Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1918-10-02

II towns and 5000 prisoners, General
Pershing reported.
Paris, Sept. 27.-The Americans at
tackled on q 4O-mile front in Cham
payne in conjunction with the French
and they have advanced at some points
to a depth of six miles and are still
going forward.
The French troops, attacking on the
American left, have made an advance
of nearly four miles at certain points
west of the ArgOnne.
The Americans in their advance thus
far have taken the towns of Grecourt.
Cuisy, Montfaucon, Cheppy and Barren
mes, all northwest of Verdun.
The French have taken Sevron and
Navarin farm, positions which the en-
envy had held since 1914. The Ameri-
can troops attacked west of the Yer
dun region in this sector. The Ger
mans, anticipating the attack, seeming
ly had withdrawn a part OF their
forces
French Take First Line.
The French on their end of the front
apparently met with stronger resist
ance, but reports from the war office
were that they had occupied all the
enemy's first line.
Marshal Foch's new attack was
launched on front from the Suippe
river, east of Reims, to the River
Mouse, just north of Verdun.
TN. g y NffA CT a
tween the scene of the successful
Marine offensive and the recent Ameri-
can success in cleaning out the st. Mi
hiel salient.
Lateral railway lines of great i'm
portance to the German position be-
tween Laon and Verdun lie directly in
the path of the advancing Fronca-
American forces. Vouziers, an impor-
tant railway junction on the main line
from Laon to Metz and but II miles
north of Servon, already is in the
hands of the French.
The battle line passes through the
Argonne forest, about nine miles south
of where there is a wide break in the
wood and hill country.
Attack After Heavy Shelling.
From the fact. that French are OPP
Grating in Champagne and the Ameri-
cans are to the east, it is apparent the
Americans have taken over a part of
the battle line in the Argonne and east
ward to the Marine in the region north
of Verdun.
General Gourand, who smashed the
German offensive over part Of this
same front on July 10, is in charge of
the immediate operations, though Gen
erals Pershing and Petain, responsible
only to Marshal Foch, are the chief
planners of the new drive.
The French and Americans went
over the top at $50 in the morning
after nearly eleven hours of terrific
Smelling of the German positions with
high explosives and gas.
The Germans appear to have with
drawn from their first lines at part
of the front as soon as the attack de-
veloped.
Dispatches tell of gigantic cOncen-
tration of artillery behind the Franco
American line of attack.
The weather is favorable to an Of
fensive.
Go over Top in Thick Fog.
At dawn, when the first infantry
waves left their trenches there was a
thick fog. The French war office, In
reporting the beginning Of the drive,
SAYS it was launched sin cooperation
with the American army operating
further to the east" This shows the
Americans, as in Lorraine, are again
operating as a separate, independent
army and are not, as formerly, bri-
| gaded with the French.
| The drive, if successful, threatens to
outflank Laon from the east and thus
| turn the entire Hindenburg line from
! that southern pivot up to the North
sea. 1t would, Furthermore, split the
German northern and southern armies
In two and accomplish what Luden-
| dorff failed to do to the allies in his
superdrive on Amiens last spring.
Except for the ill-starred German Of
| fensiye in the middle of July of this
year. no major drive has been launched
| on this front since 1915 when the
French attacked the Germans on a
wide front and one of the fiercest bat
ties of the war resulted.
| From the fiat lands of the western
Champagne, the present attacking
front extends through the thickly
wooded Argonne, and thence to the
| blood-drenched heights of the Mouse.
1
Poole Safe in Stockholm.