Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1918-09-17
aauIlAhr AMERICAN VICTORY.
een. Pershina Routs the Germans OUT
of 81. Mihiel Salient.

mostly
several divisions Of Frenchmen' AL uh-
der the immediate command ana ure'
,ion of General Pershins. has just eN-
ecutsd a splcndidly successiui move
mont that has resulted in the tahihs
Of territory about one fourth as large
| as York county. anu over i''''"
man prisoners. l., ,..
The movement. as indicated IN the
last issue Of The Enquirer. was COM
,,,.pc,s on Thursday morning OF last
week. and TO all intents ana purposes
| /, was completed during Friday. win
l. Icomnarotiycly small loss to the Amer
leans hut nj heavy expense to the en-
rmy in prisoners, materials, terrilor!
and strategic advantage.
| Th. enemy position involved what IL
known as the -. Mihiel salient. long
sharp wedge that the Germans nave
heen holding in the French lines since
,s,. despite many bloody efforts that
the French have been making 10 uri'e
th,m back. This salient was apout ~
miles across and about 10 miles arouhu
and because of the mountainous ma
ture of the country could easily III
held by an inferior force against
largely superior force.
Inst how many men were employ
| ,d by General Pcrshing in his opera
,ior IL not known: but II Is suggested
Inv the correspondents that there were
some 100000 Americans and french-
men against close to an equal nuihper
of Germans and Austrians. Whii"
nothing along that line was permitted
| TO bc said while preparations were ih
nrorr.ss. il is known that General
pcrshing's plans were the result oi
| most careful work. and that ne din ho'
strike until he was good ready.
| Th. Germans were evidently coSni-
zant at least to a very large extent oi
what was going on. Up 10 few days
before the beginning OF the American
drive. they were sending large num-
hers OF rc-enforcements into the sail
cnt. including several divisions OF Aus
TRANS. and during the few days JUST
preceding the drive. they began gel
ling ont as rapidly as they POSSIBLY
/ could at the rate Of fifteen TO twenty
Thousand day, retrcating TO preFtr-
ed lines in front of Metz said to he the
most strongly fortified city IN Europ''
| With everything in readiness We'd
nesday night. shortly after midnight
Thursday morning the American ar
,illcry opcnrd on the salient from Com
brcs on the west and from fay-eh-
Have on the east. On the east the
| American batteries occupied line oi
about ten miles and on the west IN.
| line was about five miles long. FROM
bo,h sides the bombardmrnt was NOR"
terrific than had ever been known III
that section before. The German bal
tcrics replied quite vigorously nj frs''
| but after n few hours most Of them
had been silcnccd, all but few that
wrrc identified AZ being mounted on
fat cars moving slowly but steadily
out of the salient
| The zero hour was o'clock Thurs
Gay mon ming. French tanks made uh-
der American plans. had rollcd.np 10
their posts at all the roads leading into
the salient: cavalry had been placed
wherever the country i'll front was
suitable for cavalry operations. ana
airplancs in great numbers were ready
Ito start AT the word The douShboSS
had all been disposed at points from
which they could 20 forward on the
instant. \ rain had been falling dur
/ ing the day and night previous: but
this had ceased, and at the appointed
hour the mighty. eager and enthusias-
tic army started forward as TO great
picnic.
Most OF the Germans were already
in retreat: but still the boys ran upon
many strong forces that showed fight.
One advancing coTpany Of Americans
came upon u large force Of Germans In
position. The Germans charged, and
following the orders of their captain.
the Americans gave bacl, for some dis
tancr To Il point that was deemed ia
vorable for stand. From there they
prltrd the on coming Germans with
their rifles until 1t came to question
Of the bayonct, when AL the remain
| inS CrrinanN were either killed or cap
turcd.
Il
| held mp by numerous nests OF machine
| guns Stationed in The woods. French
troops hLd already run upon this posi-
| tion and were having a pretty serious
| time of IL; but upon the arrival OF the
| Americans short work was made OF the
German machine gunncrs. All of them
were quickly killed or captured.
At many places the Americans were
able to proceed almost without resist
Il NJ -. al
as firing few shots by way of show
OF resistance and then giving up and
going TO the rear. Some of the roads
were so crowded with German prison
crs going to the rear as to delay the
progress OF ammunition wagons and
food kitchens going to the front.
| Thousands OF Germans and Aus
trians. more than $4,000. were captur-
ed in actual conflict; but these did not
include nearly all. There were several
| other thousands of Germans in the
southern part of the salient down to-
ward -. Mihiel. who saw no chance
to get away. and who were afterward
picked up by the Americans at their
leisure.
| The retreat of the Germans was so
rapid that they did not have time TO
destroy all of the French towns they
had been occupying, and generally
| tSpthhIlS ilOSt Ol tHe lOWHS "ltHln tIlc
salient were left intact. Everywhere
the French people who had been living
under German despotism since 1914.
were overjoyed at their deliverance,
and when General Pershing and his
staff entered st. Mihicl on Friday the
people crowded around him in wor-
shipful alteration, the prominent wo-
men Of the city vieing with each other
for an opportunity to kiss his hands.
| The capture OF the st. Mihiel salient
removes the last serious kink in the
battle lines between the Strait OF Do
yer and the Swiss border. and 1t also
leaves the American forces directly
opposite the strongly fortified city Of
Metz. less than fifteen miles away, and
other especially strong positions along
the Hindenburg line.
Since Friday evening the Americans
have been establishing their lines oppo-
site the German Notifications. They
have beaten back several cointer at =