BUT STERN PRESSURE MAINTAINED

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 280, 15 August 1918, Page 5

BUT STERN PRESSURE MAINTAINED

FRENCH ON THE CREST OF LASSIGNY _ . CLOSING IN ON ME RUSSIAN SITUATION DEVELOPS Reports of the present state of the offensive are somewhat conflicting to-day. A New York message states that tho Allies' offensive has been renewed east of Chaulnes, and that tho French have conquered the massif of Lassigny. Neither in late messages nor in the offioial reports arc these statements confirmed. Tho French havo gained tho crest- of Lassigny ridge, but some hot fighting is still ahead of them teforo the massif can be said to le conquered. Tho Allies are maintaining their pressure with unrelated vigour, but the paco of tho offensivo has materially slackened, duo, of course, to the increasing, resistance. A heavy German attack on tho American front on the Veslo compelled the latter to retire across tK> river, .but a later connter-attack restored iho lost positions. The situation in Russia is developing rapidly. The Allies to-day publish a declaration in which the status of tho Czocho-Slovaks as recognised by tho Entente Powers is defined to be that of an Ally and an aclivo belligerent, at war with Germany and Austria-Hungary. The Germans are visibly 'anxious about theso new developments, and a conference is stated to havo been held at Headquarters to discuss the situation. A German newspaper plaintively declares that tho Brest-Litovsk Treaty is a dead letter.