New Britain herald., 1917-03-22
ALLIES DOMINATE
 NEW GERMAN LINE
e(Continued from First Page.)

(COntinued from First Page.)
 tlon holding firm while the next fall back. The allied operations are now concerned with driving in the last of these sections which are still resist ing. They are situated respectively south of Arras. southeast and east of Feronne, east of Ham and the valley of the Ailette, and north of Soissons, Just In the middle of the line, east or Peronne and between the plain. of Cambrai to the north and the plain of the Somme to the south, is one of the few positions of defensive value l running to the east of Roisel and Vermand. The Germans showed signs of intending to cling to this salient, but 1t. too. is now gone, the British being close to both Roisel and ver- mand. Another strong section which Is still holding out occupies a for midable defensive position formed by the Forest of 'Coucy but, from the signs of destruction in the rear of the defenders, apparently resistance IS only being made to secure the re- treat to the principal line at St. Co., hain.
 As the result of Wednesdays oper- ations the- British line is now level with the French, which runs along the Crozat canal from St. Simon to Terg- nier. At the latter point the French positions are less than two and half miles from La F'ere. Part of the road from Ourscamp to Noyon, which was paved with granite. had been tern up by the Germans, but in less than 8 day the French engineer corps had repaired the road, rebuilt bridges and put the railroad in working order as far as Ourscamp.
 The military commissariat has sent 200 bullocks to Noyon and distributed 10, 900 bread rations. Before leaving, the Germans made 8 clean sweep of the Noyon banks, sending to Germany securities valued at 1S.000,000 francs
 Retreat Hailed As Great Victory.
 Berlin, March 19 (By Wireless to Sayville). March 22.-A German suc- cess'' is the characterization given the German retreat on the western front in the headline of an editorial article today on this subject by Major Moraht, military writer for the Lokal Anzeiger.
 "A great resolution was taken" writes Major Moraht. 'The boldness of the general who carried 1t out is overwhelming and only the power of Won Hindenburg's personality could cause such proof of the grand style of initiative to be accompanied by per- feet calm and security.
 That the plan of a strategfcal shortening of the front was brought into being at great headquarters and that 1t succeeded must give joy to every Germany heart and simultane- ously give rise to a feeling of satis- faction when the hostile war aims are ] remembered. for now the opportuni- I dty is offered to infict more damage upon the enemy in future days than could be inflicted upon him at the moment during 8 sanguinary defen- sive
 Although people are often mistak- en as to their surmises regarding Won Hindenburg's actions, the critics on all sides who look somewhat deeper into things admit that the Germans will obtain economic advantages, an improvement of the front and a gain of time by this move. The British, however, must again begin the prep aration of their offensive. Their heaVy arulle1y must be moved ahead with enormous pains. Roads and bridges must be constructed. often un- der hostile fire. Ammunition trans- port will be possible only in a very slow fashion. The condition of the evacuated territory makes each ad- vance movement difficult, as it does the lodging and provisioning of the troops and observation work. They will reproach us with the charge that we acted like the Rus sfans in Poland. As to this, France may settle accounts with England. The law of our warfare is and will be that everything necessary and possi- ble in a military way will be done in this defensive war. Whether the pop- ulaton of the war theater suffered more through our measures or the enemy's may be asked them in the