The Colorado statesman., 1918-08-17
Prince Rupprecht's Armies Are
Driven From Amiens Salient
With Heavy Losses.
.FOCH'S SECOND GREAT BLOW
Allies Force Crossing OF the Vesle Riv-
er in Face of Strong Resistance
Plans for Siberian Expedition
March States American
Army Program.
ev EDWARD w. PIcKARD.

Daving thoroughly whipped the
armies of the German crown prince
and driven them back beyond the
Vesle river, Foch, now marshal of
France. turned his attention in the
miodle of the week to the forces un-
der the Bavarian crown prince, Rup-
precht. At dawn on Thursday the Brit
ish Fourth army and the French FIRST
army, under command of Field Mar
shall Haig. began an offensive on
wide front In the region east and south
east of Amiens. The front under at
tack was about twenty eight miles In
length, from Albert south to the vlcin-
ity of Montdldler.
Within "a hours the allied forces had
penetrated the enemy lines to points
from six to seven miles beyond thestart,
had taken more than 10000 prisoners
and great quantities of material and
many guns. and had occupied numerous
towns. Their own losses were remark
ably light. Tanks led the infantry in
the attuck and did wonderfully good
work.
On Friday Haig's forces drove rapid
ly forward south of the Somme beyond
Chaulnes and its very important rail-
way junction. North of the river the
Germans put up their stOutest resist
ance the British. with whom an Ameri-
lean division was operating. had a
bitter fight. However, they finally
smashed through the enemy and took
the whole of the Chipilly spur. driv-
ing the Huns toward Bray. In this
struggle the Yankees acted with the
gallantry that has characterized them
in every fight they have had. They
had to make a forced march to go over
the top at the appointed time, and
went into the battle on the run. The
days operations brought the number
of prisoners to more than 1000.
BY this time the two German armies
in the salient We're in grave danger of
capture or annihilation, and General
Won Hutier was making every effort to
extricate them from the trap. Then.
Friday night and Saturday morning,
Marshal Foch delivered another great
blow. The French First army launched
n tremendous attack south of Montdi-
dier and that town, which had been n
German base of supplies, was soon en-
veloped and captured, together with
many prisoners and great quantities of
material The First army did not stop
there, but, in conjunction with another
French army on its right and the
British Fourth army on its left, fol-
lowed closely after the retreating
Huns. BY Saturday night the Amiens
salient had been reversed so that its
point was directed toward the Somme
south of Peronne, Roye was imperiled
If not actually taken, and the armies
of Crown Prince Rupprecht were In
full flight Also the fighting had
spread northward from Albert almost
to Arras, with decided gains there for
the allies. In the three days the al
lies had taken some $4,000 prisoners
and quantities of material so vast
they had not been estimated, together
with more than 400 cannon, and had
recovered a large territory and many
towns. Perhaps most important of all,
they had regained possession of vital
lines of communication and had re-
ueyed from menace and the Paris
Amiens-C Calais railway.
An outstanding feature of the Often
.tuo x,,a hn praat nSe made of tanks