Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-10-12
Trying to Protect Douat.

With the British Army in France,
Oct. lit is not improbable that
one of the enemy's principal ideas in
trying to slow up the advance in the
area southeast of LIE Cateau is for the
purpose Of protecting his forces in the
Douai salient, for every foot gained
In this battle area increases the men,
ace to the Germans in the Douai
pocket. The British encountered hard
opposition in the Scarpe operations,
but Notwithstanding this they have
made rapid progress. They have
further relieved the pressure east of
Arras and now are well to the east of
Vitry en- Artois and Noyelles Sous
Bellone.
The German machine gunners have
been fighting hard in the environs of
lie Cateau and the better part Of to-
day was required to clear them out.
Little posts of the enemy we'll sup
piled with ammunition. apparently had
been left behind by their commanders
with instructions to sell themselves
as dearly as possible. They obeyed or
ders n frequently held out man:
fully.
BY the end of the day, however, it
appeared that most of them had been
driven u or killed and the British
were. then reported to be moving east
ward on the road between LIE Cateau
and Bazuel. some three miles to the
southeast from which they seemed to
be about 5000 yards distant.
Northeast of LIE Cateau the Can
adams were in the outskirts of the
town of Forest, fighting their way for
ward against other stubborn enemy
machine gunners. .,. .g.5,
1t "a during last night that the
first reports that the Germans were
digging in were received and these
were confirmed today. BY midday the
line all the way from a point south
east of LIE Cateau southwark in front
of Mennevret and eas of Grougis,
while in Aisonville and the area near
it fires were burning briskly.
The enemy is by no means sure Of
holding onto his quickly arranged
line for any length Of time as it offers
little protection. being simply a
scratch on, the surface, probably pro-
over, the roads to the east are still
cluttered up with enemy troops and
transports. The airplanes report that
the retreat is in progress far back Of
the present location Of the enemy.
The British aviators have become
fatigued with the labor. of killing Ger
mans. During the last "a hours they
nave NTeQ HunQCeQS Oh IQOuSdllQS OIL
rounds from their machine guns and
dropped hundreds of tons of bombs
on targets it was impossible to miss.
The road between lie Cateau and
Bazuel offered some remarkable OPP
portunities for the aviators. Again
and again great numbers of British
planes swooped low over this road and
tempted their guns into masses of>men
and of transports which were SO thick
that the bullets could not help but
take effect. The road was more than
once blocked with dead men and
horses, upset wagons and masses of
equipment. All this was cleared away
and the retreat continued only to be
upset quickly again by the air attack,
Bombs also were dropped or mass
ed German troops and masses of men
and transports in the neighborhood Of
! Wassigny and other towns back of the
German positions. Wide flights also
have been made over the German rear
and there are still no signs that any
real lines of defense have been con-
structed. As a matter Of fact, the
enemy hardly has had time to con-
struct such defenses, 81 fast has he
been kept on the run. There are no
indications that the Germans will be
able actually to halt their fight there.