Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1918-09-27
AMERICANS Reach
GERMAN Frontier
Dash of U. S. Troops Executed So
Rapidly Enemy Is Left Power
less to Offer Resistance.
THIRTY TOWNS CAPTURED.
verdun-commercy Railway Restored
After Four Years-BeIief mat
Line VIII Be Advanced unrii
Metz Is in Artillery Range.

parls-The great st. Mihiel Salient
which for four years threatened the
life Of France like a dagger pointed al
Paris. has Disappeared and the place
where it was two days ago now Is
marked only by q shallow depression
| In the German line. In little more
! t,,an "a hours after the American IN
r.utry left their trenches at a pre-
arranged time this great task was ac-
r0mplishcd, and the line runs past
N9rrav, on the east, through Jaulhy'
, Ean,mes. ST. Benoit, Nationwide, Han
rcnviIle and Herbeuyi!ie to fresnes' d
: u:tic southeast Of Verdun. The total
regeneration since the beginning OF the
drive is now L miles.
..rcady more than 1900 prisoners
: ka,,. been counted and they are sui
c,..n!ng in in droyes. There Is little
Ga-,. that tie total for this stage IN
, H.. drive win exceed $4,000 or l6,OOo'
s...s huge bag was due largely to the
! r,-nIe resistance made by the Ger
, ;i,:,r. except by one or two famous
G.,ia;ons who were in the line. VI
G..@ia prisoners about $50 were Aus
! TRANS, who apparently had been en-
! ,l9yed as rear guards to enable the
! I.rlk Of the German forces to get
! as'ay.
Although the German official re-
rporss nr2tend, as usual, that the re-
! ,.,ut was voluntary and had been pre-
yin3sly arranged, there is no DOUBT
! fiat The German troops were taken Dy
! sa!Drisc, which accounts largely for
HE unprecedented feat Of clearing d
salient Of this size in practically one
day.
French military experts are saying
today that in ali probability the Ger
nam resistance will increase from now
on: in this view the American officers
| fully agree. The latter had In TACT
r..nncted a desperate resistance from
the START, and they are very agreeaDiy
surprised by the extremely low casu-
allies in the American force.
That the Germans were surprised
completely IS proved by the condition
Of the villages recaptured, numbering
more than so, all Of which, including
the famous st. Mihlel, were found &c
he practically unchanged. This is mol
| the habit Of the Germans when con
Quoting an ordered retreat.
One of the most important results
OF the American victory is the release
CT the -Commercy railroad, oae
of the trunk lines across France which
has been out of use in this section
compelling long detour to the south
News of the American success has
caused the greatest enthusiasm in
Paris and il London also, and, indeed
has thrilled all France.
Metz, of Course, is In no immediate
| danger from the American advance,
and it still is too far away to come
under any but the heaviest guns, but
it is altogether likely that the line will
be pushed forward, at least at some
point suitable for gun emplacements.
on q large scale to reach Metz by d.
rect artillery fire. In the meantime
the enormous and almost unprecedent-
ed concentration Of aerial strength will
not be wasted, AID Metz is in for some
t}0ublous days. Already the American
and French airmen are vigorously at
work bombing the towns along the
Rhine and the Moselle, including Metz.
1t took the American about 80 hours
to smash the great salient and half a
dozen more for "mopping up" France
marvels anew at the lightning speed
the doughboys displayed in this, their
own battle. as they did when they
fought breast to.breast with the Pollus
on the Marne