The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-09-06
STEADILY RETREATING

| September ,, D. m.-(By the Asso- l ciated Press.)-The effects of the recent British successes are hourly be- l coming more apparent. The enemy is | steadily but surely going back. Sue ' cessive minor victories in Flanders, the application of sustained pressure in | the battle zone south of the Scarpe, l the exploitation of the advances north l of Peronne and the steady lombard ment from the British cannon are all | heIping the general movement.
 The foes retirement is being marked l by the usual destruction, for fires and explosions are reported from Various sections, especially the area in front of | the Hindenburg line from the Bd- paume- Cambrai line southward, where l the torches seem to have Been freely used.
 It looks as if the Germans are going behind the lines with great system of concrete dugouts and defenses. They are not in the habit of destroying where they mean to stay, and besides 1 the crushing defeat they suffered when | the Drocourt-Queant line was smashed
 makes this ground exceedingly dlf- | ficult, if not dangerous, to hold. | On the banks of the Somme, south or l Peronne the enemy is manning his ma
 chine guns and trench mortars strong
 ly and firing heavily on the crossings | and their approaches, apparently fear ! ing Q British attempt to cross
 l At the same time the suburbs on the | southeastern outskirts of Peronf4e. | where the German machine gunners have also been holding out desperate- | ly, have now been cleared of the en- emy, so that the position of the Ger | mans on the east bank of the Somme | is becoming increasingly precariouS. .
 TRAINING MACHINE GUNS i Along the banks of the Canal DI | Nord, in the region north and south I of Inchy En- -Artois, strong German re- | Inducements have come up, and they are holding in some places, especially 1 back of the Moeuvres, the western spoil bank, with immense numbers Of machine guns. As yet they have not | been really attacked by the British in any force. It is not at all unlik ely, however, that the Germans will try to consolidate their line in tlrts locality
 with the Hindenburg line q, some point l further south.
 l It was through a somewhat analog- | ous situation that the Drocouft- t. | Queant switch line was established l after the enemy was forced back from | the original Iindenburg line in- front | of Arras The old Hindenburg line it- 1 self does not run straight north and south To the south of the Drocourt battle area it swerves sharply to the | east and then tails off southeastward l It is the eastern stretch that the Brit | ish have been clearing of the Boche.
 Y, The Germans may try to establish 2 | new defensive line. which would rutr | almost directly north and south, join 1 ing the Hindenburg line at some point 1 southwest of Cambrai, but there al c l indications that the enemy is by no | means sure that his efforts will meet
 with any success.
 1 The fact that since the Drocour. l Queant line was smashed the Germans l have retreated from the ground behind 1 it, which is of first importance to the retention of their defenses in the north and south, without making a sins le | formidable attempt to regain their lost positions by counter attacks, is con l sidered proof positive of the enemy's | weakness in this area.
 ! The fact that the German command has hesitated to withdraw any consid- erable troops from any other section Of the front for operations here is taken to mean that the German command | fears that such a movement would only lead to another catastrophe.
 | Long periods of fighting without the slightest respite, the humiliation ot
 whole formations, and the thorough ham
 mering they have received, has served | to fix the idea of having themselves troops. Every prisoner in his comments on the great battle seems to bear this out. Almost every diary and every let
 ter taken from the German killed shows that they suffered as never before. Part | Of of the letters roads,