Paris, Oct. 31.
"There was activity on the part of contact units on the whole front and local artillery actions," says the latest French military communique. "Our chaser and reconnaissance aircraft were very active," it adds.
Tnereased activity on the Western Front yesterday coincided with improvement in the weather. Localized artillery action at numerous points between the Moselle and the Rhine 5 begun with the object of enticing reply from the "enemy," thus enabling reconnoitering planes to locate German gua positions.
After the Allied planes had been earth-bound for a relatively long, spell, the Command was doubtless anxious to send up as many as possible to keep pilots trim, and to accustom many of them who had not yet been under fire, to operating under war conditions, German planes were also very ae: tive, and Allied chaser machines had plenty to do throughout the day. The Command was eager to exploit the better weather, for concentrations of the greatest. strategic interest are faking place on the left bank of the Rhine. Hence, it may be assumed that French and British planes could reap a ich harvest of information Snow Falls in Saar Area Paris, Oct. 31.
Winter settled on the' war front yesterday as snow flurries swept the Saar Valley and began piling drifts in the Vosges Mountains near the Swiss border. Members of the Allied Air corps reported sub-zero temperatures aloft, 'The Duke of Windsor, completing a tour of the regions where snow {oll, visited the French line betwes the' Moselle and Rhine Rivers ani halted at Strasbourg while it was under the fire of German heavy guns.
Fighting, however, was reported at a minimum throughout the week-end as blizzards swept the front, Snow closed the Alpine passes to the Italian frontier, Tt was reported that German artitery fire, which had increased late last week, had subsided, Jeaving, the front. the' quietest it hasbeen in weeks. Most of the activity of the Past 24 hours was centred north of the Saar and cast of Saarbruecker where French artillery repulsed Germans attempting to construct new advance post positions.—United Press, Two British Ships Sunk by Germans London, Oct, 3 'Two British ships have' been sunk by German action, 'The 8,000-ton Malabar was sunk by a U-boat in the Allantic yesterday. The Scottish engineer and' four Lascar members of her crew were trapped in the Jengine-room and killed, The rest fof the crew, numbering "70, were Tanded safely. There were ho pose Sengers, The other ship was steam trawler, the St, Nidan, 565 tons, She was sunk while returning from fishing grounds afler a fort night's trip, The crew of "Attecn was saved, The Malabar was attacked without warning, The crew was. given no opportunity to take to boats. The survivors, however, got away with: out mishap, despite dimeulties of darkness, and were picked up an hour Iafer.
Tt is authoritatively stated that during the past week the Brit merchant, marine lost 21,000 tons of [shipping by U-boat action, as against 19,500 tons of German' shipping captured by the British. Tonnage lost in October is about 65,000 against 156,000 lost in September. Losses {for the first months of the War are thus about the same as those sustained in one week during the intensive U-boat campaign in April, 1917.
'A Norwegian steamer was sunk in the North Sea yesterday. The crew of 30 mon were landed. Three of them were Injured and taken to hospital, Special interest has been aroused in Great Britain by the recent speech of Mr, Neville Chamberlain, the Prime Minister, in which he referred to, the growing' lawlessness of the U-boat Campaign. Tt is noted that about 60 per cent. of the number of women and children on passenger lists of torpedoed ships has been reported miscing—Reuter,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.