WESTERN FRONT.

Taranaki Daily News, 8 June 1918, Page 5

WESTERN FRONT.

ATTEMPT TO CROSS THE MARNF A Prussian Battalion Wiped Out. Good Work by American Machine Gunners. Received June 7, 10.30 p.m. London, June 6. Reuter's correspondent at French headquarters, writing on the sth, says the attempt of the Germans to cross the Marne at Jauldon was no more serious than appeared in the first reports. The enemy threw thirty-two "ladders and footbridges across the river. Four were destroyed by gunfire. A Prussian bat. talion crossed. The remainder, two men abreast, advanced immediately to the railway, installing a machine-gun detachment at the station. The remainder spread in a line sheltering behind an embankment. It was decided to throw the enemy across the river at all costs. This was carried out on Sunday night by dismounted dragoons, supported by American machine-gunners The latter were engaged in a duel with the Germans at the station, enabling the French to work behind the Germans, who incontinently fled, headed by their officers, some oi whom plunged into the river and swam across. The remainder of the battalion were either killed or captured. The enemy losses in the machine-gun battle with the Americans for Chateau Thierry bridge were also of the heaviest. Over a thousand German dead lay on the bank of the river and the streets leading thereto.—Aus. N.Z. Cable Assoc. and Renter