view raw text
INTERESTING AND PERTINENT TOPICS OF THE DAY LATEST DEVELOPMENTS OF GREAT WAR According to the late Associated Press dispatches the battle on the front north of the Manic re ¬ solved itsolf during Thursday night and Friday morning into almost a general retirement of the enemy north of the Onrcq with the allies pursuing the Germans with the greatest zeal and success successThe The town of IlartonnosetTaux was occupied by the allies who also seized the wood lying to the south of this most important place The French and British in this sector took Contromain and then crossed the Chateau ThierrySoissons road roadThe The Germans are burning villages as they retire and destroying everything they come across The entire battle field is dotted with conflagrations some of them of large proportions proportionsAlong Along the center of the front as well as on the westerly side the German resistance seemed greatly diminished The allirs pressed through a series of thickets to the north of the road leading from Goiissaneourt to Conlongcs and reached the southern part of Vezilly wood woodBattering Battering their path through strong German de ¬ fenses allied troops have made substantial gains on either side of FereEnTardenois Fierce fighting continues on both sectors with the enemy being forced back steadily steadilyTaking Taking advantage of the two salients driven into the German lines General Foch launched heavy at ¬ tacks and their results already have proved the value of the positions positionsWest West of Fere the salient has been widened while east and southeast the Germans in the small pocket between Sergy and Romigny are in a fail way to being cut off completely completelyCombats Combats of the greatest intensity marked the allied forward movement Thursday and Thursday evening The Germans used every natural advantage to the full and had protected their positions with plenty of barbed wire and hundreds of machine guns gunsSeven Seven hundred prisoners were captured by the French British and Americans bringing to total for the second Marne battle to over 34000 Be ¬ tween July 15 and July 30 33400 Germans were captured by the allies besides many guns great numbers of machine guns and large quantities of material of all kinds kindsSurging Surging forward between the Ourcq and Plessier Hiileii west of Dore British and French troops captured Cramoiselle and Cramaille and important heights and are approaching the hills around the head waters of the Crise From their new positions the FrancoBritish forces outflank the German line northward to Soissons which has been virtually unchanged since the first days of the allied counter offensive They also threaten the strong enemy position in the woods north of Fere FereAt At Cramaille the allies are within seven miles of Bazoches one of the two German bases along the Ourcq the other lx ing Fismes It is reported unofficially that the Germans have begun a retreat from Latinoy two miles north of Grand Rozoy RozoyEast East and southeast of Fere American and French troops carried the burden of the day as successfully as their comrades to the west Here the salient driven in earlier in the week by the Americans was utilized as the starting point of a further ad ¬ vance This with the French blow on the eastern flank which resulted in the capture of Romigny places the Germans in the Vshaped pocket south ¬ west of VilleEnTardenois in a most difficult posi ¬ tion from which they will Mve trouble escaping escapingThe The Americans in desperate handtohand fighting iu which the enemy only gave up a position when he was overwhelmed by sheer force advanced north ¬ eastward from Sergy almost to Cambry and east ¬ ward from Sergy to the Mouniere wood the northern part of which they occupied French troops gained Cierges west of Meuniore wood and pressed on completing the capture of the entire wood A line drawn eastward from Cramaille held by the French leaves St Gemme the apex of the Vsalient east of Fere six miles to the south Thus the Germans would have to retire a maximum of six miles to place their line east of Fere on a hori ¬ zontal with that to the west westApparently Apparently the Gorman crown prince has resolved to hold his present line at all costs and to go north ¬ ward to the line of the Vesle only before allied pressure Reports from the battle zone say the Germans are fighting to the bitter end and seldom retire The crown prince also seems to have made every effort to organize his defenses as well as time and allied attacks permitted permittedNotwithstanding Notwithstanding this resistance and the evident intention to fight rather than to withdraw the allies continue to progress in the center of the pocket General Fochs policy seems to be to ham ¬ mer hard at vulnerable points and thus ease the way for gains on adjacent sectors These tactics brought worth while gains Thursday and appear likely to provide more
