Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1916-09-05
GUARD
FINDS EQUAL IN
! k|TCHE NER ARMY

kAlsER's WONDERFUL SOLDIERS
FIND DIFFICULTY IN STOP
PING sRIToNs.
With the British Armies in France.
Sept. 8 (Via London) Sept. 4. 1t was
"by the right flank in the concerted
Anglo-French attack on the Somme
front today, with the great battle
which never has ceased for two
months flaming up into general con-
| fict, that Kitcheners new army charg-
| ed the flower of the Germany army
the Prussian guards-four divisions OF
| which were concentrated before the
| British to stay the British offensive.
In places the emperor's favorite troops
were driven back, counter attacked
and again had to yield their crimsoned,
she'll wrecked trenches to stubborn
English and Scotch, most Of whom two
years ago did not know how to form
fours.
Actions Closely Timed.
The attack was not simultaneous nor
was 1t along the whole line. Different
sections were timed with clockwork
regularity, while the French and Eng
lish acted together as if one army.
BY the roar of the guns in the early
morning along the whole front no OBJ
server could have told where the
blows we're to fall Against Th1epval
no effort was made. But Just before
dawn their infantry rushed the old
first line Of trenches at certain points
both north and south Of the Ancre.
The first stage of the infantry &C.
tion was entirely on this flank and at
MoQuet farm whore the Australians
were at 1t again. They pushed through
1t and beyond 1t. Nothing more pic
turesque had happened in the Somme
battle than these hardy ranchmen who
can shoot and ride, smooth shaven, Ia
comic, bred out Of doors, going against
the Prussian guards.
Later in the morning, the big busi-
ness Of the day began from Devils
wood southwark through to the
Somme. All the murderous power on
both sides, guns and machine guns,
was exeFtedto the utmost t-4--~--Ny7a
0uillemont Now 4 Mine. ..t
Gufflemont was the prize the Brit
fish sought. Two weeks ago this vii
lage was the most completely devas-
tated Of any on tho front and the Brit
ish had been pounding It day after day
with every caliber Of gun Guillemont
no longer Is village but an iron and
lead mine. Twice the British had car
ried their charges into It and even
through It, only to be forced out It
is estimated that 100000 shells were
fired into It and 100000 bullets ira
versed It,
Sapping forward and connecting up
shell craters into trenches, the British
worked their way, aided by occasional
charges, but the Germans had estab-
lished themselves in a small trench
salient southwest Of the village where
they were only thirty or forty yards
from the British and so near that the
the British guns dared not fire on them
for fear Of hitting their own men.
Here the Germans had machine
gun 50 placed that 1t swept the space
between the trenches but the British
managed to get across and about mid
day, swept through Guillemont, clean
ing up nests Of machine guns and
across the fields on the other side,
establishing themselves in a sunken
road
But south Of Guillemont one section
Of the Prussian guard resisted desper-
ately in Falfemont farm and Wedge
wood and here the afternoon bombing
and hand to hand fighting were pro-
ceeding. Here the guard had high
ground which they turned into a for
tress.
No sooner had the British taken
Guillemont and swept through It than
the Germans turned on It q tornado Of
shell fire from their immense concen-
tration Of guns. "
Many Prisoners Taken.
The French, between the somme and
the British right, under the protection
OF an amazing hurricane of she'll fire,
cooperated in brilliant advance
From hill the blue of their soldiers
and the khaki Of the British could be
seen side by side as they charged and,
as the trenches were taken, the green
figures Of the Germans filing back to
spectacle under an unbroken stream
Of shells overhead t.~
Prussian guard prisoners taken said
the German emperor had let it be
known to his troops that there would
be no winter campaign. They believ.
ed the decision of the war was com.
ing in this summers fight and in the
fighting of the next month.
The flercest struggle of all was for
the possession Of Ginchy. When the
Associated Press correspondent left
the corps headquarters the British had
more than half the village and the
struggle amidst the ruins hidden by
curtains of shell smoke was bitterly
continuing.