Paris, June 5.
French "poilus" along the Somme fient went into heavy action today against a three-pronged German offensive in the A:, Peronne and River Ailette regions, where the enemy sought to crack defence lines by the combined use of masses of warplanes, tanks, artillery and infantry.
Tanks and bombers were the main weapons used by the Germans today, the French General Staff announced this evening. But, it added, "On the whole, German attacks have been checked."
It pointed out that "even when the enemy tanks go beyond our positions, our troops maintain their lines and continue to resist fierce; German attacks were launched at 4 o'clock this morning and continued without respite right through to the late afternoon, despatches from the front declared. Apart from the three main attacks, lesser German operations were reported from various sectors.
The enemy, the war despatches stated, began their drives in the Amiens and Peronne regions from the two bridgeheads on the left bank of the Somme that they still held today.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.