The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1917-08-03
ALLIES CRUSH
GERMAN lines
eTEUTONS ON RUN, TERRIFIC At
TACK MADE ON WIDE
FRONT.
AFTER U-BOAT BASES
second Line Trenches Captured on
Twenty-Mile Line, Losses
Are Heavy.

One of the big moves of the war
apparently is under way in Flanders
where the right flank of the German
front is anchored upon the sand
dunes and fiat fields that skirt the
North sea coast. Unprecedently ter
rifle battle of big guns that has been
raging for days past has been sue
ceeded by a charge of the infantry
and a combined British and French
force is sweeping forward over the
strongly fortified Teutonic lines, as
the following dispatch shows:
British Front In France.
July Shy the Associated Press.)
The entente allied forces which
launched their offensive this morn
ing have advanced we'll beyond the
shell-shattered front line German
trenches. In many places they have
reached the second line defenses on
twenty-mile front of attack, ac-
cording to the early reports.
The British and French troops
went into battle under cover of what
perhaps was the greatest barrage fire
ever seen during the war.
The entente artillery Is moving
forward and the whole situation Is
, satisfactory in every particular.
Between Dixumude and Boesinhe
the attackers reported they had Sc
cured the two first lines of trenches
after having fought over the most
difficult terrain imaginable.
The British again have captured La
Bassee Vile. which they recently re-
'linquished to the Germans.
The British and French forces are
facing a large concentration OF Ger
man artillery and fresh troops, which
have been rushed up.
The entente allies have established
complete air superiority.
The entente military officials say
the morale of the Germans here is
not up 10 the old standard.
After U-BOat Base.
1t seems significant that French
forces have combined with British for
an assault on this front, where an at
tempt to break through or turn the
German flank has been expected for
some time. A keen command to get
at the German submarine bases which
line the shores of Belgium has also
been in evidence, and this purpose
would be accomplished by any sweep
ing victory achieved on the Flanders
front.
On Wide Front.
The attack on the two allied armies
is marked on the southern boundary
of its field by the river Lys, about
thirty miles from the coast. "A wide
front" is the official British express
lon describing its scope, which OBJ
viously does not make 1t clear how
far toward the coast the thrust ex-
tends.
The operation gives every evidence
of being a major one, however, and
it is clear that II was successful in
it's initial stages, the London War
Office account declaring:
"In conjunction with the French
troops operating on our left we at
tackled at $3.50 o'clock this morning
on wide front north of the river
Lys.
.The. allied troops have captured
their first detectives on the whole
front attacked and are reported to
be making satisfactory progress at
all points.
Considerable numbers of prison.
ers already have been captured"
The battle front north of the river
Lys stretches from Warenton, on the
Franco Belgian border, to the North
Sea coast, the distance between those
two points being about thirty miles.
Included in this battle area is the
famous Observation-Disclosures front,
where the British on June Z, after
exploding 100000 pounds Of high
explosives under the German lines,
attacked on a nine-mile front and
captured the high ridge, several
small towns. forty-seven guns and
more than 1000 prisoners.
Germans Surprised.
The launching Of the drive was
seemingly a surprise to the Gesmans,