GERMANS RESUME OFFENSIVE ON THE MARNE

Auckland Star, Volume XLIX, Issue 168, 16 July 1918, Page 5

GERMANS RESUME OFFENSIVE ON THE MARNE

FIFTY-MILE FRONT NORTH-EAST OF CHATEAU THIERRY ATTACKED. AMERICANS COUNTER-ATTACK AT TWO POINTS. ATTACKS AXSO BEGUN IN THE ABGONKE FOREST. 10.45 a.m.) LONDON, July 15. The German offensive on the west front has been resumed after a long delay, the main attack being delivered, according to the Paris correspondent of the United Press Association, againet the French line on a fifty-mile front north-east of Chateau Thierry, on the Marne, 42 miles north-east of Paris. It is reported that the enemy has crossed the Marne on many bridges, despite the resistance of the Americans, who were holding one portion of the river hank. The American line at Vaux, a small village two miles west of Chateau Thierry, was heavily attacked, but from the outset here the situation was satisfactory, and after the first fury of the attack had spent itself the Americans organised a successful counter-attack. The Germans also attacked the Americans round Chateau Thierry. Here again the Americans offered a sturdy defence and then counter-attacked, driving back the enemy a distance of 700 yards. A bitter battle is raging round Donnans, on the Marne, 11 miles east of Chateau Thierry, the most easterly point of the river which their previous attack reached. The enemy is seeking to force a passage of the Jlarne here, hut a spirited defence is being offered. A new German offensive has also begun- in the Forest of the Argonne, 70 miles north-east of Chateau Thierry, and 20 miles eastward of Verdun.— JA. and N.Z. Cable.)