White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1917-03-23
ALLIES WINNING IN
SOMME SECTION
MAIN OBJECTIVE IN LONG AID.
VANCE OF THE ALLIES IN
THAT SECTOR.
HAVE CAPTURED BAPAuME
French Advance Guards Have Entered
The Important Town Of Roye-
British Make Extensive Gains
On Their Front.


After many months of hammering
at the German lines in the Somme Sec
tor, the British armies at last have
captured Bapaume, considered the first
and perhaps the main objective in the
long British advance in the sector At
the same time the towns of LIE Trans
ley and Achiet-Le-Petit also fell to
the British. General Haig's troops en-
tered Bapaume Saturday morning after
severe fighting and found the town in
flames, the Germans having fired it.
From Bapaume the fortified lines
newly acquired by the British extend
to the western outskirts of Monchy-
au-Bois. From south of Peronne the
British have drawn a new line as far
as Fresnes. In all, they have taken
possession of ID villages in their new
advance. The French have taken up
new line between Andechy and the
Disc, and have occupied the important
town of Roye, where they were en-
Enthusiastically received by the civil
population whom the Germans left be-
hind in their withdrawal, and have
reached certain points along the
famous Roye-Noyon road.
The forces of Emperor William ap-
parently have been compelled to give
up positions that they have occupied
for more than two years, because of
the terrific commandments to which
they have been subjectsd.
The British forward movement on
the Somme front began February rs
when Petit Miraumont, along the
Ancre, was occupied and the French
began pressing forward from the
Andechy-Lassigny line on March 49,
In the early operations, one by one,
small villages were evacuated by the
Germans, whose withdrawal was
slowly and watchfully followed by the
British consolidation of the new posi-
lions and preparations for further
forward movement being most care
fully made. In the last few days both
the retreat and advance, respectively,
have been considerably accelerated.
The Germans evacuated more than
score of villages in the Somme area
before retreating to the Bapaume line,
and they now have given up that town
and villages to the north and south of
it, from Essarts to LIE Transloy.
French troops north of the Avre riv-
err and between the Avre and the Disc
have thrust their way forward to a
depth of about two and half miles
along a 13-mile front.
The German war office admits re.
tirement of the German forces along
five-mile front between Beauvraignes
and Lassigny in the Disc region, as
we'll as between Sally and St. Pierre
Vast wood on the Somme front
Say German Army Retreating.
Further important advances over
front OF about 100 miles by the British
and French armies in France and adj
ditional gains by the Russians and
British over the Turks in Armenia,
Persia and Mesopotamia are the out
standing features in the war news.
The important towns of Peronne,
Chaulnes and Nesle and more than go
villages have been taken by the Brit
ish troops on front of some 45 miles,
King Georges men are continuing their
pursuit of the retreating Germans. At
some points incursions into German
positions were to a depth of 10 miles.
The operations were carried out on a
front running from Arras to Chaulnes.
Allies Pushing Ahead.
The British and French forces in
France are still pressing rapidly be-
hind the retreating Germans all along
the front from the region of Arras to
the northeast of Scissors.
The French cavalry, diverging sew.
eral kilometers north of Ham, cap
tured a convoy that was retiring
toward ST. Quentin The advance
reached, on this point a depth of 35
kilometers (nearly % miles,.
Forty more villages have been ia
ken by the British, who during Mon
days operations gained ground at
various points extending from two
to eight miles in depth, while 20 ad-
ditional villages and small towns in
addition to 100 occupied during the
last three days have been recaptured
by the French.