WESTERN FRONT.

Taranaki Daily News, 3 June 1918, Page 6

WESTERN FRONT.

ALOES RETREAT TO THE AILETTE London, May 31. The Germans command the ParisChalons railway. They have forced back the Allies from the Ailette river front, and are now within two miles of the Marne. Civilans are evacuating Chateau Thierry.—Aus. N.Z. Cable Assoc. (Chateau Thierry is on the railway, 59 miles EJJ.E. of Paris.) ANGLO-FRENCH CONFIDENCE. London, May 31. Despite the German progress public opinion in England France remains confident that the enemy's blows will soon be spent. It is evident the Germans intend to persevere while any momentum remains. Airmen report extraordinary activity in the German rear. The enemy evidently realises that it is vitally important to retain the superiority in numbers, which alone has accounted for the success hitherto. There is considerable speculation regarding the enemy's immediate intentions. Some believe the enemy intends to reach the Marne and use it to guard his left flank while he changes his direction westward, as he used the Oise to protect his right wing in the March offensive. Another theory is that he will endeavor to extend the battlefront westWard of Soissons and take the direct road to Paris.—Aus. N-Z. Cable Assoc. AMERICAN SUCCESSES. London, May 31. An American communique says: Enemy attacks on our new positions at Cantigny were again completely repulsed by artillery and infantry. Active artillerying continues there and in Lorraine, where gas shells are being used. —Aus. N.Z. Cable Assoc. and Reuter. THE MAXIMUM ADVANCE. London, May 31. One View is that the enemy is already wheeling to the right south of Soissons, but it is considered doubtful if he will attempt such a huge movement while his hands are already fulL ' He TnnTimiim advance up to yesterday was eighteen miles, bringing the enemy within sixty miles of (Paris, but he was already nearer Paris at Noyon. —Aus. N.Z. Cable Assoc.

WAR CORRESPONDENT'S THEORIES London, May 31. Mr. Perris explains that the apparent slowness of the Allied reserves in throwing in their weight is probably due to the fact that the front of the offensive has been nearly doubled in length in the last three days. He adds that it is difficult to conceive the object of the present operation. There is no connection between it and the Somme and Flanders offensives, except the object of exhausting the Allied reservesf but Germany herself has already thrown 400,000 men across the Aisne. The Germans are meeting with growing resistance, and may definitely be arrested within a week. There are the familiar scenes along the road, refugees going southwards in farm carts, ancient traps, barrows, and perambulators, all are being utilised, but there is no panic or fear as to the result. —Aus. N.Z. Cable Assoc. HEAVY BATTLE PROCEEDING. London, May 31. The Germans have reached the Marne along a ten-mile front. The lpss of Rheims is believed to be imminent. A heavy battle is- proceeding around Chateau Thierry.—Aus. N.Z. Cable Association. MORE HOSPITAL BOMBING. London, May 31. The United Press correspondent reports that on the day the Archbishop of Cologne requested the Allies to refrain from bombing, the Germans bombed Britsh hospitals. After dropping flares the airmen loosed off huge bombs, one scoring a direct hit on a large hospital and displaced the Red Cross, which was prominently displayed. The bomb ignited and destroyed the building, in which some sisters were pinned. They were struck down in the very act of ministering to patients. —Aus. N.Z. Cable Association.

The United Press correspondent states that German airmen on Corpus Christi day bombed a British hospital far in the rear, killing nurses, doctors, and patients, and setting fire to buildings wherein wounded men lay.—Aus. N.Z. Chble Assoc. THE POPE AND RHEIMS. Borne, May 31. The Archbishop of Rheims has telegraphed to the Pope his intended departure. The secretary of the Vatican replied that the Pope shared the sufferings of the Rheims population, and was petitioning the Germans to spare the remainder of the cathedral.—Aus. N.Z. 'Gable Assoc.