W - “ SUDDEN SLOW ROLLS BACK FRENCH LEFT Attacks South of Soissons Appear to Have Been Held In Check, as Have Those Directed at Rheims, Though Latter Place Is Surrounded on Three Sides and Early Capture Is i\lcw Probable. __ HUNS ATTACK TOWNS ON BANKS OF THE MARNE Crown Prince Hurling His Masses Against Sides of New Sali ent to Widen Wedge and Connect Up Operations With Those In Picardy and Prevent Being Caught In Counter Blow By General Foch. . -__ S : I By Associated Press. Keeping the tide of their advance in the center flowing strongly, although seemingly less swiftly, toward the Marne, the Germans sim ultaneously have executed a stroke on the allied left flank that has extended the battle line westward and virtually linked up the present battlefield with that of the Somme. The attack was delivered along the Ailette river northwest of Sois sons. Sweeping forward in the salient that projected between the .Somme and the Aisne battlefields, the Germans drpve the allied line back so that it now runs northwestward from the vicinity of Soissons, through Epagny and Bleraupourt to the Oise river, apparently at its ooint of junction with the Oise canal, about eight miles east of ftfoyon. The Noyon area wis included within the field of the German offensive in March when the French established new lines along the Oise and the Oise canal to the east and southwest of ^ that town, after being driven back be low St. Quentin. The German drive down the Oise valley toward Paris was then checked. The present of fensive movement here suggests the possibility of its resumption. Hold Further South. The French war office announces the breaking down of enemy attacks in the Soissons area and to the south, while on the allied right the lino eje extcinllng northeastward toward Rheims in She neighborhood of Vezilly appeals virtually unchanged, the Ger mans falling in all their efforts to w’in ground. The energetic defense on the right wing is exemplified by the fighting at Thiliois three miles east of Rheims, where the Germans entered the town, only to lie driven out by a French counter attack. ' By such resistance the safety of Rheims is momentarily safeguarded, but observers of the operations view Its ultimate -fall as apparently in evitable. The probability of German penetra tion right up to the hanks of the Marne In the center of the advance is likewise Indicated in- the news dis patches, which mention the near ap proach of the Germans to Chateau Thferry and Dormans, both of which towns are on the., Marne river. Tne civilian population has left Chateau Thierry and some of the refugees from it have already passed through Paris for the interior. Shell British Front. On the British front the Germans are active with their artillery east of Amiens and in the Albert region to the north, as well as on portions of the Flanders frcnt, but no infantry move ments of note are reported. Paris, June 1.—The Germans, by an attack in the Ailette river region be tween Coucy-Le-Chateau and the Oise river, have definitely consolidated the Aisne and Picardy battle fronts, ac cording to the French war office an nouncement today. (Seemingly this is an effort to drive toward the Oise, to the westward in an effort to flank allied forces below Noyon, on the southern portion of the Picardy front.) Before this attack the French have withdrawn from Blerancourt and Epagny, fighting stubbornly. (Epagny is six miles northwest of Soissons. Blerancourt is five miles northwest of Epagny and eight miles southeast of Noyon.) In the center the Germans have ad vanced toward the Marne. On the left the French are still hold ing the western outskirts of Soissons. On the right a French counter attack recaptured Thillois, two miles and a half west of Rheims. French Insist Situation At Front Is Not Serious r>ris June 1.—Baffled by the valor