Free trader-journal. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1916-1920, 1917-08-27
BRITISH VICTORY AT
LENS TO DECIDE WAR
tContinued from Page -

continued from IJEe ID
sucw our real fight Hy against the.
Tcutonic reserves ana not against
their first line forces, because our
mines would take care o. them When
the battle came the mines We're set off
and they literally ripped ont the Ger
man trenches. What few men were
left some 1000 or 5000. easily We're
taken prisoners. because their forces
terc so demoralized by the mines that
effective resistance was impossible.
There were counter attacks galore
in this fighting. as the dispatches have
told. but finally the British gained dom
na.ion Of the Vimy Ridge and then
could observe the movements OF the
Germans on the plains below.
Put there was still Hill 20" said
the lieutenant That hill with its
domination OF Lens and the plains be-
yond was like a coming tower on a
submersible-it gave us broad sweep.
Cur lines were still behind that hill
and We needed it. 1t has now been
captured
During tho LoOs battle half 4
dozen German machine gun crews
held up whole division of t2.10b
British, simply because We couldn't
reach them with our artillery We
could not locate them When We tried
to move up on them thousands Were
killed by the deadly machine guns.
You see the Germans with their
+ domination Of that hill could watch
our moves and from our positions
we could not find the German bat
teries behind.
The Loos battle impressed upon
us the necessity OF holding these
dominating ridges, and now we have
behind us the Nimy Ridge Hill ~, the
Armetieres the WytcheateMessines
ridge and all save few near LANCE
marck. Conditions today are exactly
reversed to what the were two
years ago, when the Germans held
control OF these heights. That's the
actual condition around Lens
Many Young Prisoners.
Speaking of the German prisoners
brought in It. Dolphin asserted that
many of the German prisoners were
young from 10 to 10. They seemed
to he either young or DID, he said.
The reason for that is that the Ger
mans have taken from the various
regiments the picked men and form
ed them into what they call Sturm-
lruppcn Cstormmg troops). Tha' i
another bombastic idea Of the Ger.
mans. but it's not working well. be-
cause it weakens all their other regi-
ments.
In our amy we do not figure any
one regiment any better than the
other; one is regarded as capable as
the next
The British guards the Irish
Scotch and Grenadiers -arc regad
eli as the patlcrn at The front Ii !
soldier does something wrong the US
ual remark is they don't do that III
) the guards They are a wonderful
: Quits. They Will march in column
! formation out OF the trenches ano
back Of the lines There they stano
! at attention while the band plays
lust like on parade in England. Whea
they are dismissed many OF them
collapse from fatigue, yet while they
are in line they never once beak dis
cipline That's what makes them the
model troops they are.
The Germans have something like
that, too-the Prussian guards, but
the British guards ae not the arrogant,
conceitcd lot the Russians are they
are real Hkaable fellows when off
duty; on duty, lhough, they impose
The most rigid discipline.
When viii the War End
Asked as TO the sentiment in Eng
land aud France as to when the con
nict would terminate, It, Dolphin had
this to say:
"Fhc absolute conviction of Europe
in England and Francc-was that
the war would be over this fall, pro
yiding Russia did not fail Smct
, Russia failed no one is sure, but II