New-York tribune., 1918-06-08

Oh llS Wdf, anu le WAS Sidu Hc IdO
been made prisoner.
The Importance Of the operations
Of the Americans on the Marne sec
tor may be realized when it is re-
called that only the day before the
Americans entered the line the Ger
mans advanced about ten kilometres.
The Americans are now holding the
Paris road ,.ear lie Thiolct for a
number of kilometres.
Bowlders Used as Breastworks
Graphic stories of last nights
fighting were related by wounded
Americans to-day They said that
at one point the Germans crouched
behind powders and opened fire
when the Americans were within ten
feet Of them. One man who par
ticipated in an encounter of this kind
said:
"Some of us had not slept for four
nights, but we were not tired. We
took second lease of life and sprane
at those Germans and smothered
them. ! never saw so many machine
guns. Our men did not think of
themselves. They thought only of
getting Fritz"
A corporal captured three Ger
mans and was leading them away,
when twelve others surrendered to
hlm and Joined the procession.
Madison Girman, Of Evansville,
lnd., was in Torcy. He said
1--WE were not supposed to go
there, but the men were SO enthu-
slastic they kept on. They would go
to Berlin if their commanders would
let them. The only way to stop them
is to kill them. The Germans can't
make prisoners of us. They tried
hard to get some of us, but we fooled
them. We turned the machine guns
on them and took them prisoner"
floyd Gibbons Loses Eye
oyd Gibbons, of "The Chicago
gane," was watching the battle
with a major and another officer
early last night from field. An
enemy machine gun spotted them
and Mr.. Gibbons was shot in the arm
and in the left eye. The officers es-
capped, but they had to wait three
hours in the darkness to crawl away.
AS result of the wound Mr.. Glib
bons's eye was removed this morn
ing.
The marines captured the viii
lage of Torcy and drove their way
into Bouresches, northwest of Cha
toau Thierry.
This morning they were holding
rorcy in the face of repeated coun-
ter attacks and were pushing back
the Germans through the streets Of
Bouresches. Virtually all their OBJ
jectives were attained. The Ameri-
can plan did not include the taking
of Torcy, burt the marines swept into
it and drove out the Germans.
The one point where the objective
was not reached was on the right of
the attack, in the Belleau Wood. The
fercest fighting is continuing here.
The marines reached the outskirts
Of Bouresches last night. They
poured volleys of machine gun fire
into the enemy, inficting terrific cas-
ualties. Bayonets were used freely
against many of the Germans who
attempted to make a stand in the
streets. At daybreak the Germans
were being driven back slowly.
The American artillery was per-
forming magnifcently, using many
gas shells.
There seemed reason to expect
German counter attacks in strength
yesterday, for previous to the begin
ming of the afternoon attack started
at 5 o'clock, the roads behind
the German lines were filled with
troops, guns and wagons. American
artillery, however, turned on them
and created havoc.
The marines took strong ground
en- either side Of Belleau Wood and
cleared out the ravine south of
Torcy, which linked up to the line
with Hill lag, which was taken this
morning. This gave them a strong
and dominating position for con.
tiruation of their attack.
Germans Show Low Morale
Their total advance was approx.
mately two miles on three-mile
front. The total number of prison.
ers taken is not known, but addi.
tional captives were brought in yes.
terday after the morning attack
which netted about 100 prisoners.
A notable development was the
low morale of the prisoners, all of
whom are Prussians. They ex-
pressed themselves as tired of the