Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-08-28

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anything serious had happened to the
German army. Even when told how
many prisoners had been taken ate
ly. he said:
"That is nothing; it is all accord
ing to our plan
ayes" said the Canadian officer,
"but our plans are not yours and
at those words he was abashed.
| saw a batch of these prisoners
coming down under the escort OF
some Canadian mounted men yester-
day morning. They were marching
briskly and staring about them. They
smiled at our soldiers, who were
marching in the opposite direction to
the battlefront. Many of them
looked tired and pale. Some of them
limped. and a few were slightly
wounded, but there was on all their
faces the look of men relieved from
fear and glad to get beyond its men
ace.
March Like Conquerors
The men marching past them were
Highlanders. going up to support
their comrades fighting to the north
Of the Scarpe. They came winding
through a little wood of shelled trees.
The color of their kits twinkled
through the trees, their brown faces
were flushed with the heat Of march,
and they had the look of boys who
were sure of victory, so different
from those poor, pasty-faced fellows
in gray. who had just gone by as
prisoners.
Well. it is queer to be back on the
OLD familiar ground again, to be pass
ing through Arras, to get news of
another battle at Monchy, through
the old gray streets of Arras, with
it's ruined churches and broken
houses. which hold memories of this
war for us because it was in April
of last year that other English and
Scotch troops passed that way to-
ward Monchy and Guemappe and
Pelves, which they attacked again
this week. The Canadians were on
Vimy Ridge then. Monday some of
them were up by Melville, Vitasse
and Wancourt, which London troops
captured in the old days, and London
troops were fighting near these
places this time.
The arrival of the Canadians was
an immense surprise to the Germans.
The last heard of them was outside
of Roye after their glorious advance
on the left of the French. and the
last thing in the world which the
enemy expected was to find them
right in the north beyond Arras.
That was a brilliant piece of secret
maneuver. Before the Germans had
any inkling of their presence the
| Canadians were advancing upon
them Monday morning with a sweep
of shellfre in front of them. With
out encountering muca resistance
they swung around by Guemappe
and W%ancourt over the high ground
on each side of the Cojeul. Germans
of the Twenty-fourth Division, made
up of men from Rhineland, Stettin,
lower Schleswig and Hessians, were
agLast at this sudden assault, and
either retired or gave themselves up
in the early stages of the Canadian
advance. Their resistance stiffened
on the crest of Monchy hill, and there
was fierce fighting all night in the
trenches on the top of Wancourt
spur.
Rush Machine Guns in Darkness
But the Canadians were deter
mined to get this place, and with
great individual gallantry and good
leadership, and most logged spirit,
they worked around the machine
guns which were holding them off
and rushed them in the darkness.
By morning they held the spur, and
this body of Canadians, who had
taken over 800 prisoners Monday
morning, added another $50, with
many machine guns, most of whom
were caught in the valley below
the ridge. All told, the Canadians
and Scots attacking with them had
taken about 1900 prisoners.
The highest point, most desired
by the Canadians, was the old Wan
court tower on top of the crest,
and this they gained in time for a
new departure yesterday morning,
having to change their direction
three times, owing to the lie of
the ground, and face south instead
of east after beginning the battle,
which is always a difficult opera
ton.
A little further north other Cana
dian troops who had crossed Orange
Hill and Monchy, that hill which
dominates many miles of country
so that the loss of it a few months
@ was serious to US, advanced
again yesterday morning to two
woods on equally high ground be-
yond for which u men strove
many times in vain in May of last
wear. Those are the Bois-du-Sart
and the Bois-de-Vert which we used
to see like green eyes staring down
on our lines around Wancourt and
Henin and from which always there
used to come wicked machine-gun
fire when any of our troops moved
in the open valley below.
The Canadians apparently hold
Bois-du-Sart, and it seems likely the
other wood is in their hands, though
| am not certain of this. In any
case they have moved steadily for
ward in that direction, and also
below and across the ,Sensee Valley
toward the Droecourt-Queant line,
which is the northern switch of the
main Hindenburg line between Wan
court and Henin.
was with the Canadians when the
new advance had Just started, and
over the wires came the good new
\ he CAfnaana were Salline hack IA