Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1917-10-26
Stroke of General Petain on
the Aisne Considered the
Greatest Allied Victory of
the Year.
German Morale Shattered
by the Terrific Onslaught
and Guns Abandoned
Losses of Enemy Placed at
$4,000 Men.
By HENRY WOOD.

Omitted Press Staff Correspondents J
With the French Armies in the
Field, oct. 26.-With every hour to-
day there grew evidence that General
Petain's stroke on the Aisne had in
flicted on Germany her greatest de-
feat Of 1917.
DemoralZed by the trip hammer
blow of the great French war ma
chine, the Germans today were aban-
doning their guns in an effort to re-
treat across the marshy Ailette valley
and the Aisne and Disc canal. Fight
ing with the desperation of men who
know they are beaten, the enemy gave
way for the French wedge until today
IT had been jammed more than three
miles into the pivotal base of the Ger
man line 'curving around the western
extremity of the Chemn des DANES.
Total captures of men reached more
than 1000. More than 100 guns have
been taken so far. Several hundred
trench mortars and machine guns are
not included in this count.
Judging from prisoners stories and
an estimate Of the mangled heaps of
German dead, the German losses in
Tuesdays drive and Thursdays ac-
celeration may be conservatively esti-
mated at equivalent to three whole
German divisions-approXimately 49,
100 men.
In proportion to the size of the bat
tie front-seven miles-this is the
heaviest loss which Germany has ever
sustained in a single series of military
operations since the disastrous Ger
man retreat last spring
DOMINATE ENTIRE VALLEY.
Not only that, but the French vic
tory is n cumulative one. Poilus now
dominate the entire Ailctte valley.
Their hold on the obscryatories here
practically renders untenable the Ger
man lines along the northern edge of
the bloody Chemin des DANES all the
way toward Craonne, far to the east.
Today the battle thundored on, the
enemy apparently seeking to make
stand on new lines opposite to the
heights of the Ailette.
How great was the jar to German
army morale when Hindenburgs
troops felt the impact of Pctain's piv-
otal blow was evidenced in score of
proofs today Like a boxer struck a
staggering blow on the jaw, the Ger
man army machine reeled backward.
its mind confused, every sense of ap-
prehension attuned to the kcenest
point and then with muddled, befogged
comprehension strove blindly to cover
up"
That "grogginess" was evident in
hasty abandonment Of guns. 1t was
even palmer in confused orders taken
from captured officers.
CONTRADICTORY ORDERS.
One officer captured near Pinon,
carried orders to abandon his four
mortars. His major-taken at the
same point-had exactly contradictory
orders-first to retreat: secondly, to
resist regardless of cost" Six hun
dred prisoners taken at Pinon evil
denced this Generalization of the or
derly German military brain through
Petain's staggering blow.
The Germans hadn't even thought
of a defeat at the corner" of their
line where the French struck. Their
lines were "impregnable" When
those "impregnabIe'' positions melted
before the French fire, the demoraliza-
tion must have been sudden, dramatic
and of bitter relish to the German
high command.
The new advanced French line today
was an average of three and tenth
miles beyond Mondays positions, over
a total front of practically seven miles.
Consolidation of these lines today
swept more and more German positions
into the Poilus' hands. France has al
ready re-occUpied the territory he