The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-08-01
Crush Kaiser's Crack Troops
the Third Battalion.
Launch Giant Offensive After
Months of Preparation.
CROSS SWAMPS And RIVERS
Engineers Under Fire Throw
IL Bridges Across Streams.
Long Lines Of Dreaded Tanks
Took Part in Battle.

British Front in France and Bel
GUM, Aug. 1.-(By the Associated
Press. welsh troops yesterday
added a new star to their crown, for
it fell to one of their regiments to
administer a crushing defeat, IN Cen
eral Petain's great offensive, on the
Third battalion of infantry guards,
which was Emperor Williams crack
body of troops
The terrain in this new battle zone
presented tremendous difficulty TOT
the attacking troops. Between DIX
nude and the point where the Epres-
Confines canal crossed the lines on the
lower part of the Ypres salient, two
great forces had been imbedded for
three years and this portion of the
line has come to be looked upon as
impregnable for either side.
Germans Felt Safe.
The present battle between Dix
nude and Lizerne was No Mans Land
within whose borders lay marshel and
morasses which in winter month"; are
impossible. This formidable natural
barrier was rendered still stronger
by the inundation of large areas by
the release of waters from the canals.
The Germans and allies alike seeking
bits of dry land for footing swung
so far apart irr some places that the
distance between the lines was nearly
three miles. Below this section op-
the User canal and then went Oh the
Ypres salient, face to face but with
the Germans holding the dominating
high land upon. the salient. The Dix
mude-LiZerne section of the front is a
wilderness of partly inundated and
deserted farms, dotted with pools of
brackish water and cut into strange
shapes by drainage bitches There
are but few remaining civilian habita-
tions in this No Mans Land. Crum-
bling cottage walls and an occasional
roofless church rise above the flats
Ypres Salient, Tough Problem.
Neither side feared surprise at
tack or a trench raid. Since Duke
Albrecht's Wurttemoer troops were
swallowed up in the flood let loose by
opening up the sIuice gates in Octo-
Der. 1914, the enemy had nct tried to
to get over the User since the Belgians
in the spring of 1915 after sanguinary
fighting flung them back across the
bridge head at Lizerne-
The Ypres salient itself furnished as
nasty problem as could be presented
to an attacking army. The country
here is saucer-shaped and the Ger
mans had held the lipeof this saucer.
All the lower lying land within this
dish had been dominated by the ene-
my. who. could send stream of shell
and machine gun fire into the troops
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 gun fire.
This difficulty, however, was over
come by brilliant feat Of the British
engineers, who threw seventeen
bridges across the water ways in the
20 ~ farr il fire 10,
equally remarkable work was done
by the French engineers, who were
forced to bridge the User for their at
tack. The Germans little feared ap-
parently, that the battle would turn in
| the direction of their right wing.
Suspected Attack in June.
1t was early in June that rumors of
the impending attack began to find
their way to German ears and were
voiced in Berlin. Gradually the ru-
| mors assumed certainty and the Ger
mans began feverishly to strengthen
fresh forces into Flanders and bring.
ing up all available guns. The sur
| rounding country was evacuated of
civilians and tripped for the conflict.
The Germans knew they faced an
offensive. They were unable with all
their cunning to gather more than a
| fragmentary idea of the story of these
| preparations which is in itself a mar
yelous one. Day after day the build
| ing up of new armies continued un-
der cover of unique concealment in
plans.
Use Millions of Shells.
Enormous numbers of great guns
made their way to selected positions
| and were. mounted on concrete foun-
dations laid long before. Millions of
shells which are today turning the
German front into an inferno of death
and destruction were b ught up and
stored while the enemy watched with
unseeing eyes. Long lines of dreaded
tanks took the road and the living
monsters crawled clumsily but persist
emily northward to take their place
in the allied battle line.
Clearing stations were established
at vantage points and everything pos
sibIe was done to care for the stream
of wounded which was sure to result
All this and much more went on fol-
| weeks before the offensive was
launched. The Germans were like 8
man who waits with tense muscles in
the dark for the attack of an unseen
foe, knowing the onslaught must
come, but ignorant of the moment OF
nature of it.
Thoroness of preparation is one
striking characteristic of the British
method and 1t is safe to say thai
there is no one man but who had re
hearsed tn part he was to play in
the opening stage of the great con-