The Cordova daily times., 1918-07-29
British Extend Lines

British Extend Lines
 Not very long before the offensive began an unfortunate thing occurred. taking over of more line by the Brit
 ish. Formerly the British line ended near st. Quentin. Now it was ex. tended as far as La Fere. and before the troops got fairly into their new sector Hindenburgs blow fell.
 Against the long. thin British line, reaching from the river Scarpe to the mightiest force ever seen in battle. Along this flfty-mile front three army groups swept forward at dawn, under cover of the mist. These were the Seventh army of Otto von Yellow, said to be the ablest army commander Hin denburg has; the Second army of Won der Marwitz and the Eighteenth army of Non Hutier. together numbering more than eighty divisions, of which forty-one divisions were gsed in the first days attack. Opposing the enemy were the small Third British army under Sir Julian Byng os Camhrai fame. and the smaller Fifth army, un- der General Cough, worn down in the campaign mentioned and very thinEy spread out.
 No soldiers on earth evsr we18sl through such sn ordeal as did th@t British during the seven days follow ing the start OS that offensive. Omt March g the enemy crossed the Tor tile, and for moment 1t seemed that they might succeed in separating the I French and British armies. which joined up just south of this point, but the gaps were clnssd and thu Bifth army went on retiring, with the Third | army falling back in order to k,np in [ each. To the south the French Gen | Foyelle, with superb skill, kept the gaps closed around Ham. !1esle. | thauny. Rove and SoyOns
 On the Somme came another criti- | cal moment. Here again had the l Germans been so clever as they liRe to | believe themselves. they might have broken through but again the gap was closed. On the 25th the ennmy toko Mantinpuich and Courcerttc, ! and Albert was entered on the follow ing day, but by this time General charge of all operations on the west. ! ern front, the French had moved | northwestward as far as Moreul. on tn" Ayre. permitting Haig to thicken his line and the offensive was brought to a standstill Tn all. eighty four divisions had been used by the Germans out of a total of some 200 divisions then identified in the west
 The drive fin Flanders came a few days later. on April 9. It started in small way against the Portuguese. just south of Armentieres, and two British divisions on their Hanks By their unexpectedly rapid advance in the center crossing the river Lys at Bac-St. Maur and pushing on towards Bailleul. a dangerous situation was created for the British and the Ger mans knew il. So they quickly flung in more troops to enlarge the breach and. the following day. struck at Mes sines. north of Armentieres. This city was deuged with gas and ''pnched out"
 As on the Somme, the Germans un- der Von Armin and Non Quasi, by ad, vancing against the British First army (and the French. who had come upD. towards Hazebrouck, which soon | became their objective. forced q re | tirement of the army to the north, l the Second. which had won Pas | srhendaele. From the Ypres salient, now dangerous pocket. the British fell back with practically no losses, to 1 Ypres itself This was heart.breaking 1 for the men who had won this ground in 1917 but the war had now become
 a struggle. not for towns and villages,
 but to outmaneuver and annihilate | armies