Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-04-18
DI|LIDIk1
IN FREE FRANCE
adenburg at Last Meets
Eatch in Terrific Drive
of Allies
IUTON STRATEGY FAILED
tpe Of Gripping Entente Of.
\ fensive by Retreat Proved
N Futile
By HENRY wOOD

WITH THE FRENCH ARMIES IN THE
III FIELD. April 49,.
IA All Of Germany's hold on France is mem
4 ncsd today by the worlds most titanic
oRsnsive.
LII 10 a struggle between Won Hindenburg
<0nd the master strategsts of the Franco
zNritlsh STATS on battle scale undreamed
~ before.
Frances part In this greatest of all
drives was preceded by the greatest bonn
bardment in its history. The artillery roar
began Friday. Millions Of shells are hurled
over the lines daily. The French marks
manship s so deadly that the FIRST German
4 prIsoners caught in the anfantry sweep
4 forwerd declared that of their companies Of
/ $50 men the average that survived was only
eighty.
The sudden Franco British drive shat
\ tered Germany's hopes to avoid spring
y offensive by retreat.
Y The French onslaught now gathering It's
greatest momentum. combined with ad-
\ vances begun by the British. makes a con-
tinuous battle line from Dixmude to
Rheims. The battle is on front 100 miles
long.
Rheims and Scissors menaces the entire
German line, coupled with the British at
tack on st. Quentin and the advance Of
daig's troops toward Cambrai and Lens.
Frances onslaught is on too gigantic n
scale over this hundred-mile front to per-
Z NIT any one to visualize the titanic struggle
! In its entirety.
But from the crest of one hill one. could
see during one stage of the great struggle an
Incident that strkingly reveals the French
! strategy no less than the reasons for the
I Germans tremendous losses. This one in
cIdent was Frances feat In wrestling one
Of the Germans strongest defensive posi-
tions
The position consisted of a village sur
mounting a precipitous ravine. The bank
Of this ravine was honeycombed with caves
hewn out of solid stone in treacherously
E dug quarry excavations and shafts. The
: Germans had stationed their machine guns
there-strongly fortified in the rock that
French artillery could not pierce. From
!. the impregnabe quarries below the village
the German Infantry awaited confidently
& the expected frontal attack from the
French
1 Two columns of French infantry sud-
4 denly began an encirclins movement from
q the right and from the left. Every move-
( mont of these forces was visible to the
naked eye. The soldiers advanced at al
& most O strolh pace along the summit of
Z two converging ridges. Their bodies were
clearly silhous ed against the sky.
Neither veritabe cloud Of shrapnel
which hung low over their heads. nor high
s explosive barrages nor gas shells hindered
4 the slow. measured advance of these forces
y for single instant.
w Not until these columns simultaneously
S approached the outskirts of the village did
\ the Germans hidden in the quarry-sti
4 awaiting that frontal attack--realize they
s had beer t-Hindenburged.''
Instantly they rushed out their ma -o'n,
Il guns IN desperate attempt to cover . re
treat But they were too late. The French
s convsrgng columns met behind the vii
a lage. They cut Off all retreat The Ger
mani did not relish an attempt to cut theil
Z way thr tgh They hurriedly returned &c
4 the protection of the rock caves. And the
French columns, ignoring their existence
and leaving their ultimate capture to ether
s troops. swept on to the east from the vii.
4 lage penetrating at every step deeper into
the German line.