Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 239, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 October 1917 — WAR SUMMARY. [ARTICLE]

WAR SUMMARY.

The predicted big smash on the west front has resulted in a victory on the Aisne for the French, who have driven into the German lines for a depth of two miles on a six-mile front. They captured 7,500 German soldiers, twenty-five field and heavy guns and a large quantity of war materials, the enumeration of which had not been completed when the latest official statement was issued. As a result of this blow the French dominate Laon, one of the pivots of the German line. ‘The strong German positions of Allemant, Vaudesson and La Malmaison fort, which were the principal defense posts of Laon, are in French hands today. The Frencji have advanced to the brickyard at Chavignon, overlooking the plains of Laon. The British, meanwhile, have confined their efforts to repulsing Germatit counter attacks' on the positions tak& in the latest British advance. A number of counter blows, most of them in considerable force and delivered by picked storming troops, all failed, according to, the London official statement. The Germans lost heavily in killed, wounded and prisoners. . . Important events on the Italian front are foreshadowed by official dispatches from Rome which tell of the arrival in Italy of French and British reinforcements. These troops ostensibly are to help meet an 'anticipated drive by the Austro-Hungar-ion army, reinforced by German troops. There is a possibility, however, that the allies (pay be planning to forestall the drive by one of their own. Another circumstance of farreaching possibilities is the outbreak of rioting by the civil population in Vienna, Pressburg, Brunn, Laibach and other Austrian cities, attributed to food shortage. This may have a serious effect on the destinies in the war of Austria, already known to be suffering severely from attrition and war weariness.