New Britain herald., 1918-09-21
BRITISH DELIVER NEW BLOW FOR ST. FIRES SET BY GERMANS MAY INDICATl
 BULGAR CONSCRIPTS DESERT TO SEl
Kaiser's Hopes Wrecked, Cause Lost,
 By Allied Victories in Six Months

an attack which has changed the whole complexion of the situation. From FOntenoy, on the Aisne, west of Soissons, to Chateau Thierry, on the Marne, the German lines were torn to pieces and the Marne salient threatened to collapse. It was only by the most savage fighting that the Germans succeeded in saving their army from disaster and finally suc- Ceeded in retreating across the Vesle river.
 On August s. the French and Brt- ish stormed the German lines in Picardy from the Ancre river to Mo- reuil north of Montdidier and sent the enemy reelinlg back toward the Som me. The next day, the French crushed in the German front south of Mont ddier and then linking their lines with those of the British, farther north, forced the invaders back to the eastward.
 Less than two weeks later the Ger man lines southwest of Arras were attacked and these gave way and the forces holding them joined their comrades farther south in a retreat which now has virtuallyreached the German lines as they were on March 21 from Arras to the Chemin des Danes, southwest of Soissons
 While this retreat was going on, the Germans began a withdrawal from the Flanders salient and today they are nearly back to the lines from which they sallied to their attack late in April.
 Thus far the Allied drive might ''have been considered in the light of defensive operations but the work has not paused with the mere repulse of the enemy. His positions along the Hindenburg line east of Arras have been Wrested from him, while far ther south, near St. Quentin, the British have in recent days fought their way into the enemy's lines where he had planned to stand on the defensive.
 The First American field army has obliterated the St. Mihiel salient ;t5 strengthened the line east of Verdun and now stands before Metz, into which American shells are falling.
 Before the Allies there now stands the great lines constructed by the Germans during four years of war fare. These are not simple trenches, vast field Qualifications which stretch from the North Sea, with few inter- ruptions, to the Swiss frontier.
 This general line of defensive posi- tions has become known as the Hin- den.burg line, but to different sections of it have been given names from the old German epic of the Niebelungen- lied. Thus the Wotan, Siegfried, ;Brunhid and Kriem hid lines have been mentioned in reports from the front. They are carefully construct ed with all the science at the com mand of the German general staff, and present a formidable barrier to further Allied attacks
 Six months of the warfare of mo- tion, however, has taught the Allies that a trench is no stronger than the troops that man it. In this fact lies the hope of the Entente nations. New methods of attack, the employment of tanks" and a higher morale than ever before in the history of the war will be relied upon in the fighting to force new retreats.
 Germany has lost her chance to force peace upon the Allies before Am erican armies enter the fight with all their strength. This was her hope in March. Losses of a serious nature were suffered by the Allies during the long battle, but they have been more than doubly offset by the inf1owing American legions. Germany's losses on the other hand cannot be made good. Hopes blasted, crack divisions broken up and seeming victories turn ed into defeats have sapped the morale of the German armies which today are on the defensive every where.