Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-11-23


proceeding last night and this morn
ing.
Tanks Press On
West OF Cambria tanks, cavalry
and infantry were pressing tho Mt
tack vigorously about Fontaine Notro
Dame and the strong position In
Bou-lon wooa. Fontaine Notre
Dame has not been officially report
ed captured but the story goes that
tank crews were served with hot
coffee by the civilians in this place
this morning. (Field Marshal HaIgs
official Thursday night said tho Ger
mans had retaken Fontaine Notre
Dnme).
Further north near Bullecourt the
British were in possession of tho en-
tire underground fertilization known
Rs the tunnel trench which had been
famed for its supposed impregna-
bility. 1t least five determined coun-
terattacks have been smashed in this
region. Southeast of Bullecourt
hard fighting occurred at Moeuyres
last night and a strong, counterat-
tack was repulsed.
2 Last Line Broken
The last line of trench defenses
In the region of CantainG have been
broken and the British to-day were
firmly established at many points
in tho Masnieres-Beaurois line south
OF Cambria.
1t is now possible to give more
details Of Tuesdays battle In the
advance south of Cambria the first
hard fighting ACQUIRED at Lataau
wood, which lies on the Cambria
highway south of Masnieres. This
wood finally was cleared of Germans
and the advance continues toward
Masnieres. Some opposition was en-
countered IN n suburb but by 1
o'clock this had been overcome and
the British had crossed the L'Escant
canal Mt lock. The small German
garrison fought bitterly to retain
Masnieres. The whole place was un-
dermined with dugouts in which the
enemy was hidden with machine
guns, but the Germans were forced
TO give up this place after q sanguin-
ary struggle although some of them
were still holding out in the cellare
to-day.
German Resistance Weak
Marconing was taken with a
small resistance on the part of the
enemy and this gave the British a
second crossing of the canal. The
advancing troops forced a passage
here at the same hour as Masnieres
was entered, The Masnieres-B Beau
rois trench line north of Masniercs
apparently had been reinforced bv
Germans from Cambria and this
front held up the advance temporar-
ily with rifle and machine gun fire
but the British ultimately forced
the Germans from the trenches in
hand-to-hand fighting.
German resistance on the first day
was comparatively weak as a whole
and they surrendered freely in many
places. Yesterday their lines stiff
ened and hard fighting followed.
German reinforcements from Lens
and the two companies of invalids
already mentioned were thrown into
the line.
First counterattack
The first counterattacl5 came over
the ridge fro mthe northeast of Mas
70 nieres. The enemy advanced in mass
ed formation as in the early days
of the war. The British had con-
centrated large number of michine
guns at this point and were hoping
for counterattack. They permitted
the enemy to advance to within n
thousand yards of the line before
they. opened fire. Then the machine
guns and artillery were turned on
the Germans and they were smashed
in a whitening storm.
At 1 o'clock an attack on Mar
Going was attempted by the enemy
but as in the former case, they were
caught in heavy artillery and ma
chine gun fire and turned back after
suffering severely.
Fighting at Close Quarters
An hour later another body of
Germans advanced on Noyelles,
which was held by one company of
British troops. Here some of the
stiffest fighting of the battle took
place at close quarters. Both sides
rushed up reinforcements and for
Vtwo hours the battle surged back and
forth through the streets and among
the buildings. It was melee in
which the bayonet played the prin-
cipai part. The Germans fought
well. but they were not good enough
to Withstand the fury of the British
assault and gradually they were
forced back across the canal to the
east.
NM IN