espondent at
Amsterdam on April 29, quoting a German military writer, Capt. von
Salzmann, who said: "Our losses have been enormous. The offensive in
the west has arrived at a deadlock. The enemy is much stronger than our
supreme command assumed. The region before Ypres is a great lake, and
therefore impassable. The whole country between our Amiens front and
Paris is mined and will be blown up should we attempt to pass."

The preliminary bombardment southwest of Ypres April 29 started in the
early morning and took in the ten-mile front from Meteren, west of
Bailleul, to Voormezeele, two miles south of Ypres. Infantry attacks in
this area followed with great fury, and sanguinary fighting continued
all day. The Germans at the outset advanced with fixed bayonets, but
they came under such an intense machine-gun fire that most of them were
never able to employ the steel. The French at Locre and the British at
Voormezeele repulsed every attack, thrusting the enemy back whenever he
gained a footing in advanced positions, and firmly holding every point
around Ypres at the end of the day.

General von Arnim's losses were particularly staggering at Locre, where
he used battalion after battalion in a vain attempt to hold the village,
a key to Mount Rouge. The previous German capture of Mount Kemmel did
the enemy little good, for the Allied artillery kept the crest of the
hill so smothered with shell fire that it was impossible for the Huns to
occupy it in force.

The attack, which was the fourth great battle of Ypres, was the biggest
effort the Germans had made in the Flanders offensive, the enemy
employing thirty fresh battalions of reserves, in addition to the large
number of divisions in position at the beginning of the battle. The
net result was a tremendous setback for the Germans, who paid an awful
price. Next morning the battlefield in front of the defenders' positions
was covered with the bodies of gray-uniformed men.

AMERICAN TROOPS IN ACTION

American units were in action in Picardy, east of Amiens, on April 28,
having reinforced the British and French in that sector, to aid in
keeping the foe from Amiens and Paris. Their baptism of fire in the
direct line of the German offensive made their previous experiences pale
into the insignificance of skirmishes. During the various engagements in
which they participated in the last days of April and the first week of
May they acquitted themselves with great credit.

After