Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1916-09-21

|A1tSL scNti z liStlll!lS on lllt SO1lllG
front yesterday, say today's Off
cial German rcport, the German
troops Were forced back through
the villages of Courcelette. Martin
puich and Flers. The town of
Comhles, the statement adds, was
held by the Germans in the face of
strong British attacks.
London. Sept. 1S-As a result of their
offensive north of the Somme. begun
yesterday morning along the six-mile
front from north of Combles to beyond
the Poziere-Bapaume road, the British
are holding the villages OF Courcelette,
MartinDutch and Flers, the war office
this afternoon.
British Front in France. Sept. 49,
(via London.)-Army Officers univer-
sally are speaking of FRIDAY as the best
day for the British army since the Of
fensive began on the Somme front.
With the exception of July /. the attack
begun yesterday morning WAS the most
extensive of any in the 10 weeks of the
battle. For the first time new armored
cars of ingenious pattern. suitable for
crossing trenches and shell holes. COM
peted with the infantry as the British
swept down from the ridges to the
lower ground toward Bapaume. At this
writing, the British are beyond the VIII
'@9S VI 1 itiS, N'iltil liltS COOK early III
the morning and are established at
M~artinbuich ANA Courcelette.
Flooding Work Ends.
The slow plodding work of recent
weeks, which included the taking of
Glnehy and Guillemont. had for it's OBJ
Ject control of all the high ground from
the reslon Of Thicpval to the junction
with the French on the right. The
Germans fought hard for every foot of
1t. Delville, or Devils wood. High wood
and the RIB Of earth which the windmill
crowned beyond Pozieres have been
steenel with blood of men fallen there
In Their long stand under the heaviest
orgy of shell fire in the history of war.
as experts agree as German wrestled
with Rriton, not for a piece of farm
land, but for military and human
mastery.
Arnored Car Surprise.
Ihe work of the new armored cars
In cooperation with the British infan-
Try IN their charges in Yesterdays sue
ceSsfut attack is the one theme of the
talN throughout the army today.
The idea was so good when it was
o11efed,' said q staff officer, that we
NAG some built, ana the way they have
gone over the German trenches and
have enfiladed them with machine gun
ire is some return for the surprise the
Germans gave us with their gas at
tackS IL the first Nattic of Ypres.''
Evidently the British We're able to
Keep the building of these cars entirely
secret and the first that the Germans
Knew OF their existence was when in
the misty dawn yesterday morning
they came trlndlng across shell era
ters and over tree stulnps, cutting
down many small trees on their way
toward the German trenches on the
second line and even to the third line.
The return to earth of HE icthyosau-
rus or dmosaur, spouting bullets from
their nostrllS, could not have been more
amazing. The tanks is the slang
word the army staff has applied to
these strange creations of machinery.
but they look less like tanks than any
thlng else in the world. 1t is hard to
say what they look like. They have
been compared both to armadillos and
measuring worms and to many other
weird creening or crawling objects of
natural history. A man of wars tur-
ret crossing fields, in and cut of gull
leys and through fences. would present
q spectacle resembling their progress.
Give Soldiers Laugh.
During the days preceding the at
tack as they moved up to the front and
the soldiers gazed at them, the risabili-
ties of all ranks We're tickled. All sorts
OF questions were p~ropounded. Would
the thing stand when it was hitched-
and what was it fed q" (Which was IT'S
eo-l civ li,lI lis IItStu All events
it was q steel jointed incarnation of
military secrecy. Spectators laughed at
1t. bu with true British sporting in
stinct hoped it would at least have a
sporting chance.
Last night wounded men back from
the line forgot their pain and what part
their battalion played during the battle
in telling what the tanks" did. Notes
We're compared between the action of
''our' and your tank. Cooperating
with the infantry action by prearrange-
ment the grotesque creatures PLAYED
the part set for them urder the control
Of their invisible crews, which We're
their brain centerS. Some soldiers said
their battalions had nothing more to do
than harvesterS who gather sheaVes
following a reaper and binder raked
with fire.
british army reports never had a
stronne passage than one saying that
Ice Ger1nana had surrendered to q
"tsnk". uniess it was the one reporting
that the tank had been seen from an
aeiop ane making it way through the
main streets Of the VILLAGE of Flers fol-
lowed bv cheering British soldiers. a
staff officer spoke of one having
stopped to hror-se at the edge of a wood
before ~continrjn~ to advance.
Tanks Made Good.
It is small wonder that anybody who
saw in actor one of these arfnored
nanle-should hold up their hands.
Thcy haze brought a new element lnto
tie grim, BUSINESS of war, trenches,
Shells and bombs. 1t was tank day
and tic tanks made good.
.Nreor&ing to reports. trenches full OF
deal were left ia its wake when the
o~Cc2ipants of trenches tried to hold their
gro.n5 and did not surrender or fly
fro..l its approach. Yet destructive as
tae fire of the 'tanks' was, many Ger