The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-08-10
BARRAGE, THEN
TANKS, SWEEP
VICTORY PATH
Mists Hampered Airplanes
in British Attack in
Picardy.
GUNS ADVANCE QUICKLY
Brought Up SO Fast They En-
cOuntered Nests Of Enemy
Machine Guns.
GUNS ADVANCE QUICKLY
ny PERRY ROBINSON.


Special Cable Despafch to The suS from the
London Times.
Copvrioht, 1918; all rights reserved.
WITH THE BRITISH ARMY IN FRANCE,
Aug. 9.-One Of 1.-THE big factors In the
great success achieved in our offensive
in Picardy was our barrage. of which
every man who was in the attack speaks
with enthusiasm. OF equal Importance
were the tanks which preceded the in
fantry. These tanks went numbering
into villages like Aubercourt and Mar
celcave. where they hunted out and de-
stroyed machine gun nests.
with the coming Of daylight a mist
arose, and while this helped the attack
II made hopeless our aeroplane work.
BY o'clock the mist was so thick In
the valleys that nothing could be seen
from above. Later in the day the mist
cleared. due to light showers. but visi-
blity was never good.
Nevertheless our airplanes did every
thing possible both before and during
the attack. and at all times our control
of the air was complete, There was not
one German balloon visible. although
when daylight came our own observers
were seen swinging easily in the sky
behind our lines.
Casualties Extremely Light.
In the north area. between the rail
way from Villers- Bretonneux to Chaul'
| mes and the Somme, our men seem &c
have been exceedingly successful. suf'
I fering very few casualties. Our losses
were not heavy anywhere. but in this
! region they were extremely light, some
brigades hardly suffering at all,
Above the Somme ii was a more diff
cult region. the fighting below Morlan-
court being particularly severe. For a
! long time the enemy in this region has
been both strong and alert The new
German Twenty-seventh Division was
recently stationed there, fresh and
ready. although the surprise was as
great there as at other points along the
/ line.
! Immediately north of the Somme the
advance was very successful. The Chi
pilly River makes big loop southward
the base OF the loop on the north being
covered by strong positions in wood
q
| assistance of the tanks our men rushed
and cleaned out this wood. cutting
across the base of the loop and isolat'
ing the enemy troops and guns in q
bend of the river.
Our extreme left was on the slope:
north of the Braye Corbie road and was
exposed TO heavy machine gun fire from
the heights beyond the village. AS g
result of this situation our casualties are
probably heavier here than elsewhere.
Toward noon the fighting extended
north of Morlancourt, and our troops OF
the south. which had been held VI
earlier in the battle, were able to con
tinue. The success now seems equally
complete on all parts of the front.
Germans Used seven Divisions.
Before the attack the Germans hac
not less than six divisions in line; a
least We have taken prisoners from tina
many. In addition new division ar
rived last night from the area OF Marcel
cave This was the ll7th Division, ant
We got a good bag of prisoners from It.
One feature OF the attack was tn
rapidity with which the big guns wer'
moved up behind the infantry. one bat
terry being in action we'll across the Ger
man line In thirty minutes after ou
, attack started.
The whole operation was successful
and while one must not speak OF II a
being an attack on the largest scale. |
was large enough and admirably carried
through. That It materially reduces tn
danger to Amiens is only one OF 1t
bearings. 1t is early yet to measure It
Importance. but SO far 1t has certainl
been successful.