The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1917-08-01


court and had penetrated German po
sitions for depth Of six miles.
In the spring. the Germans. antici-
pating resumption Of the Sommc
operations. began what has become
known as the "Hindenberg victorious
retreat" to newly blished German
lines. In this second battle of the
Somme. Bapaume. Irles. Peronne,
Ncsle. Fayette. Gricourt. Vaux, Royc,
Tergnier. Ham and hundreds of 9TH
er positions were lost by the Germans
In an evacuation which French crit
les regard as memorial the Germans
left track of widespread devastation
which aroused world wide Indignation.
The British claimed capture of nearly
5000 prisoners in the three months of
this German retirement for q depth of
from 8 to 10 miles along a front OF
about 46 miles.
In April the British transferred
their offensive northeast OF Arras,
forcing Won Hindenberg to redistribute
his forces along a fifteen-mile front
Canadians played a historic part in
this lighting. Monchy-le-Preux was
taken; and Vimy Ridge was captured
after one Of the worlds bloodiest bat
ties. Canadians held the ridge
against desperate counter-attacks.
This success east of Arras turned Hin
denberg's northern pivot. and British
critics regarded 1t as the greatest in
the history Of British arms in the
present war. This offensive, contin-
ued. placed the British astride the
Hindenberg line. and the Germans
retired to positions a mile or two
west Of the Drocourt- Queant line.
These they held as the third year
closed.
Meanwhile the battles Of Cham
paign and the Aisne had been car
ried on by the French. who in April
captured Auberive. In the first days
OF Champaign offensive. one of the
greatest struggles of the war, the
Germans sustained an estim ated loss
OF 100000 killed. wounded and taken
prisoners through their desperate de-
fensive operations. Fighting III these
regions continues after three months,
during which the French have all
vanced from one to five miles along
o Mty-mile front. The present French
line runs from northwest of scissors,
through Rheims to Auberive.
\ In June 1917. the British began an
attack on Messines and Wyscheate in
an effort to straighten out the Ypres
salient. Again British flyers dominat-
ed the air. The British. had spent az
entire year mining the earth for, this
offensive, which was begun with an
explosion 30 terrific that It was heard
IN London. Beyond Msssines. for two
nilssseast ana nqrtheess, the .Hrjtisf,l
wot' and consolidated ground. .captur-
ed more than 400 prisoners and
great stores Of artillery. Gaining ev-
cry objective. they placed themselves
astride the Ypres-Comines Canal. hav-
ing advanced three miles on an eight
mile front. Portuguese and Belgian
troops aided in this offensive. In re-
cent days the lighting there had been
confined to raiding operations.
1t Is estimated that during April,
May and Juno tho Germans suffered
$4,000 casualties on tho Western
front.
Tho Russians. having In June OF
1915 begun an offensive from the
Pripet Marshes to the Rumanian from
tier. speedily captured Czernowitz and
the rest Of Bukovina. together with
Prody In Galicia. and in August they
entered Stanislau for the third time
In the war. These operations forced
the Austro- Germans to relinquish
lines they had held throughout the'
winter Of 1s15-1s16.
The Halicz bridgehead fell in Sep
tember. but the subsequent advance
on Lemberg was not prosecuted be-
cause Of the plight of Rumania de-
manded the transfer of Russian troops
to aid their Balkan ally.
Aftef the Russian revolution, the
Russians made q feint to advance on
Pinsk. to cover the actual operations
resumed In July against Lemburg
This latter front extended Is 1-2
miles. Known as Regiments July
First" these troops. reinvigorated by
the, consciousness of political liberty,
confounded German military pro-
phets by the magnitude and extent of
their offensive.
L hx, A