Republican farmer., 1918-08-23

London. Aug. 16.-With the fighting between the Somme and the Disc sim mered down to artillery duels and To- cal operations the allied capitals chiefly are concerned with speculation as to where Marshal Foch will build the floor for the next Hindenburg dance. And if the Allies are looking forward to this event with thrilled ex- pectancy the Central Empires unless all signs are misleading, are anticipat- ing it with dread.
 As to the battle front, the British moved forward in two place yesterday, northwest of Rove, where they moved into the villages of Damery and Par villers, in spite of German opposition, and north of the Somme, between AL bert and Arras, where the enemy fell back, apparently on his own accord l Further south the French captured | positions on both sides of Lassigny as
 a prelude to what is expected to be the
 taking of that town
 North of the Somme, in the Arras
 region. the Germans were pushed ou
 of some towns and voluntarily remov
 ed themselves from others. Beau mont-Hamel. Serre, Bucquoy ant
 Puisieux-au-Mont are now in British hands. At some points the Germans fell back across the Ancre river, wit1 , the British following closely. Grea
 interest attaches to the enemy move , ments on this front great activit. having been noted on the Ger nal
 side of the lines for several days. Tn enemy expected an attack here, an, : prepared for it; knowledge of whicl
 may have led Marshal Foch to chang r his plans, if he had any, regarding l thrust there.
 s The Germans, by retreating, virtual ) ly wiped out what has long bee |. known as the Hebuterne salient, an [ now they will be compelled to estab r fish a whole new line between tn
 Somme and Arras. The fact tha @ Gen. von Boehn, known as the Ger e man "retreat specialist" has bee = placed in command on the Somm e front indicates an intention on tn part of the enemy to move back owe 8 a wide area.
 Gen. Humbert is taking his tim s around Lassigny, probably wishing | o let the factor of time accomplish fc r him what he otherwise could gai Il only by the expenditure of lives. H
 is working his way into the Germa T. machine gun positions along the Oi! r, Valley by infiltration rather than l n attempting to clear them out 1 e, storm. Meanwhile he is repairir It the roads back of his present li1
 preparatory to moving up his hea7
 s,, 1 n drive the Germans out of the terr tory west and south of Noyon wi Il the loss of few men and at the san le time inflict heavy losses on the e n emy.
 Allied airplanes are reported bust r. than at any time since the war stal l. ed, and they are making all the Ge l. man communications a veritable 1 le ferno.
 m Tons of bombs are dropped night
 on the German concentration centr
 by allied bombing machines, wh h. the French and British comb ed planes, swarming in the skies II of bees, effectually prevent the ener I'd from ascertaining what is going H. back of their lines.
 ed The job of counting the prisont or taken in the P1cardy battle has be l. completed, and the bag totals 34, @ t. with 670 guns. This is exclusive C. vast stores of war materials. s- Now that the heavy fighting on t at front is over the French and Brit he are congratulating themselves on 1 he great work accom- p1ished by tn ol- tanks. while at least one of the ma
 German officers captured is at a co as plete loss to understand how it h; to pened that the ''infallible' Germ fer high command overlooked or und his estimated the value of this weap an This officer told his captors that by allied tanks had made themselves 5ht jects of terror to the German soldit
 and he expressed wonder that his o zen high command had not seen fit to. ted them in greater numbers.