The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1918-07-19

| Christie Benet, appointed by the gov
ernor Of South Carolina for the unex-
! PRED term of the late Senator Benz. E.
! Tillman. Senator Benet is q lawyer
! and his only political office heretofore
! has been prosecuting attorney for Co
| lumbia, S. c., his home city.
! o~~~~~o-~o-~-o~~ ~~o-~o~-~~~-~-~~-~
| eighths miles), on a front Of seven kilo-
! meters (fOur and three-eights miles).
! The strong American counters attack
! south of the Marine river bend COM
! pletely upset the Germans, who broke
! in retreat.
, The American troops drove the enc
my back all the way to the railway
; skirting the Marine, in the region south
| west of Jaulgonne This position now is
! being held.
The French general commanding the
| group of armies on this sector sent a
congratulatory message to the Ameri-
can general commanding the forces
which beat back the enemy.
Americans Heavily SheIIed.
At five o'clock Monday night the
! Germans were heavily Smelling the
American forces, but were getting
shell for shell in return, and their fire
seemed to be diminishing.
American machine gunners along
the river assisted materially in break
ing up the BOche plans, for they
stuck to their posts and poured deadly
streams of bullets into the enemy and
only withdrew when their guns were
so hot they could not be fired.
One group of machine gunners hap
pened to be in a place where the Ger
mans were anxious to erect a bridge,
but their efforts were fruitless.
The American bullets piled up the
German dead on the opposite side of
the river every time the enemy started
to cross.
South of Jaulgonne the enemy
crossed the Marine in the morning on
six pontoOn bridges hurriedly thrown
over the stream and masses of infan-
try swarmed forward. The artillery
constantly had the bridges under the
heaviest fire and at least two direct
hits were made, two of the bridges be-
ing blown up.
After sharp artillery work, German
troops advanced behind a great smoke
cloud, which completely obscured them
for a time from view. The low visi-
bility also aided the enemy in his op-
erationS.
Reports from VauX indicate that the
! Americans had advanced their line in
! this region in the face of the deter
mined enemy attack.
The advance extended approximate
| ly 700 yards, but the Americans sub
/ sequently withdrew to their original
| line for strategic reasons
| The American barrage here broke
| up the enemy waves and drove them
back in confusion.
! Now Down Close Ranks.
| 1t is clear that the German attack
! in the Vaux region completely broke
down under the American counter-at-
! tack
; The American machine gunners here
! let the enemy come close to their posi-
lions and then opened a deadly fire
| into the advancing close formations
of Germans.
| The Germans succeeded in crossing
the Marine at three places-at Mezy.
at JaulgOnne and at La BretOnniere
farm, north of FoSsOy
The first crossing was made at the
! peak of the big river bend.
The German attack came after a
most violent bonbardment of high ex-
; plosives and gas shells throughout the
night
When the enemy infantry appeared
the Americans swarmed out and met
! them with a rain of machine gun bull
! lets.
! The Americans wore their gas masks
| as they fought the attacking Germans.
! An enemy bombardment of towns
in the rear of the lines began shortly
| after 6 q. N.
German Drive Fails.
Paris, July 15.-The great German
offensive, advertised as their supreme
effort to break the allied line and OBJ
! tain German victory. opened yester-
! day.
The net result of the first days bat
! tie has been less than that which the
| Germans achieved on the initial day of
any previous major offensive.
The allied line is not broken at any
point. 1t has been bent backward for
short distances at some points, but
much of this ground already has been
recovered.
The attack was made on a line more
| than 80 miles in extent from Chateau
Thierry to Main de Massiges, far to
the east of ReimS.
The official report issued by the war
office SAYS the American troops bore
the brunt of the attack on the wide
front between Fossoy and Dormans.