Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-07-29
AMERICANS LED
IN CAPTURE OF
FERE-EN-T TARDENO|S
They Swept on Despite the
Stubborn Resistance OF
the Germans.
TAKE MANY VlLLAIEo

With the American Army on the AiSnc-
Marne Front. july 2S Delayed, The
Americans have played brilliant part
IN the advance which preceded the taking
Of fFcrc-cn-Tardcnois which included the
orc,Ipation OF Scrgy. ON the north bank
of the Ourcq river. and number oi
small villages.
The Americans began their advance on
Scrgy earlv IN the morning. They had
been driven back n short distance Sat
urdav night. but when they moved thus
sunday morning under cover ot the ar
tiIlprv "a few pieces gong forward with
the advance linc they proceeded almost
unchecked To the river, crossed the bridge
and occupied the town about mld-iorc-
uCon.
FACE GAS PERIL.
The Germans used gas. but the attack
ing party long ago had had rs baptism
cf gas fumes and knew how to utilize the
masks and to avoid tho ravlncs through
which the fumes filtered v hen the town
was occupied there was sornc street hight
ing, hut not much, the Germans rctf'a'-
ing to higher ground.
Until TODAY SUNDAY the wounds re-
ceivcd hv the american soldiers have
Of the failure Of the Germans 20 use ar-
tillery. 4 great majority ot the wounds
were clean flesh wounds. made hv bullets
from machine guns and rifles
Considerable material has hcCn cap
turpd including few locomotives which
tLc Germans put out Of COMMISSION
There were relatively tcw prisoners
Manv tales arc told among the old
lines of tho depreciation in the German
morale Greatest significance Is attached
10 letter taken from IN officer. writ
ten IN his brother IN Germany giving u
a. his opinion that revolt was lmml-
ncnt unless the war was stopped
RATTLE or 1HT woons ENDS
The hattlo of tho woods has ended
and the Germans have hccn swept from
THO forests of Fore and RlS Toward tho
last of this four-dav struggle the Franco
american advance became SO rapid that
the retreat of the Germans was greatly
dI>organizcd
The edge of the German salient to tho
south and southeast Of tCrccn- lardcnnlS
v9s ground down hy tho whri ot the
allied troops and dulled e an extent
that German weakness was Indicated AZ
many points The first Indication of this
was Srcn Saturday when the enemy re-
treated - rapid, that the French and
American troops entirely lost contact
In the Battle Of the Woods how
ever the stiffcst resistance the AmcrI-
cans ever experienced in tins KIND q
warfare was encountered Here French
and American troops were compclicd ~
contend constantly with roar guari
action consisting principally o' machine
clIuncrs. most 81 whom dressed IN green
clothing. had nests in trees DAY after
da> during the fighting the allied troops
buckcd tho German machine gun nests.
using artillery and machine glnS and
some ga> against them
TRICKS OF THF EMMY
In tho rear guard fighting which was
carried on 10 permit q the Withdrawal
cf the heavier German gins the enemy
r,,~or.cl ~ numerous tricks, such rs
carving machine guns IN Strctchers
when cndcavorlnC to reach some points
under the allied FIRE When they real
izcd ;hat their strctchcr trick had been
discovered the Germans rcSortCd to other
means 10 deceive
The French and American infantrVmCr
and machine cunncrs wcrc notified by
their commanding officers 10 he on the
alert for Germans wearing American 81
inc been reported on the Germans doing
this On one occasion the soldiers were
notified bv field orders that Germans had
appeared in the tunics Of French and
American soldiers Rushing across al
open place IN the forest when the Ger
man nests had hccn discovered. one Ger
man, acting as a leader and speaking
perfect English yelled 70 the American
machine glInners don't shoot. there art
Americans in that thicket
The Americans were at the edge OF tn,
forest peppernC wood opposite. They
ceased when the attachment appeared
The detachment entered forest 10 tht
right Of the Americans and IL few
minutes & hail oi machine gun bullets
came from that direction
DUPED AMERICANS RETAIIATE
The Americans quickly realized tha
they had been duped and turned their ma
chine guns upon the Imposters wipInl
them out IN short order
Intelligence officers IN the American
army say numerous cases have been re
ported bv soldiers Of being encounters
by individual Germans wearing American
uniforms and of some eases OF German
wearing merely an American or Frenc
ltuulc. presumably having obtained theI
on some other front The Allies hav
lost few prisoners III the Battle Of iii
Woods and the Germans were unable 1
obtain uniforms from the dead owing 1
their retreat