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Battles at Hooge, in the Argonne and Vosges French, British, and German Reports of Fighting on Wavering Lines

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Map Showing the Region Around Ypres and Recent English Operations, Recording Advance to Aug. 15, 1915.

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Germans on July 30, the victors, as reported from the British front, using a new device for pouring "liquid fire" upon their enemy. Heavy fighting was again in progress on Aug. 3 on the British front near Hooge, and from that date until Aug. 9 the attacks for recapturing the trenches were continuous, when Field Marshal Sir John French issued this report:

Since my communication of Aug. 1 the artillery on both sides has been active north and east of Ypres. In these exchanges the advantage has been with us. This morning, after a successful artillery

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Scene of the German Crown Prince's Drive in the Argonne, and Westward to Rheims.

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The British-French Battle Line, Showing Positions on Aug. 15, 1915.

bombardment, in which the French on our left co-operated effectively, we attacked the trenches at Hooge captured by the enemy on July 30. These were all retaken, and following up this success we made further progress north and west of Hooge, extending the front of the trenches captured 1,200 yards.

During this fighting our artillery shelled a German train at Langemarck, (five miles northeast of Ypres,) derailing and setting fire to five trucks.

The captures reported amounted to three officers and 124 men of other ranks and two machine guns.

On Aug. 10 Sir John French reported:

Northwest of Hooge and in the ruins of the village itself we have consolidated the ground gained yesterday, repulsing one weak infantry attack during the night. Yesterday afternoon there was no infantry

fighting, but there was a violent artillery engagement, as a result of which all the trenches in the open ground south of Hooge became untenable by either side, and we have now slightly withdrawn the position of our line which lay south of the village.

This makes no material difference to our position.

The total number of prisoners captured by us yesterday was 150.

Nothing further of consequence was reported in this area up to Aug. 17. THE ARGONNE.

The official statement issued in Paris on Aug. 4 said:

In the Argonne the night was full of action. The Germans delivered two attacks, one between Hill No. 213 and the ravine at La Fontaine-aux-Charmes and

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Military Operations in the Alsace Region, Showing Battle Line on Aug. 15, 1915.

the other in the region of Marie Thérèse. Our assailants were everywhere thrown back in their trenches by the fire of our infantry and artillery. At Four de Paris and in the direction of Haute Chevauchée there was last night incessant rifle firing between the trenches.

On Aug. 6 the attempts of the Germans to dash from their trenches were reported to be of a particularly violent character; on Aug. 7 the Crown Prince achieved slight successes, and on Aug. 11

the French night report admitted the piercing of the first line of French trenches in these words:

In Artois artillery fighting is reported to have taken place in the sector north of Arras.

In the Argonne the bombardment reported in the previous statement has increased in intensity. A great many asphyxiating shells were used. At daybreak the bombardment was followed by a violent German attack, made by at least three regi

ments, against our positions between the road of Binarville-Vienne-le-Château and the Houyette Ravine.

In the centre of this sector the Germans succeeded in penetrating our positions, from which, however, they were driven out by our counterattack during the day. Only a portion of our first-line trenches remained in their hands. The prisoners captured by us belong to the Württemberg Corps.

The reports given out in Paris and Berlin on Aug. 12 said that trenches in the Argonne had been won and lost by the Germans in heavy fighting. The Paris report claimed the recapture of only a part of the ground lost, while Berlin contended that the French suffered heavily trying to hold the positions.

IN THE VOSGES.

The Paris official report of Aug. 7 said:

In the Vosges the enemy several times shelled our positions at Linge and Schratzmannele. Toward 2 P. M. they made an

attack on the Pass of Schratzmannele, on
the road from Honneck, which was stopped
At the end of the
by our sweeping fire.
afternoon a new German attack was re-
pulsed by means of a bayonet charge and
grenades.

On Aug. 8 the following account of operations in the Vosges was published in Paris:

In the Vosges an attack delivered by the Germans at the end of the afternoon atIt tained a character of extreme violence. was directed against Our positions at Lingekopf and Schratzmannele and the neck of land which separates these two heights. Our assailants were repulsed completely and suffered heavy losses. fore the portion of the front held by only one of our companies the corpses of more than one hundred Germans remained in the network of our entanglements.

Be

In this district, as in the others, the engagements have been far from decisive, and apparently intended to prevent the defensive forces on both sides from being diverted to other fields of action rather than to assume an offensive in formidable degree.

German Reports From the West

Storming of Ban-de-Sapt., and Battles of Les Eparges

Reports from German Great Headquarters, describing in detail the campaign on the Therefore, the western front, are not so frequent as the official French and English reports. following official German accounts of military actions, which are deemed of first importance, possess unusual value.

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height dominating Ban-de-Sapt. It has been the centre of the fighting since then on this front.

The French continually strengthened their works on the top of the mountain and made a regular fortress of it. From it they were enabled to keep the country to a distance far behind our lines continually under infantry and machine gun fire, so that we could reach our forward lines only through approach trenches or at night. We lay half way up the slope of the mountain determined not to go back one step, but rather as as our forces were sufficient to seize the top. Thus there was begun an obstinate struggle which, since the end

soon

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