FRANCE STRIKES HARD

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3056, 18 April 1917, Page 7

FRANCE STRIKES HARD

GREAT OFFENSIVE BEGUN ON THEAME TEN THOUSAND PRISONERS ALREADY COUNTED GRIM EXPLOIT BY THE ,' AUSTRALIANS / i : BLACK DAY FOR PRUSSIAN GUARD APPAELING SLAUGHTER , j . —_. France has struck, and struck hard, oil the Wostern front. From Soissons to Reims, for a length of 25 miles, the German positions have been attacked, and the' lines penetrated in the faco of most desperate opposition. Already 10 0 000 prisoners have been counted, to say nothing of the booty. Another successful advance by the French, is reported from Alsace-Lorraine, where the German lines in certain stctors have been penetrated. The news of tho French advance on the Aisne spread like wildfire throughout tho British Army, causing tho greatest enthusiasm. Progress is steadily maintained on the British front, although heavy rain has caused, by comparison with the activities of the previous days, something like a lull in the general situation. Further details of the German attack on tho Bapaume-CimbraL road and the affair at Lagniccurt shows that tho day was a black one for Germany. The Prussian Guard had no sooner seized Lagnicourt than a grim and remorseless Australian counter-attack was launched. The Germans, forced to retreat in an oblique direction, and unable to re- ' tire through tho openings in th6ir own entanglements, were caught in a death-trap, and shot down in hundreds in the most pitiless and deadly rifle fire since the Marne. There is still no news from the - other main fronts. Germany and Austria are engineering ax-other peace plot. Austria has made what is practically a direct peace offer to Russia, with' the agreement of Germany.