Republican farmer., 1918-09-06

tured Ham," says tonights report from Field Marshal Haig. The British, the statement says, are advancing on the general line of Combles -Beatlincourt-F -F'remi- court.
 Our new line, runs east of Bapaume, through Peronne, to the east Of Noyon." says the Berlin War Office, substantially admitting the British claim.
 l The French tonight stand on the west bank of the Canal-du-Nord along wide front, the War Office an- nounced tonight.
 | The cities of -Bapaume. Noyon and Juvigny, the main bastions in the S5- mile German stop-gap line, have fall en to the Allies.
 CombIes and Nesle are reported taken, and the French stand before Ham, while the British have dashed four miles beyond Bapaume to Hap l pinecourt The west bank of the l Somme Is reported to have been reached along a wide stretch. Peronne Is doomed. It may have fallen by this time.
 The whole German line from the Scarpe down to the Soissons region has been torn, and fully 100000 feld-gray men are f1eeting eastward 1 toward the Belgian border and the Rhine.
 From the ancient Cathedral of Noy- on, erected on the site of church built by Pepin the Short, a special mass of gratitude was celebrated. From the top of the town hall the tri-color f1uttered, proclaiming deliv- erance of the city where Charlemagne was crowned, and where this summer the Katser's generals, over French champagne, were fixing the day for Paris fall.
 Thirty-six miles to the northwest, in the shamb1es that was once the flourishing city of Bapaume, French
 nwomen and children and old men, who for nearly half a year have been cowed by the invader, kissed the hands of husky 'Tommies' and gave thanks for the liberation of the town where France in 1871 suffered one of her worst defeats.
 British troops are now within 2,000 yards of the Drocourt- -Queant line. V
 blowing up supplies. Combles, the
 important railway town northwest of
 Peronne, has been outfanked by the
 British, according to reports re-
 ceived here this evening. The town
 is practically encircled.
 Noyon was occupied this morning
 by the troops of General Humbert.
 General Mangin's men crossed the l r,+ of Noyon on the Oise). The French Army took Quesnoy Wood, just to the west of the Canal
 du-Nord. The wood was a strongly . fortified position, and from it the Ger
 mans endeavored to check the French pursuit.
 = The rapidly succeeding military I events not only confirm that the Ger . mans have lost control of their oper-
 ations in the regions of the Somme I Avre and Disc Rivers, but they in
 dicate that the enemy's own retreat 4 is getting out of hand
 z The effort to stem the French pur-
 suit by fighting rearguard actions
 with machine-gun sections. leaving 8 = section at intervals of about 400 yards Il was only locally successful. Or ground especially favorable for that y sort of resistance, such as the ter. $ rain around Rove, it gained some time = for the enemy, enabling him to move '- a great many guns and a considerab blt e part of his material behind the Canal g du-Nord and north of Noyon. $ Participation by the American n troops in General Mangin's operation.
 in the Juvigny sector was complete YTNI, d tended to be placed in the line to re e inforce the French were brought III 1T on the evening of the previous da, r. and passed the night in the thicl q forest from which they started a IS dawn.
 Suddenly, at seven o'clock they at ! tackled on a two-kilometre front. Tn d Prussian Seventh Infantry Regiment
 which was in front of them, suffered 'e severe losses and was forced to giv
 way.
 A German captured in the area 0 l. the First Army's operations told tn
 British today that when his mel
 heard the Canadians were attackin,
 they refused to fight. He said h had to shoot two men and even thel .E the others lacked the initiative
 At Happlincourt, four miles east o
 Bapaume, where the British are re
 ported late today, they are only 1 '. 1-2 miles southwest of Cambra4 'A Byng's left wing, southeast of Arras is only IA miles nortl west of Cam IS brai. II The French, before Ham, are 1
 miles southwest of St. Quentin. Tn oh British army, which links up with tn M M,l French east of Chaulnes, is a littl Ill Fl more distant
 I The French, at Juvigny, are IA l. iu ", miles both from La Fere and Laor 't "A Americans are believed to have par '' ticipated again in todays attacks tha
 resulted in Juvigny's capture Fror
 Noyon northeastward to Chauny an La Fere the French are expected t
 have comparatively easy sailins lC More difficult is an advance on Laor
 since the route to that bastfon, tn , i southern pivot of the old real Hin ha denburg line, is barred by three gres ID forests.
 ~ Four great key-pofnts in the reg
 Hindenburg line-Cambrai, St. Ouer p npe tin, La Fere and Laon-are gravel
 menaced by the last 24 hours deve,
 opments.
 ay With the French Army in Franc, ut Aug. so-The Third French Arm, as continuing its operations aroun Noyon, advanced along the road lead np ing to Guiscard yesterday and occv kl- pied Happlincourt and the field ( IT. maneuvers opposite.
 n- The operations of the last two da,
 Ahave put the Germans into anothe