The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-09-26
ALLIES ATTACKS
FORCE GERMANS
TO FIGHT IN OPEN
TeutOns Have No Trenches Left
on SOmme Front.
Monday Biggest Day Since
Great Offensive Started.
BRITISH ADVANCE At Will
Soldiers Can See Nothing but
Success in Battle.
Storm of Shells Always Pre-
cedes Infantry Attacks.
Monday Biggest Day Since
Great Offensive Started.
BRITISH ADVANCE At Will
Soldiers Can See Nothing but
Success in Battle.
Storm of Shells Always Pre-
cedes Infantry Attacks.


via London, 26.-This has been anoth-
err great day for the Anglo-French
forces on the Somme; as a spectacle for
the observer, it was the most splendid
of all the attacks made by the allied
forces since the commencement of the
great offensive. What either army
was trying to do and how they were
doing it, the positions they held and
sought to conquer in the team play of
the blue French legions and the khaki
clad brigades of Britain were compre-
hensible to the eye in the glorious
autumn sunlight for a sweep of ten
miles. The scene had the intoxication
of wars grandeur-if war can be said
to have any grandeur.
Tonight the British have taken half
of Morval, all of Les Boeuf and have
advanced their line on a front of 5000
yards for an average depth of 1000
yards; the French have stormed Ran
court and have pushed their line to the
outskirts of the little village of Fregi-
court. mile east. and a little north of
Combles. The German stronghold of
Combles is virtually isolated.
The correspondent of the Associated
Press went forward yesterday over
the ridge in the Devils Wood and
Ginchy region which the British had
fought for over two months to gain.
He walked for two miles thru an
area which reverberated to the blasts
of the great guns, picking his way
between the bursts of flame from the
crashing batteries and moving around
the rows of cannon as one who seeks
a ford in a stream. On the other side
of the ridge he saw guns where he had
never seen them before-on the prom
ised land of the lower levels, which
the British had won by persistent
siege work. The guns were close up
to the British infantry who listened
to their thunderous chorus as they
prepared for the charge in todays
! attack.
| Work Like Machines.
The usual artillery preparation, -
said an artillery officer. Every gun
was being fired at top speed. On his
return, the correspondent had rear
view of the French gunners who were
feeding shells into the gun breeches
as grain is fed into a threshing ma
chine and with the mechanical preci-
sion of automatons.
Shortly after neon was the time
chosen for the infantry to rush for
ward under the cover of a final in
tensive chorus of hell from the ar
tillery. The ridges in front and on
either side were flecked with racing
sparks of flame. In an hour at least
| $4,000 shells must have been fired
within sight of the correspondent.
Far to the south was Mon ST. QUEEN
tin, two miles from Peronne and
commanding that town which the al
lied commanders say will fall like a
ripe plum when the time comes. The
hill lay hazy. above the green foliage
| of the river valley. in the midst of vast
| bursts of black smoke from shells of
| enormous caliber Directly in front
was Combles, another town which has
| come to mean much to the imagina-
ton of the public in England and
France who seem to regard its cap
ture as of vital significance.
Combles differed from the other
villages in sight IN that the walls of
many of its buildings were still stand
ing. 1t was different, too, in that it
formed an oasis in the midst of the
storm of battle. Neither artillery nor
infantry paid any attention to it. The
! gauge of battle was the high ground
around it, the possession of which
means the command of the town.
Farther north lay the ruins of Ginchy
and Guillemont.
Lost in Smoke Clouds.
At the appointed time the waves OF
Infantry surged forward to the at
tack Then the tremendous fire OF
the German guns swelled to its utmost
volume until the whole field was lost
in vast clouds of smoke The attack
ing infantry vanished in that grim
pail while high overhead scores OF
of aeroplanes, their wings cleaning
like silver in the brilliant sunlight
strove vainly to see what was passing
beneath them.
Then, across the dead fields, arose q
signal from Morva1 which told thai
the British infantry had reached an
other goal and that another village
was taken. A man at a telephone in
a nearby signal station called out the
capture of the different strong points
with the enthusiasm of one who scores
a hotly contested ball game.
Presently the British wounded be.
gan to straggle back and their bearing
as they moved along beside theil
prisoners was another criterion by
which the correspondent knew how
the day had gone with them. Gener-
ally reports told of every position be-
ing taken on the minute set in the
program. The British wounded SAID
that, of course they got there as they
were used to getting there. Theil
great qualification was that it was be
coming an even fight since the Ger
mans had no more prepared lines bu
both armies were fighting in the open
According to the British officers the
Germans OF the fighting front have
no longer any trenches except those
which are dug under fire.
Corporation Builds Modern Town.
Pittsburg, Sept. 26.-Westinghous
| interests will begin work soon on tn.
| Of 600 homes for