Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 59, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 March 1918 — HUNS RAID U. S. TRENCHES [ARTICLE]

HUNS RAID U. S. TRENCHES

ATTACK AMERICAN SECTOR NEAR TOUL—HURL MANY GAS BOMBS. After a terrific artillery preparation Saturday morning large numbers of the enemy crossed No Man’s Land on the extreme right of the American sectty at Toul. Apparently the purpose of the raid was quickly accomplished and only a comparatively small number entered the lines. Permission has not been given to mention the number of casualties. The raid, like most of the others carried out all the way from the sea to Switzerland, was designed to gather information by means of taking prisoners. To the east of Luneville our patrols have explored part of the German trench, which our artillery forced the enemy to abandon. Our reconnaissance and wire patrols found snipers’ posts and nests from which machine guns had been firing on our lines. The German positions have been so uncomfortable at several places that they are now trying to gain a foothold by connecting shell holes. Our troops have been subject to an extraordinarily heavy artillery fire for the last twenty-four hours. More than 240 shells, which made craters 20 feet deep and 30 feet in diameter, fell in one section of the line. More gas shells have fallen in both the Toul and Luneville sectors, but the larger number in the former.