The sun., 1918-09-20

OF Ange Gardiene. which commands the
ridge along which runs the famous
ladies way" for a considerable dis
tance. 1t also drives deeper the wedge
south OF the Hindenburg positions in
the St Gobain region. and facilitates
operations in the direction OF Pinon.
which was held by the French until the
German offensive late in May.
Prisoners are now complaining that
they are frequently left In the front line
TO shift for themselves. Rarely do their
officers stand by them when they are
attacked. they say. II often happens
that machine gun crews are ordered to
hold positions and discover some time
afterward that the troops behind them
have abandoned tho field. They at
tribute the concealment from them Of
the retreat OF the infantry to the fear
entertained by their officers that they
might be temped to abandon their posts
if they knew that they were to be sac
riHced.
The Associated Press correspondent
with the British army in France says
the German losses yesterday were ex-
tremely heavy. both In the early fighting
and in the counter attacks which were
thrown in toward night In a desperate
attempt to regain part OF the lost
ground The whole zone Of the long bat
tle front to-day was strewn with dead In
feld gray uniforms, and more than TO-
600 prisoners were in the British cages
Moved Down Like wheat.
The entire British operation has
grown into brilliant and important
success, which was not forecast in the
original limited plans. Not the least i'm
portant feature of the victory was the
slaughter inflicted on the enemy forces.
particularly during their frenzied coun-
ter attacks, when they were moved
down like wheat with the machine guns
or swallowed up in a maelstrom Of
crashing shells from the British barrage.
There were few spectacular incidents
IN yesterdays fighting, although the
operation as whole was spectacular
enough when one considers that these
gallant English and Australian veterans
had In many places to fight their way up
three lines OF ridges, with valleys inter-
vening. working forward doggedly over
Shiny ground in the face of a vicious
machine gun and rife fire from a myriad
Of strongholds and from numerous viii
lagos and hamlets which had to be SUR
rounded and crushed into submission.
On the right flank there was especially
bitter fighting about Holnon village. The
British had captured part of this place
the day before, but the Germans still
held a section Of II. with machine guns
trained from every house. These had
TO be cleared out, and this had to be
done systematically by small parties who
dared the hostile FIRE and bombed the
Huns out OF their hiding places.
far more serious engagement was
waged east of the village, where the
Germans had constructed a quadrila-
teral trench system, which was heavily
armed. Here the contending forces
struggled throughout the day at close
quarters The British gained a footing
In the trenches toward evening and
continued to press the attack during
The night. Part Of the system was still
unsubdued this morning and it was
being stormed.
Throughout this sector there were
pockets of German manned machine
guns Between Holnon and Fresnoy-le-
Petit were three little patches OF woods;
these fairly bristled with machine guns.
They were finally cleared out. but IL
was a desperate adventure for the Eng
lish troops who went charging through
them midst hail OF bullets and bombed
the occupants into silence.
Australians Passed Objectives.
To the north, in the centre of the
battle line, the Australians pushed
through to their final detectives, and
even beyond in some places, with their
accustomed thoroughness and disregard
for their personal fate. The overseas
men worked around those villages.
which were strongly held. and employed
heayy smoke barrage with great sue
cess. -
! Prisoners say that because OF this
smoke screen they never knew where
the Australians were going to strike
next, and as a result there was much
confusion among the Germans opposite
them.
lie Verguier and Villeret were taken
without much trouble. About Hargcourt
and Templeux-le-Guerard. however. there
was hard fighting. There are numerous
quarries in this section and these were
filled with German machine gunners.
The delay was not great
| In some places the British went fur
ther into the German lines than they
had been before at this point since the
war began.
On the left flank Peiziere was oyerrun
by English troops In the first rush. Five
strong German points were overlooked
however and these caused no end Of
trouble with their machine guns for a
long time. until attention finally was
Grated.
At Epehy. where the renowned Ger
man Alpine troops we're holding. a des-
perate battle was waged throughout the
DAY. These enemy troops are perhaps
the finest in the German army, big,
Swapping fellows who always fight like
men Infatuated. Epehy could not be
taken by direct assault. nor, In fact.
in any other way until after a long
and heavy trench mortar bombardment,
which greatly weakened the defences.
Then the British advanced on either side
and got II in pocket.
Regained I'm the Might.
Even then the Germans held out I'M
III after nightfall fighting hard from
their dugouts and fortified buildings
The enemy delivered a counter attack
here during the evening and forced the
British back somewhat. but this ground
was regained later In the night
Lempire was captured after a hard
battle The enemy to the south OF
Villers-Guislain contested the British
advance fercoly, and the losses to the
defending forces here were tremendous.
IN 1t