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PARIS — A furious battle has now been in progress for thirty-six hours in the village of Longueval and the Delville wood, the easterly limit of the British line, which turns due south at this point and joins up in a straight line with the French forces. The action constitutes the inevitable big effort of the enemy to recover the important positions carried by the British during their magnificent drive, which hallmarked the French National Holiday as a golden day in the ‘‘Big Push’’ and bit deeply into a new network of German defences which formed the pivot of the enemy’s line north of the Somme. The German attack, which opened at half-past five on Tuesday [July 19] evening, was elaborately stage-managed. It was preceded by an unusually violent bombardment by every description of projectile. — The New York Herald, European Edition, July 20, 1916