity of buc quoy were delivered today but met with no success according to a british official report heavy casualties were inflicted on the germans this morning activity of enemy ar tillery and trench mortars increased north of the somme and was followed by a series of strong infantry attacks along all that portion of the front which lies between the somme arid bucquoy the latest reports show that these attacks met with violent resistance and resulted in very heavy losses to the germans norway's huge losses in war jdver a million tfbns of nor wegian shipping destroy ed with lives of 986 men jxindon april s.—at the norweg ian legation it was announced today that norway had lost during march through war causes nineteen vessels with an aggregate tonnage of 34,994 norwegian sailors to the number of forty-four lost their lives and twenty others are missing with the march sinkings norway's losses since the beginning of the war amount to 745 vessels with an ag gregate tonnage of 1,101,815 and valued at 330,000,000 in addition fifty-three vessels are missing two thirds of which are set down as war losses norwegian seamen to the numr ber of 986 lost their lives'in the sink ings while on the fifty-three missing vessels there are 700 men not so immoderate uring the last few days there has been a great deal of dis cussion as to the n i w a its foundation and its objects and the de mands the members are endeavoring to enforce on the reids through the present strike the attacks made on the organization on account of alleged connection with undesirable outside unions have been ably answered by mr white and other members of the n i w a it has been shown that the movement leading up to its founda tion was entirely local that it is an amplification of an older st john's union and that its aims are solely and simply to protect and to benefit its members through legal and moderate means always keeping the general welfare of city and country in view that the n i w a has been true to these principles is evident from the moderation and patience shown with the reids all through the protracted efforts of the organisation to get the company at least to discuss a com promise on the wage increases demand ed and from the orderly manner in which the strike has been conducted throughout on the score of aims and of con duct therefore no just criticisms of a hostile nature can be directed against the newfoundland industrial workers association but that organization has been persistently attacked on the score of having made unreasonable and immoderate demands on the com pany in the matter of wages these hostile statements still have wide cur rency and to refute them the star here presents to its readers a schedule com paring the wages paid by the reids here in st john's with the rate of pay for the same class of labor at grand fails rates pd by rates pd at occupation r n co gd falls tinsmiths .._ __.. 24-27 41 boilermakers _ 21-34 38 carpenters _ 22-24 dock carpenters 27v z 25-35 millwrights 35-44 blacksmiths ... 23-34 27i 2 38<4 moulders 35-40 painters 21-22 30-35 pipefitters 27j 2 30-38 machinists 22-34 average 27-34 2 specials ...... 38 35-41 electricians __ 15-30 30-40 labourers „ ... 18-20 19-22 in their demands on the reids the members of the n i w a asked for a scale of increase varying from ten per cent in the case of mechanics al ready well paid to thirty per dent ik the case of mechanics who werk.ob viously badly underpaid that is thp n i w a demands if fully granted would involve an average increase of twenty per cent all round but the organisation was prepared to comprom ise had the company been willing to confer with them on the featter and show them wherein business conditions would not permit of the full granting of the increase demanded even were the increases made by the reids on the scale as outlined by the n i w a it is evident from reference to the a bove table that the wages of st john's mechanics would in some cas es not be equal to the wages of me chanics at grand falls even therk but under a compromise arrangement they would be even less so the de mands of the n i w a on the reids are not so immoderate after all city of quebec bars are closed military take measures to prevent further disturbances quebec april 6.—the closing of the bars here two hours earlier than usual gave rise to rumors of a further outbreak of disorders here tonight no trouble took place or was expect ed the military authorities announced the closing was a precautionary meas ure applying to civilians and military alike this afternoon the eleven men still retained from the sixty-two arrested last monday night appeared in the police court and eight of them were admitted to bail of one thousand dol lars those men who had been caught with revolvers in their possession were refused bail french defeat big hun forces prevent markedly superior german forces from cap turing railway between amiens and clermont daris april s.—the text of today's war office statement follows the germans continued their attacks during the night with undiminished violence throwing fresh forces into the battle we have identified fifteen divisions on tj*is part of thfc f-roaf seven of them fresh onej . in'o'virfc standing the marked superiority in the strength of the enemy forces which they used recklessly the*~djd not ob tain their objective the railway from amiens to clermont as shownnby docu ments found on prisoners y french regiments resisting step by step and counter-attacking energetical ly maintained their line in its entirety and inflicted cruel losses on the enemy meanwhile in the north the french withdrew their positions to the west of castel they ejected the germans from arrierecourt wood west of mailly rameval ' •* southeast of grivesnes a brilliant counter-attack gave the french the st aignan farm which they held against all assaults between mont didier and noyon the ailillery fighting became very intense french troops attacked the german lines and obtained possession of the greater part of epinette wood six hun jdred yards north of orvillers sorel all efforts of the germans to dislodge the frerlth failed further east a local operation en abled the french to enlarge their po sitions north of mont benaud which the germans notwithstanding their false statements were never able to take from the french pays a tribute to grand fleet british navy bulwark of freedom and peace arch bishop of york tells americans pittsburg pa april s.—the place of the british grand fleet in the war of the allies wes described by the right rev cosmo gordon lang archbishop of york in an address here last night through the watchfulness of the british navy the allies jiave been able to transport thirteen troops with a loss through enemy action of only 2,700 men he said the question has been asloed where is the british navy svjd the primate i may answer thayin the american way by asking another question where is the german 7ftavy it is certainly where no self-respecting navy would wish to be i will answer it by asking another question where is the freedom and peace of the world it is behind the great silent power of that nary — '■ » m ■ ;— the wedding of miss lizzie f gil bert to corp e w stroud will take place at grand falls on the ioth inst fierce battle raging in west since tuesday fighting is of unprecedented fury but enemy has failed to force retreat of allies troops entente troops all along front are offering battle to germans ondon april s.—ln a battle which has lasted since • thursday and which probably is still continuing with unexampled fury the germans have been hurling massed divisions against the british and french lines from far north of albert to a short distance north of mont didier probably there has not been a more sanguinary battle fought since the beginning of the teu tonic offensive on march 21st than this which has for its objective the driving of a wedge between the british and french armies the cutting of the paris-amiens railway south of amiens and the capture of that city but in spite of the power of the at tack and desperate fighting allied leg ions have stood firm over the most of their front at only two points have they been forced to give ground and these seem on the map to be but minor successes when compared with the sacrifice of lives which they have cost just to the southwest of albert the british have withdrawn a short dis tance and the french have given up the village of castle west of moreuil which has been the storm-centre of the german assaults for the past few days ai this point the germans are within three mile of the paris-amiens road the german official claims that suc cesses both north arid south of the comme have been won it is appar ent the allies have abandoned their fabian tactics and are prepared to give battle to the germans they have fixed lines about twelve miles east of the city of amiens and it is evident they have there turned at bay against the invaders the contour of the country back of the allied lines lends itself to defensive tactics it is quite high and also of a character which compels the attackers to expose themselves to concentrations of fire from artillery and infantry it is necessary for the germans to break the british and french lines mi that region or to outflank the allies by a jrive to the north and south of it the fighting near albert and north of mont didier seems to have for its objects the turning of the allied posi tions that the albert and moreuil sectors are vital to the allies is shown by the stern resistance maintained there in the past ten days in spite of terrific strain to which they have been subjected the allies have struck back at the germans and have re gained some ground at one of these points and near grivesnes a short dis tance northwest of mont didier an other near hebuterne and another be tween mont didier and noyon neat the village of orvillers sorel it is in this latter region that the great allied counter-attack has been expected to be launched so far as reported no infantry attacks have beer made on this front by the enemy but artillery has been very active as far east as noyon the line on the north side of the salient has also been bora . barded heavily ' , assaults of germans delivered in france in m assed formation london april s;—after a heavy bombardment of our lines from a great concentration of his mobile artillery the enemy infantry attacked our po sition about 7 o'clock yesterday morn ning says a reuters despatch from the british headquarters in france the usual principle of attacking in dense wav^s was followed by the ger mans the^assault was over a wide front and appears to have had for its object a converging movement on the town of carbie along the greater part of the front the enemy was held and lost heavily through machine-gun and rifle fire but in the neighborhood of hamel a little salient in our line was straightened out under heavy pressure by the enemy the first counter-attack delivered by the british troops was not in sufficient weight to restore our positions the town of corbie referred to in the above is at the confluence of the somme and ancre rivers and about three and a half miles west of the present line advance of germans arrested since end of march says foch london april s.—(via reuters ot tawa agency telegraphing from french headquarters tonight reuters correspondent says general foch addressing the anglo french correspondents said all goes ftell the boche to call him by his ususal name has been completely stppped his advance has been ar rested since march 30th turning to a map on which the suc cessive lines of the german advance had been daily marked since the be ginning of the battle general fock pointed out that the lines of progress shown bore the successive dates of march 27 28 and 29 after the last date no more progress is shown be cause the german advance was then held general foch continued we are now at april 4 it is there fore clear that the enemy rush is dam med the wave has expired on the shore evidently because it broke up on an obstacle what the result of our success will be cannot be said the future will show hundred enemy divisions used in battle in france huns throw 14 divisions into renewed struggle lose heavily and gain but little london april s.—via reuters ot tawa agency—telegraphing from british headquarters in france this evening reuters correspondent says further details reveal that the enemy thrust between he somme and the avre was a formidable effort it aimed at getting astride the paris amiens railway and developing the thrust against amiens thanks to the stubbornness of the resistance the enemy success was limited to the creation of a salient on a front of seven thousand yards to an extreme depth of two thousand yards there is reason to believe that the enemy threw in fourteen divisions of fresh troops the fifth german di vision which bore a large share of the fighting in the early days of the offen sive and was withdrawn to refit and rest was again fighting it is esti mated that practically a hundred ger man divisions have been used in the present fighting although the enemy yesterday con centrated-all available artillery the bombardment was not relatively heavy and consequently he relied chiefly on preponderating numbers ceajelew bombardment prisoners complain of the state of the roads due to our ceaseless lell continued on page 3 continued on page a new art draperies b vbrv pretty desions for windows quilt or furniture coverings 27,34 and 36 inch wide i at 27c 40c & 45c yd art repps 48 inch wide 1.50 yard i quite an assortment of america piques zephyrs chambrays sport stripes and voiles : : ; ; bowring bros ltd