El Nuevo mexicano., 1917-08-02
ME- n
BEAT CRACK
TROOPS Of
KAISER
Crushing Defeat Given
Foe in Haig's Big
Flanders Drive
SWAMPY FLATS
SCENE OF CARNAGE
Prodigious F eats of
Valor Performed by
the Britons.

MS
BRITISH FRONT IN FRANCE AND
BELGIUM, Aug. 1. by Associated
Press)-WeIsh troops yesterday add
ed 9. new star to their crown, for It fell
to one Of their regiments to admins
ter a crushing defeat, in General Haig's
great offensive, on the Third Battalion
Of Infantry Guards, which was Enipe-
ror Williams crack body Of troops.
The terrain In this new battle zone
presented tremendous difficulties for
the attacking troops. Between Dix
nude and the point where the Ypres
canal crosses the lines on the lower
part of the Ypres salient, the two
great forces had been engaged for
three years and this portion Of the
line had come to be looked upon as
impregnable for either side. The pres
ent battlefield between Dixmude and
Llzerne was mo mans land" within
whose borders lay marshes, which In
winter months are impossible.
This formidable natural barrier was
rendered still stronger by the inunda-
ton of large areas by the release Of
waters from the canals. The Germans
and allies alike seeking bits of dry
land for a footing swung so far apart
In some places that the distance be-
tween the lines was nearly three miles.
Below this section opposing lines fol-,
lowed either bank of the User canal
and then went on the Ypres salient,
face to face, but with the Germans
holding the dominating high land
about the salient.
The Dixmude-Lizerne section Of the
front is a wilderness Of partly mum
dated and deserted farms dotted with
pools of brackish water and cut into
strange shapes by drainage bitches.
There are but few remaining civilian
habitations in this mo mans land"
Crumbling cottage walls and an oc-
casional roofless church rise above
the flats. Neither side feared a sur
prise attack nor a trench raid. Since
Duke Albrecht's Wurttemburg troops
were swallowed up in the flood let
loose by opening up the sluice gates
in October, 1914, the enemy had not
tried to cross the marshes nor had
they tried to get over the User since
the Belgians in the spring of 1915,
after s%anguinary fighting, flung them
odSh otiObo Inv iiu6ChCdo a. hOs
The Ypres salient itself furnished as
nasty a problem as could be presented
to an attacking army.
The country here Is saucer-shaped
and the Germans had held the lip of
this saucer. All the lower land within
this dish had been dominated by the
enemy who could send a stream of
shell and machine gun fire into the
troops and supply columns advancing
across the salient. The situation was
rendered still more difficult by the
presence within the saucer of a large
number of waterways that must be
crossed by means Of bridges which
might at any moment be destroyed by
gunfire. This difficulty, however, was
overcome by a brilliant feat of the
British engineers who threw seventeen
bridges across the waterways in the
face of terrific gunfire. Similar and
equally remarkable work was done by
the French engineers who we're forced
to bridge the User for their attack.
The Germans little feared, apparent
ly, that the battle would turn in the
direction of their right wing. 1t was
early in June that rumors of the i'm
pCiiuih6 dttdCh DC6du W uHu LH6lT way =
to German ears and were voiced in
Berlin. Usually the rumors assumed
certainty and the Germans began few
erishly to strengthen their lines, pour
ing large numbers of fresh forces into
Flanders and bringing UP all available
guns, The surrounding country was
evacuated of civilians and stripped for
the conflict.
HEAVY RAIN FORCES
LuLL IN OPERATIONS
British Front in France and Bel
GUM, Aug. Cry the Associated
Press. )-Heavy rain which continued
in an %unceasing downpour since last
night, transforming the battle
grounds in Flanders into a sea of
mud; had forced a comparative lull in
the operations this morning at most
points within the one of the entente
allied offensive begun yesterday.
Generally speaking the situation
today was unchanged along the Brit
ish front. Several German counter
attacks were repulsed during the
night and the heavy artillery duel
continued but the movement of big
guns has been rendered most difficult
by the rain.