A smashing blow at the Franco-British junction was then to be decisive. It was begun with means believed to be adequate to this aim and was directed westward on both sides of Montdidier toward the Beauvais-Amiens railway, with a supporting thrust from the threatened flank west of Lassigny. Further south, toward Montdidier, which they already held, the Germans crossed the river, again suffering very heavy losses, but were arrested on the hills of the western bank. In the evening the struggle, despite the exhaustion of both sides, attained its fiercest intensity. Moreuil was recaptured on Saturday night by a mixed Canadian and French force, lost again during the night, and once more carried by storm in the old-fashioned way yesterday morning. No Stosstruppen, (shock troops,) no expert grenadiers or flame pumpers this time. Mixed in the same ranks, the British colonials in khaki and the French in light blue went forward irresistibly with the bayonet. "The Canadians," says one of my informants, "performed prodigies of valor, and when the boches fell back they had lost half their effectives." Full of their success, our troops turned northward and would not be satisfied till they had been firmly set on the wooded heights near the town. Later in the day several violent enemy attacks were made south of the Somme, but they seem to have been of rather a local and scattered kind, as though, at least for the moment, fresh efforts of the dimensions of those of Friday and Saturday were impossible. The British have made some progress in the valley of the Luce, and two strong German attacks were repulsed between Marcelcave and the Somme, as were others in the British sphere on the north of the river. On the other hand, the British line was beaten back to the village of Hangard, [Hangard was lost and finally retaken and held by the French,] on the north bank of the Luce, nearly opposite Demuin. Like the actions of the preceding days, this battle has been in the main a conflict of infantry. On neither side has it been possible to get heavy artillery in position in time, but on the allied side French and British guns, freshly detrained, gave support of moral as well as material importance. When the 75 has a target of masses advancing in close, deep waves, its effects are terrible beyond words. In the open country the air squadrons of the Allies have also worked havoc in the enemy's ranks, besides bursting tons of explosives on his camps and lines of communication. AGAINST ENORMOUS ODDS April 8.--It is evident that the German onslaught has failed to break through. What the Allies have lost in ground they have saved in men; and, on the other hand, the enemy, who wanted not these miles of desolate territory, but a final decision, has paid inordinately without getting any nearer the desired result.