The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-11-21
American General Saw Strang-
est Battle in History.
Wooden Horse of Troy Is Only
Comparison to This.
NUMBERING TANKS BLAZE TRAIL
Rose Up From Ground Like
Magic and Surprised Huns.
Smoke Barrage Concealed At
tack; Prisoners We're Dazed.
RY wILLIAM PHILIP SINfNfs

BY WILLIAM PHILIP SIMMS.
With the British Armies in the
Field. Nov. 21-The strangest battIs
in the worlds history was that by
which the British today smashed the
Hindenburg line.
There has been no other battle like
it in the annals of warfare. Only the
wooden horse of Troy offers a com-
parison with Haig's blow in tactical
originality.
Britain's victory came after a pre-
liminary advance Tuesday morning.
1t was then, under black skies, that
the tanks numbered forward as the
new barrage for the infantry. We'd
nesday completed the triumph.
General Pershing, commander-in-
chief of the American army in France.
witnessed this most staggering or an
the blows which the British have
launched against the enemy.
Surprise Attack.
At a moment when the world was
saying that surprise attacks in this
war were no longer possible-when
the Prussians were thinking the same
thing and sleeping soundly in their
comfortable dugouts, without the
faintest suspicion that anything was
brewing-British army tanks leading
British infantry, rose up from the
ground like magic and swung to the
attack There was no artillery prep
aratiOn. Inc iufn DeTlnB QlO TIE
pulverizing of the way. They blazed
the trail. their gigantic ponderous
paths offering free entrance to the in
fantry Immediately behind. They
crashed over wire entanglements. over
artfully concealed Chevaux de Frise,
over trenches themselves and the
walking Tommies followed.
Prisoners Are Dazed.
Prisoners pouring back of the lines
today were still dazed with the sur
prise of the attack.
They were utterly fiabbergasted.
Not an officer nor man had the slight
est idea the British could possibly
strike on their quiet sector at a time
when it was supposed every ounce OF
Britain's strength was concentrated In
Flanders.
Since the battle of Arras the Cam
brai sector has dozed in peace and
quiet The line seemed impregnable.
The Germans had heard that SO often
they were certain of ii. They were
confident that il would take weeks of
high explosive shell preparation and
wire cutting expeditions. as well as
unprecedented barrages to do the
trick.
So they dozed and slept and took
life easy in the German lines. There
was practically no artillery fire felt
from the British side-the ''EngIi-
scher Swein" were too busy with their
concentrated guns at Passckendaele
and besides they did not have enough
guns to concentrate, so why worry
That must have been the German psy-
chology.
"Kamerad.'
No more utterly demoralized hu-
man beings in the world were seen
I than these same sleekly confident
Boches as they crawled from their
dugouts, sleep barely out of their eyes.
at the sound of crunching. numbering
juggernauts above them-to find Brit
ish soldiers swarming everywhere
! They raised their arms in shriItIug
cries of 'Kameradi kamerad.r and
fled hither and thither, dazed and ter
ror stricken. Guns that never fired a
shot in this battle, were seized by the
Tommies or else crushed into the
yielding earth by the steely weight OF
the tanks.
Cement emplacements. steel bound
roofs of dugouts. crunched, buryink
Germans like ants in hills trodden
under foot
All the stereotyped rules of prepa-
ration Tor war and Of the actual bat
I tie strategy itself were thrown aside
/ in the British coup.
Some time Monday night a large
number of British tanks took their
berth behind the lines. The Ger
mans didn't hear them; it was too
dark for them to be seen.
( Smoke Was CamoufIaee.
In the early morning Tuesday
I these monsters crawled forth in t1n
/ hazy light between darkness and day-
( light A smoke barrage conceaIeS
their camouflaged sides The Ger
mans didn't know they were in action
9 until they rumbled and wheezed over
! their heads. =
Z The Hindenburg Iine-the impress
( nable, the never-yielding, the last
/ word in defenses-was taken. there
! fore, without single preparatory
gun shot.
I How complete was the surprise Foe
the Germans was evidenced in the
fact that at one point German dfvf-
sion was in process of relieving. an.
otner at the very moment Of the at