UNDER TERRIFIC PRESSURE

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 216, 31 May 1918, Page 5

UNDER TERRIFIC PRESSURE

SURPRISE BLOW AT THE CHEMIN ' DES DAMES ~ HOW FAMOUS "LADIES'' WAY" WAS LOST ■ DEFINITE CHECK IN :;. VIEW MASSED ATTACK ON THE AMERICANS SMASHED The news from the great battlefront in the West to-day is described by one commentator as "grave, serious, but not perilous." . Under the terrific weight of numbers, the Allied line guarding the Soissons sector was compelled to give ground, and finally, the civilian population having in tho meantime been ordered to leave, the city was evacuated. It jiow transpires that the famous Chmin de 3 Darnea Bldge was lost as the result of a surprise blow by the Germans, who unexpectedly Tushed great - masses of troops at tiic ridge, the defenders of which had cither to retire or be massacred in a light against hopeless odds. Reims is still safe, a fact admittedly due to the magnificent' solidarity of tho British defence. The correspondents' dispatches are featured by glowing accounts of the bravery of the British divisions upon' whom felt the heaviest weight of the German attack. The question as to whether tho German blow on the Aisne is really the enemy's main thrust in the present of- " fensiva is not yet clearly established. One commentator suggests that tho initial success of what was probably l a big demonstration by the ■ Crown Prince's army opened l up suc'j a promising vista that the enemy decided to follow his luck, and, threw the weight of his reserve's into the Champagne region.