Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-09-20
Bristle With Machine Guns.

ol1stle with Machine Guns.
Throughout this sector there were
pockets of German-manned machine
guns, and each of these garrisons
was a legion unto itself. Between
Holnon and Fresnoy-Le-Fetit were
three little patches of woods; these
fairly bristled with machine guns.
They were finally cleared out, but It
was desperate adventure for those
doughty English troops who went
charging through them amid a hail
OF bullets and combed the occupants
into silence.
The eastern part Of Fresnoy was
still in the hands of the enemy this
morning. with the British holding the
western section and pressing the de-
tenders hard.
To the north in center Of the
battle line the Australians pushed
through to their final detectives, and
even beyond in some places, with
their accustomed thoroughness and
disregard for their personal fate. The
overseas men worked round those
villages which were strongly held
and employed heavy smoke barrage
with great success.
Prisoners declare that because Of
this smoke screen they never knew
where the Australians were going to
strike next. and as result there was
more or less confusion among the
Germans opposite THEM.
LIE Ferguier and Vtlleret were taken
without much trouble. About Hargi-
court and Templeux-Le-Guera how
ever, there was hard fighting. There
are hume rous quarries in this section,
and these were filled with German
machine gunners. who had to be dis
posed of before the advance could pro-
coed. The delay was not great. The
rangy Australians were about and
among the enemy like a whirlwind,
and he was a lucky Hun who lived to
take the long trail back to the prison
camp.
The Australians had to negotiate
these, which overlooked the linden
burg line, the Germans made a de-
termined last ditch" stand.
Germans Forced Back.
Savage work characterized the fight
ing here. but the Germans were no
match for the hard-hitting fasteners
and were forced to fall back little by
little until they reached the outpost
system to the Hindenburg line. This
strongly held. Back Of it, on the
eastern side Of the canal, lay the
main Hindenburg line Of fortified
tons.
Against this outpost line the Aus
tralians advanced from their ridge
without pause and charged into the
barbed wire. The Germans were
killed. captured or driven back in
flight. The overseas men took twice
as many prisoners as they had casual
ties.
Not only was the outpost line taken
over, but in some places the British
went farther into Hunland than they
no h0fnNa oSn
the war began.
On the left flank Peiziere was over
run by English troops in the first
rush. Five strong German points
were overlooked, however, and these
caused no end of trouble with their
attention finally was conferred on
them and they were ob1iterated.
At Epehy, where the renowned
German Alpine troops were holding.
a desperate battle was waged
throughout the day. Epehy could not
eta, taken ,n until a after l long and
which greatly weakened the defense
Then the British advanced on either
side and got 1t in q pocket. At
Ronsoy the British got through
easily.
Lempire was captured after q hard
battle. The enemy south Of villers-
vance fiercely, and the losses to the
defending forces here were tremen-
dous.
A further British advance was as
sisted by a novel innovation in the
way Of machine gun barrages. Two
hundred and nifty rapid frers were
brought up and concentrated. These
guns opened q terrific barrase, dur
ing which each one Of them pumped
$4,000 rounds Of ammunition into the
German defenses. The enemy was alb
solutely overwhelmed In one small
place, for example. 500 dead later
were found.
In Bauche wood the Germans had
four British tanks. which they had
previously captured. These tanks
were used a. machine gun fortresses,
and held out for hours before taken
Later in the afternoon the Germans
opened . heavy attack between Hav-
rincouft and with the
6th German division. The attack sue
eeeded in rolling the British back
somewhat ON the left. but this
ground vaa quickly Fegaine4