The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1917-11-24
BRITISH ARMY HEADQUARTERS

IN FRANCE, THURSDAY, NOV. zI.-IBy
The Associated Press. 1.-The success
of the British arms in the Cambria
sector has continued to grow steadily |
and Field Marshal Haig's troops In a |
little more than two days fighting |
have overrun an area equal In size to |
that won by the Germans during the
first fifteen days Of their spectacular
drive on Verdun.
British cavalry, tanks and infantry
today were battling their way forward
along a line which at many points
west and southwest of Cambria was
less than three miles from that i'm
portant town. The advance also was
spreading northward in the region Of
Bullecourt, and the salient toward
, Cambria was being widened. The
total Of prisoners captured must ap-
proach the 5000 mark.
Fiercest Hand Fighting.
| At last the British and Germans are
at grips on comparatively open ground
and some Of the fiercest hand fighting
| Of the war has been going on. The
enemy troops were unprepared for the
attack but they have been putting
every ounce of their strength into an
attempt to stem the rising tide.
| Troops have been pulled away from
other points and rushed to the Cam
! brai sector by the desperate Germans,
! and SO hard pressed were they for
/ men that two companies Of cripples
and convalescents were recruited has
! tily at one camp and thrown into the
| line in the region of Masnerires.
| Some of these prisoners are in British
hospitals and are receiving medical
! treatment. One prisoner is in the last
/! stages of tuberculosis and he had to
! be moved to prevent the disease from
| spreading to the others, who were in
a state of cruel exhaustion and virtual
| ~ helpless from their valiant attempts
! to fight under the lash of their I'm
relenting officers.
! The great battle field has taken on
! the aspects of scenes in wars gone by.
Ii is no longer a conflict of trenches
] and shell holes, but of men struggling
! bitterly with rifles and bayonets over
/ virgin battle ground, while the long
neglected cavalry sweeps in picture
| sque charges against the enemy posit-
ions over the wide territory involved.
Prisoners Pour Out.
! The roads everywhere for two days
have been swarming with advancing
/ troops and with prisoners and civilians
coming bac-i from the front. Many re-
| Ioicing non-combatants, men, women
and children, have been pouring out
of the captured towns under the guild
ence of their deliverers from German
bondage.
This has been a battle Of strange
sights, but no more striking spectacle
I has been witnessed than that of these
people marching. toward homes and
comfort back of the British front
hn
! tanks had torn in the famous linden
burg line, mothers yesterday and. to-
day were pushing baby carriages con-
tanning infants or tramping happily
along with their babies clutched to
their breasts. Beside them toddled 9TH
er youngsters, many of them CARRYING
their treasured dolls and not few
clinging determinedly to squirming
puppies which they dare not trust to
run on the ground Old men and wom-
en- were bringing away all the house
hold effects they could pack on push.
carts or carry on their backs.
For three years they had been in
! captivity and some of them in slavery
/ They had been subsisting on the
bounty Of the American relief commit
! tee which furnished them virtually the
only food they obtained
Had Hidden Three Years
Among tie most interesting of the
refugees was a man of military age
who had hidden in a cellar for three
years to escape the Germans and had
been fed by his wife with an extra ra-
ton of food allowed her because she
had baby. This man is 35 years old
and in the ordinary course would have
been arrested and sent to a prison
camp as soon as the Germans entered
the town. He did not want to leave his
wife and baby so hid in a secret place
IN the cellar, thereby making himself
liable to the death penalty if detected.
German officers came to live In his
house and daily he heard them tramp
ing about above him. In accordance
with the custom, this house and all
others were searched every little while
to see If any one was concealed, but
the Germans never discovered his hid
ing place Each day while the Off
GERS were away his wife smuggled his
little store of food and water to him.
When the British entered the town the
wife after making sure that they were
indeed British, went home and brought
out her husband, who had bis first