Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-09-07
British Now Claim to
Have Germans Sewed Up
in a Sack Along Somme
BY .4SSocinteH PrcSs

With the British Army in France
Sept. 8. The British feel that their
uphill work in this latest offensive is
over, with the exception of the taking
of Ginchy. For over two months now
their fight has been one to gain high
ground over the broad commanding
front Guillemont places them in
possession of the last of the old sec
ond line trenches, and from the
Somme to Thiepval the Germans now
have been blasted out of their old
positions
This is not the only point in our
favor" said a British staff officer
The Germans chose their ground
when they built this line of fortifica-
tions, which they considered by their
own admission to be invulnerable.
When the British first smashed
through the Germans said that we
were in a sack So we were, in one
sense. But we had to make an open
ing in that solid line of defense as a
start in our plans. We knew the
hardest work would come after the
great main attack, and this is so far
accomplished that it is the Germans
now who are in a sack.
To Quadruple Shells
IF we prefer to end the summer Of
fensive and wait for Spring when we
shall have quadrupled the number of
guns and so much ammunition that
we shall have to keep up daily a bat
tie of guns on four times the length
of the present front with all the shell
fire of the biggest day i'll this summers
offensive in order to consume the sup
plies arriving daily across the chan
mel Why our present position of
artillery and infantry advantage on
the Somme front in settled trench
warfare, means simply that we could
kill two Germans to every Britain the
Germans kill This was the first step.
What the others are to be only the
commanders of the allies armies
know"
The Associated Press correspondent
who has been year with the army
in his goings and comings meets
many officers and soldiers. One of the
striking things to him is how often
some gain which elates the army does
not elate either the British or the
French public. Again, the public en-
thuses over some event which the
Iarmy opinion regards as incidental to
the days work.
Armies In High Spirits
The British and French successes
this week had an extraordinary ef-
feet on both armies. The ability of
the French to make a second drive
over the broad front and the same sec
tor as that of the big offensive of the
first of July, brought conviction to the
professional skeptics. Go over and see
the French" said the British officer,
IF you want to see an army with it's
head in the air."
Not even the weather can dampen
the high spirits of both armies. The
rain has been of the persistent pitch
| fork, chilly autumn style. Men who
came out of the trenches plastered
with chalky clay who had been charg-
ing under a weight of sixty pounds
equipment and then lying in miniature
ponds made by shell holes or on the
wet earth digging and wallowing in the
mud say Guillemont is taken and that
pays for their hardships.
Look For End Next Summer
The many new highways which the
British build by bringing ponderous
road-making machines from England,
and the new railways which are part
of Sir Douglas Haig's policy, have
saved transports. from being mired.
Supplies have gone up as usual
through the storms on schedule time.
In the camps at the rear the soldiers
make themselves little tents with their
rubber blankets under which they
cluster for shelter from the downpour.
| They manage to keep partly dry, but
those in the fighting line expect to be
saturated.
| Whether private soldier in his
shelter tent or general in his automo-
bile if you ask them that old ques-
ton: when do you think the war
will be over?" you get no opinion of
any possible conclusion short of next
summer. They all take many months
of fighting to come no less for granted
than that Rumanias entry and the
artillery results in the Somme battle
mean that the entente allies will die
tate the terms of peace. This conf
dence may be wrong, but there is no
doubt as to its existence so far as the
correspondent can learn more strongly
than ever before