Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-08-13
RETREAT OF ENEMY
IS CONTINUING PELL
NELL EVERYWHERE
Rupprecht'S Second and
Eighteenth Armies Are Badly
MauIed-Genman Losses Are
Now Figured at $4,000
By WILLIAM PHILIP sn11zs

WITH THE BRITISH ARMIES IN
FRANCE. Aug. lo.-(S:S5 p. m)--Under
pressure from English, Canadian, Aus
tralian. French and American troops, the
German retirement continued today all
along the Picardy line.
Both General Won der Marwitz and
General Won Hutier are throwing into
rear guard actions odds and ends Of
troops, wherever they can scare them
up. in order to gain time.
The French are in Montdidier. push
ing eastward and northward from the
bottom of the salient The Australians
and Canadians are blasting their way
through the center of the new battle
front
Crown Prince Rupprecht's entire Sec
ond and Eeighteenth armies already are
badly mauled. The German losses are
conservat.veIy estimated at between 50,-
600 and 10000. Personally, 1 believe
that 400 guns is the lowest possible es-
innate of captured artillery. Prisoners
believe the Germans will be unable to
hold the line from Noyon to Peronne,
along the Somme and the canal, toward
which they are retreating. Field Mar
shall Haig is too close behind to permit
any organized resistance there.
Battle RACES After Dark
The great battle was surging onward
in fun tilt tonight.
The eastern horizon glowed dun
where the second and eighteenth Ger
man armies were burning stores to pre-
vent them from falling into the hands
of the purSuers.
Occasionally. a great flash lighted the
clouds where an ammunition dump was
going up
Won der Marwitz and Hutier were too
hard pressed to destroy everything. AS
i walked on the battlefield there were
evidences OF tremendous hurry every
where. Huge stores of supplies and am
munition were taken intact. The Ger
mans turned their own howitzers on
abandoned dumps not well behind the
British lines. in the hope of setting
them of. Roads were found mined
ready to be blown, but the Germans
had no time. Advanced hospitals were
discovered with lint bandages and
medicine strewn everywhere, showing
the astounding confusion that must
lave existed when someone cried "the
British are coming"
Guns. howitzers and field pieces up
to eight inches and larger were taken
intact. either still in po ;ition or over
turned i'm the roadside gullies, with
their gun limbers nearby in the bitches,
because the allied cavalry, supported by
whippets. tanks and armored cars were
at the Germans heels.
Airmen reported the RAIDS in the re-
siOn of Roye and Nesle packed with
troops retiring eastward. Prisoners say
German officers made efforts to rally
their men, wherever they assembled
even in a handful, to make whe tever
resistance was possible, principally by
machine guns.
Piokings for the whippets
These were easy piclxings for the
whiDpets. which bore down rapidly, fir
ing their machine guns as they went
The men who ran were killed, and those
who resisted were ground into tbs
Garth, staining the sides Of the whippets
with blood. Surrender was the only al
tentative.
In places the Germans fought stub
bornly- One battery of field guns. fir
Ing point blank and somewhat damag-
ing the tanks was charged by the cav
airy with drawn sabers. The gun
crews were killed or captured. Cavalry
charging past Beaufort, encountered a
German officer frantically waving his
hands and shouting, Don't enter the
village. It's brigade headquarters" The
officer was taken prisoner and the cav
airy dashed into the village and killed
some and captured others of the brigade
staff officers, including the brigadier
general
Farther north, armored cars pene-
trated huts which were serving as corps
headquarters. Many staff officers were
killed.
Vast Ammunition Supplies
Vast quantities of ammunition on the
ground-greater than the number of
German guns warranted-indicated that
some of the artillery was being used
elsewhere, perhaps supporting the sore
ly pressed crown prince.
Rupprecht's reply to Haig's artil-
lery was rather feeble. The stiffest
resistance was on the extreme TANKS
The British had some difficulty north
OF the Somme. The French met stub
born opposition eastward of Moreuil,
and crossing of the river proved diff
cult The Germans held. Grennonville
wood, atop the ridge, on the eastern
bank between Moreufl and Plessier, and
they made the valley siZzle with ma
chine gun bullets. The French attack
ed once and were forced back Their
second attempt won the ridge and wood.
French cavalry poured through the OPEN
ing. quickly Joining up with the Brit
ish cavalry operating down the Amiens-
Rove road past MeziereS toward lie
OuerSpr which reid ont fO- 2 dav