Progress of the War.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16266, 17 July 1918, Page 6

Progress of the War.

The roar of battle has again broken out on the Western front. In another attempt to secure a decisive victory Ludendorff has hurled his armies against the Allied line from Chateau Thierry to a point somewhere east of Hlieims, a front of over fifty miles. As in the case of the earlier German offensives tlie early reports give little indication of the actual trend of the fighting and until fuller details are to hand it will be impossible to estimate the importance of the push. When the last German rush on this front was finally checked the enemy line ran approximately from west of Soissons to Chateau Thierry, thence to Bheims, and it is on this latter arm of the vast triangle thus created that the enemy appears to be making his most determined offort. \Vliile the Allies kept the German forces penned up in this salient it was impossible for any operations on an extensive scale to bo carried out, and it is probably with 'a view to securing room to manoeuvre that the initial operations are being carried out. As far as can be gathered from the meagre details to hand at Ihe time of writing the enemy has made no such progress as marked the early of his previous offensives. If he hoped by attacking the Americans to secure a speedy surcess, his hopes must have been rudely shattered, for, after the initial onslaught at Chateau Thierry, General Pershing's men quickly recovered their ground, we aro told, and then forced the enemy back half a mile beyond his original line. West of Rheims the French appear to have been pressed back between two and three miles, but •to the east of the city the »nbmy appears to have made no progress. Further developments will be awaited with interest, as the battle may prove to be the opening of Germany's last desperate effort to break the Western line. The news from the other theatres to-day is also meagre. American troops have joined the British force on tho Murman coast, and the combined expedition, is reported to have occupied the entire Murman coast. In Palestine a Turkish attack on the crossings of the Jordan, north of Jericho, resulted in complete failure; the Australians and New Zealandcrs restoring the position.