The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1918-07-23
ID D c \ { S CRY
u INF AIR WHEN
IS c 0 I S | An D
CAPTURED OFFICERS INDIG-
NANT BECAUSE ATTACK
MADE AFTER BREAK
FAST; HUNS WE'RE
SURPRISED
BY Prcival Phillips.

| Win the BfIfrn Aribics III tno
| Field. July 23-All' discomfited Ger
mans are not on the Marne. A hun
cry and badly crippled division Is
licking its wounds in Flanders today
and trying TO explain 70 the infuriat-
ea commander OF the Fourth army
Why It lost the village of Meteren In
broad daylight yesterday morning.
At the same time certain dour. hard
hitting Scots are smiling grimly in
their new trenches two miles west o.
BaIlieul These Scots took Meteren
by trick. The PruSsians call Ii an
unfair trick which is the Prussian
way when a surprise goes against
them. Yet 1t was simple The
Scotchmen attacked after breakfast.
when the Prussians expected them to
attack at dawn, and this indecent de-
Walton from the routine OF the front
caught them unawares. There were
nearly 400 survivors of this German
itfCtS sc tit Ft1SOutio ta6t thin
morning and they looked sorry lot
Their discontinue however. was
not nearly so great as that of six sui
len officers who started out on their
own account TO canvass barbed wire
inclosure for the noncommissioned
officers. who had their own griev-
ance and separate compartment In
which to tair them at is unfair,
said one of the officers bitterly. I'VE
didn't expect to be attacked at s
o'clock in the morning" There you
have the Prussian spirit laid bare in
sentence.
The anger OF the higher commands
was intensified by the fact that they
expected Meteren to the attacked and
that the whole and weary battalions
OF the Eighty Sixth reserve division.
which have been holding that portion
OF the forest exactly month, had
been warned they must hold the viii
lage.
For nearly a week they stood to at
right and manned the forward posi-
ton before sunrise, but when daylight
| came without any sign OF the dreaded
Scotchmen in the wheat fields. which
have become No Mans Land. they re-
laxed their vigilance and prepared for
another day OF shelling intermixed
With gas.
This is what happended Monday
morning Five. and O'Clock came
and passed without any portent of
trouble Then just before o'clock.
when the men were crouching in old
craters trying to sleep again. the
British artillery suddenly released a
great weight of shell Every available
gun was laid on and plastered Met
eren and the encircling nest OF ma
chine guns. Smoke clouds drifted
sluggishly on the morning wind into
the German defenses and gas alarms
ended the rest periods The men put
on their masks and wearily hugge'
the shallow shell holes. waiting for
the storm to pass. They thought II
vas no more than a short harassins
bombardment. such as the British
have PUT down many times to scatter
traffic and ration parties on the roads
Before Fritz was awake to what was
coming. the infantry had followed ths
barrage through the broken wires
and there. surrounded and dusty and
. unshsven. the fugitives looked up sud
conly from their shell holes and found
, the terrible foes. the Scots. standinf
at the crater lips with bayonets
| poised. There was very little fight
ing after that.
On the west and southwest Of tbs
ruined town more than 200 prisoners
= we're sifted out Of the broken GROUND
: and the machine guns silenced. Al
extraordinary number Of these guni
= ~as revealed as many as eight o.
'en being posted in some short strip
ol Of trench. and elsewhere they ver'
r.sced singly no more than thirty-fiv'
: feet apart The Prussians depende'
!. almost entirely on them for defense
Il The Meteren division defeated yes
. trday had its companies whitile'
lcwn to thirty men and its battalion
|. tc 1so by a month Of bonbardmen
by the British artillery and machin'
guns.
Neferen Is completely obliteratec
Even reoccurafion could not resfor'
I as a habitabie town Of any vaiu'
o France. but the Germans vii fins
Z more difficult to attack the domi
'ant hill kknown a. Mount des Cats
three miles north. should fhey decide
o make IL q feature Of their next Of