The Eureka sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1902-current, 1918-07-27

strategically untenable. The Yankees
fell back several miles and the Ger
mans settled down for rest and re-
cuperation. Their siesta was rudely
interrupted, for the American gen.
eral, contrary to the advice of the
French commander, ordered an inn
mediate counter-attack, which APP
pears to have d~isarranged the Ger
man plans. The counter-attack drove
the Germans back to Fossoy, close to
the river bank. Meantime. the
Franco-American elements just to
the East swung back in a circle, as
did the French still farther to the
east. The enemy pressed across the
Marine on a wide front and battled
his way to the south. North of the
river he moved his legions to the
eastward and captured Ch~atillon-sur-
Marine, four or five miles from the
point of departure. During the next
few days the French line was forced
back three or four miles on a front
of about 20 miles. The resistance
was stubborn and was frequently
punctuated by fierce counter-attacks.
which regained considerable ground.
The fate of the battle was hanging
in the balance on Wednesday and
Thursday. The Germans had not
advanced far on their front east of
Rheims and their advance southwest
of the city had not been rapid. but
they were throwing in division after
division in the hope of breaking
through.
On Thursday morning the French
and Americans struck their great
counter-blow against the German
right. From Fontenoy to Belleau
wood they dashed forward and Gre
ated a diversion on a gigantic scale.
The enemy was forced to send his
divisions toward the threatened area,
and necessarily his own offensive on
the other side of the salient was
weakened. The battle continued all
of Thursday and Friday with fury,
the Germans trying to restore a con-
dition of stability which would give
them a chance to resume the often
sive. Unfortunately for them. the
Franco-American smash had been so
powerful that they could not recover
from it. and the high command de-
cided, as a measure of precaution. to
draw back to the north bank of the
Marine those divisions which h d
crossed at the beginning of the offen-
sive.
This was the situation yesterday.
While the indications of a general re-
treat were strong they were not con-
elusive. 1t may be that the Ger
mans will be able to sufi-
GENTLY to maintain themselves in the
Marine salient.
American participation in the bat
tie has been on a vast scale. When
| the fight started we had men east of
Rheims and on the Marine. In the
counter-offensive our men occupied
at least half the line along a front of
thirty miles. In all. eight American
divisions took part in the battle. and
the total. if each division was at its
full strength with all aux
branches. would have been about
35O. 1000 men.
1t was this American element that
the German high command, in its
egotism and blind adherence to a
fixed idea, had failed to take into ac-
count. The general staff had been
telling the German people that the
American army was a negligible
quantity. The experts of the staff
did not quite believe that, but they
allowed themselves to be deceived by
their prejudices, and they did not
think that more than a few thousand
Americans would be in the fight.
During the week the British made
several local attacks of note. Chief
among these was one in the Fland.
ers sector against the village OF
Meteren. An advance was made on