Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-10-18
BOCHE IN RETREAT
ON O|SE- E-DfRRE LINE
American and British Armies
Launch Powerful Attack South Of
lie Cateau and Hurl Back Foe.
BY Associa.ed Pre.. u Fve-y Evening

BY Associated Press n tvery Evening
London Oct. f8 ; D. m. Zee
bruage. the port Of Bruges and the
second important German submarine
base on the Belgian coast has been
occupied by allied forces today.
F,ruges. seven miles south Of Zee
hrupge has been evacuated by the
Germans according to information
received AT the Belgian army head
quarters.
Turc0ing. city six miles northeast
of Lille, has been entered by British
troops.
Paris, Oct Is At the very moment the
Flanders battle was won another offensive
was started in the direction Of Hirson and
Fervins. by Anglo American and French
forces The object j. TO take the armies
Of the Crown Prince. under shelter Of the
Hunding line. on the flank and force them
10 an early retreat towards the Ardennes
across the front of the powerful allied
right wing.
The way back to Germany lies through
two bottle necks separated by the Ar
dennes the one between Liege and ~
nant and the other between honImedy
and Yerdun. The latter already i par
i tally blocked.
Ialle. DotIaI and tiSteEd three great
cItles. have been deIivercsi from he enemy
THIS Is the most glorious dav tor ne atiit@
since he Battle ii the AtaTnc ana II NJ
rlugIy terminates . wonderful paule Fl
three months. whirh was opened 0y '1en-
eral Mangin slctonous counter nitfn-
-Iye on July i>
MANY ci,les nave been aperatei and
hundreds IL square miles ot territory TT
taken. The British. ~oI1h ot Lct ateau,
have broken into The German pusltou1
and now threaten ne funding line. The
whole German defence system eastward
to the AIeuse Is in peril
The IlrSt result III forcing ne 'iermaAS
pack to the l,hen1- rournaI-N aienc!ennes
line during Yesterday nghtng ha- been
10 sap the enemy leiences before fhtl
nave been able 70 Reach len taI'hef
south
The road 70 Brussels is open. tccord-
ing TO latest adyices the French and Bel
gan armies are advancing rapidly -
wards Br1lges and Ghent ne cap 'ure
Of Ostend makes It possible 10 tand re-
iaforcernents and throw powerful torres
against the extreme rlghi oi The German
army
General Won Amin army Ro ionSt-
Is strong enough 10 sustain operations Oh
the extended front from The French 20
/ the Dutch frontier Il IS, therefore. rear
sonable 10 expect that rs retreat across
/ Belgium viii be rapid AMI ma NinS
Albert will re-enter his capitol cartier
than WAS hoped.
While it NAV be admitted Ihaj ne Ger
mans are lighting welI and conduruQg
their retreat with great >klt military
opinion here Is that tho great German
military machine 5 in danger u collapse.
With the British Arme~ il France.
Thursday. Oct L so n n Con-
siderable opposition has been met ~
the British in the region >o0thNe>' {"
Douai. but TN, lighting died dowp
some hours ago In the Lille area ,dtlcd
troops have reached Romeo
; new crossing ol the LN~ has been
made south If MulNc.Gnem mere Vas
httle opposition north and -outh Of Lllle
~ the British moved ahead today
The Fourth British Army launched q
powerful attack from LcIateau south
ward this morning Ancrlcan contin-
cents are participating u the lighting
First reports indicate excellent progress
made everywhere against the desperately
fighting Germans. who are beng driven
ack toward the Oise The Selle rNey
has been crossed at 81 Benin and the
station has cen aptured. At laS'
reports the allies were we'll east ot h,
river and still advancing
Haigs forces north Of Cambral zap
tured number Of villages and crossed
the Douai-D DenaIn road Advancing
northeast al Lille the British reached =
point within mile Of Furcolng.
Paris. OCT. Is. The Germans have
begun new retirement in the area
between the Olse and Serre rivers, be-
tween Laon and Cambria, according
to the official statement from the var
office today
French troops advancing from AchcrN
are in pursuit Of the German rear guards
Anguilcourt has been occupied by The
French.
In the Argonnc region, thG, French
have crossed the Alsne near Nouziers
Fighting continues IN the AREA wesi
Of Grand Pre-.
saloniki. Thursday Oct III -tuee.
troons today completed the rc-occu
nation of the regions Of (ireek Macedonia
which have been held \ thc Bulgariaus
and Turks
Associated Press Summary 1. p. m.
Germany apparently has lost TIE
whole of the Belgian coast. which 70,
four years has been base for submarine
Continued on pagr