The sun., 1918-08-12
ADVANCE HITS
OBSTACLE, BUT
FORCES AHEAD
Capture of MOntdidier a
Dazzling Dream Which
Has Come True.
CROSSING ROUGH COUNTRY
Box Of $50 Iron Crosses Is
Found Among Booty Left
by the Germans.
by PERRY ROBINSON.
| Special cutie Despatch TO TnE SuS from the
London Times.

SDecioi cutie Despatch TO Tnn suS from the
london Times.
Coppu1ht 1915: an rights r'arrsd
WITH THE BRITISH ARMY IN FEANcE.
Aug 1.-THE story have to tell is n
marvellousy good one. Our advance.
although 1t has been slowed up some
what. still continues. while the French
to the south OF us are through Mont
didier and advancing eastward.
The evacuation of Montdid!er is surely
a vindication OF the strategy OF the at
tack. II was a dream with which we
dazzled ourselves but which few OF US
expected to come true. hear that the
British to the south are at Goyencourt.
only three miles northwest OF Roye.
Further north there has been fierce
fighting around Lihons and Hallu. both
of which are not more than two miles
from Chau;nes.
North OF here our progress below the
Somme Is limited by the difficulty Of
pushing across very rough country.
but We are somewhere beyond Meri-
court, with Proyart and Rainecourt be-
hind us. with Halleville and Foucou-
court in the disputed area.
AT several points We are once more
across the front line held by the Ger
mans before their big advance started
in the spring. The enemy Is evidently
trying desperately to make a stand here.
There are many three-year-old trenches
in the locality, and our men are con-
fronted by whole patcaes OF Darbed wire
entanglements which have rusteI
, through three winters.
Booty Beyond Present Counting.
To enumerate all the villages taken
would be tedious. and IL is hard TO give
an estimate OF the prisoners taken. al
though the number. when added to those
captured by the French, must be in the
neigh borhood OF 10000. The booty Is
beyond immediate counting. and some OF
II Is unusual, including, for instance. one
box containing $50 Iron Crosses that
had been sent to the division for dis
tr.buton.
+ hear the Canadians have FIVE regi-
! mental commanders. ten battalion COM
manders and ono heavy artillery group,
while the French are said to havo
snagged a Colonel and a General o.
the Fourteenth Bavarian Division. The
Germans are now known TO have put
| in thlrty-one divisions. OF which TWEEN
ty-one have been against the British
alone. Ten OF the thirty-one have been
drawn from reserves. Every conceiS =
able kind OF German has been pushed
into the line, and the way the units
are mixed up convinces us that the
greatest confusion reigns behind the
enemy lines.
Among the of spols We have taken
are all the papers OF the Fifty-hrst
German Army Corps.
Easy for Austrailians.
The troops between the Somme and
the Chaulnes railway had the easiest
work. as shown by the fact that one
Australian division operating here had
only 900 casualties after Its days work.
and took 500 prisoners. The Germans
put up a very feeble resistance at this
point, while our tanks aided by the
friendly mist. did wonderful work
South OF the railroad there was harder
work, the Germans in that sector putting
up a much stiffer resistance. The Ger
man trenches here were literally filled
with German dead after our fire The
Canadians went through the enemy
ranks. however.
In view OF the strength OF the enemy
positions in the Luce area, and the diff
ficulty OF the ground, the cleanness OF
our attack and the comparative small
number of casualties is enormously TO
the credit of our commanding officers.
The whole, territory offered great possi-
biiities OF defence. and that the enemy
was holding these position in great force
is indicated by the fact that in this area
Continued on Second Pn0e