The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-07-06
st. Paul Auditorium.
FRENCH DRAW UP LINES
Continued from Page one.)

CONTINUED from Page Onel
Hem of considerable Importance It
commands the passage of the river to
Feuinieres, already in their hands.
Its possession assures a direct bond
between corps on either side of the
stream.
The Germans are beginning to re-
act more vigorously as reserves ar
rive, particularly south of the Somme,
and the French advance there is hotly
contested. French critics expect that
the Germans will concentrate their
energies in defense of the villages of
Barleux and Villers-Carbonnel- The
former bars the ravine lying between
the two plateaus which separate the
French line from Peronne. while the
latter, a village of 500 Inhabitants,
stands the southernmost of the two
plateaus, three hundred feet high and
oyerlooks the whole valley of the
Somne as far as Peronne. ...
German Counter Succeeds.
Paris, July "a strong German
counter-attack north of the Somme
last night reca ptured from. the French
thirds of mile north of the village of
Hem, it was officially announced to-
day.
1.-The French retaliated, carrying a
wood northeast of the same village"
added the official statement.
the night was relatively calm. A Ger
man attack on Belloy-en-Santerre was
easily repulSed.
"Seventy-six guns and several hun
dred machine guns already have been
counted among the booty taken by the
French since the present movement
began q
The lul1 in the fighting south of the
Somme last night was probabl. due to
the necessity for further artillery
preparation before the French resume
their advance on Peronne. Since the
French advance south of the river be-
gan last Saturday morning, General
Foch's troops have taken the German
second lines of a wide front, but now
face new and strong defensive posi-
tons before Peronne.
On Outskirts of Peronne.
With French troops now almost in
the outskirts of Peronne, the Germans
are reinforcing heavily, particularly
on their right flank northwest of the
village. Southwest of Peronne, heavy
fighting occurred yesterday in which
French cavalry took part and the ia
nous French '75's' did terrible execu-
| ton.
One cavalry detachment, breaking
through gap in the German second
line, actually approached close to the
Peronne-Chaulnes railway, before
driven back by German fire.
80 RAPID was the French advance
south of the Somme in the early stages
of the fighting that German detach-
1 ments were cut off during the night in
| some instances and surrounded before
they knew they were under attack. A
French company which cut off the
avenues of retreat from one German
| trench found several of the occupants
asleep in their dugouts. The region
south OF the Somme over which the
french are now advancing is full OF
| historic interest
Old Medieval Fortress.
In the village of Barleux, southwest
of Peronne an6 in the line of the
French advance, the Germans in 1876
installed artillery for the purpose OF
! bombarding Peronne. The village was
honored after the war with the deco
ration of the Legion of Honor for its
heroic resistance to the Germans.
the town of Peronne was a strons
fortress in the medieval ages. Charlie,
the Simple, was imprisoned and died
| there Peronne surrendered to Well.
lngton in 1915 and to the Germans ir
! OF