GREAT BATTLE DEVELOPS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3058, 20 April 1917, Page 7

GREAT BATTLE DEVELOPS

BRILLIANT OPERATIONS BY THE . . . .FRENCH 17,000 PRISONERS IN TWO DAYS COLLAPSE OF TURKEY ■ IMMINENT ■ TEUTONS ALARMED ' ■ ' HEAVY' GUN FIRE . OFF AMERICAN COAST ■ -. \ • ~ . ' In spite of bad weather; the French offensive in the West is being vigorously pressed forward. Heavy and persistent German attacks ' were repulsed with severe losses to the attackers. The operations on the west of the. present attacking front were brilliantly successful. At another,- point in the offensive the pressure of the French infantry and the intensity of ithe "artillery fire -was so great that the ■ enemy fled in disorder, abandoning much material and depots of. food. The toll of prisoners since the opening of the great battle on April 16 has now reached 17,000, and 75 guns. In all directions the great battle is opening up in dramatic developments like the cracks on the surface of a frozen lake when, the thaw comes. On the Brit- ' ish front steady progress is being maintained: Theife is still no news from .the Russian, Italian, or Balkan frout. A brief message from Jassy (tho Rumanian capital), via Petrograd, reports indications of an early retirement by the Germans from Rumania. Matters are , said to be at a standstill on the Austrian front. The news > from America'is mainly concerned with the war preparations. The sound of heavy gunfire has been heard off the coast, but of what it por- .' . tends nothing is known. . '