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LATEST DEVELOPMENTS OF GREAT WAR According to the Associated Tress the German offensive is in its third day and according to the views of entente observers it has no longer the character of a general attack It already they de ¬ clare has worked itself into a series of compara ¬ tively local operations operationsThe The success of at least one of these operations however would amount to a considerable achieve ¬ ment for the Germans however much it might fall short of their original designs designsWhat What the German high command intended the offensive to be can not be surmised It apparently encountered a defense that was sufficiently stub ¬ born to prevent the immediate achievement of more imiMirtant objectives and the Germans have pursued their usual tactics of making the most of local Miceesses at various points along the front Thus the offensive now appears largely to take on the aspect of a turning movement against the Khcims salient salientKeports Keports from the battle field show that the Ger ¬ mans during the night made progress in two sectors of the front South of the Marne they attacked the positions on the heights commanding the river crossings taken by the French in the counter offen ¬ sive on Tuesday The French reached the Iour donncrie and Clos Milon farms north of St Agnan and La ChapelleMonthodcn but there they encoun ¬ tered fresh enemy troops who appear to have again forced them back backThe The battle is continuing iu the slope and in the woods south of the heights heightsFurther Further east the Germans seem to have made lit ¬ tle or no progress in their attempt to debouch from the Iouquigny wood and through the village of Ncsles NcslesNear Near the Marne the Germans apparently took some ground southwest of Venteuil near Moiivoisin but a counterattack by the French ejected them from this localitv localitvNorth North of the Marne the turning movement against Khciins becomes quite apparent On Tuesday the Gcnnans had been held up at Chatillon and Kodcmat wood Since that time they have forged forward along the line further to the northeast toward Khcims KhcimsTodays Todays report tells of violent fighting in the Courton wood but does not give the result of the struggle there The point iu this wood where the combat is taking place is not known but conceding that the enemy has reached the middle of this area of forest land he has advanced about four and one half miles from FreeEnTardcnios which was ap proximately the location of the line on Sunday Here and further west in Rodemat wood the Ger ¬ mans arc making the steadiest and most threatening gains pushing southeast toward Epernay which lies south of Khcims KhcimsNearer Nearer Kheims the Germans have beeii repulsed at Vrigny and no fighting is reported in the dis ¬ trict immediately surrounding the cathedral city In the region of Dormans and eastward along the Marne the Germans have penetrated about five miles and now hold both banks of the river for a stretch of about fourteen miles Strong and re ¬ peated attempts to enlarge their gains north and south of the river have been repulsed repulsedUnless Unless they can enlarge their hold on the river the troops along the Marne are iu a dangerous sit ¬ uation should an allied counterattack begin j Evidently the German purpose in striving to press forward astride the river to Eperuay is to outflank ihe strong natural obstacle of the mountain of jtheims which lies between the Marae and Kheims Attacks against this height from the west have shopped for the moment and no effort lias been made to attack Kheims froutally froutallyIonnidable Ionnidable attempts by the Germans to break the jnai i French line at 1ruiiay about eight miles east of liLcinis have been broken up by the stubborn resistance of the French who hold a strong line j Vcsle river riverif if Kheims the Germans have attacked the new Frtfcich positions on the south side of the Vesle to whiA the French retired on Tuesday The French itfficial statement reports that the attack was a f lilure From this point eastward there is no rcporOof fighting the French official statement naying however that their lines have been main ¬ tained intact throughout the region east of Kheims
