Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-09-09
FRENCH SMASH HUN
IN 5 TO | BATTLE;
GET VAST STORES
Gen Mangin's Division Five Days
in Short Range Battle WITH
Five Of Kaiser's Divisions.
GETBACKIN OLD TRENCHES
Nv Associated Press 20 Every Evening

Nv Associated Press 10 Every Evening
With The French Army III France,
Sunday. Sept s The troops oi ',eh
Nanpiu between the A,sne and tise
rivers now are virtually behind thcu
old wire cntanglcmcnts III thcr Old
trenches of 1917 MI along The edge
of the forest OF Coucy and through inc
western horn of the - Goban ior's'
the Germans are only 2no wards away
and in some places they arc IN pnsn'oh
in the old Hindenburg Inc that are
nI,inIy visible from the heights west oi
Chateau Coucy
ur< ruRCEp FROM Ft9MES.
Tho plsc AiSnc canal and tho nver
AlIcttc that runs between the hclgh'S
and the Chateau and which forms
sort OF advanced post OF thcir man l'h'
six miles further back NJ trcsnrs was
not abandoned voluntarily, but Wrestcd
from the cnomN after struggle 81 hVe
davs during which Eve different e.crinan
divisions tried to hold of q single French
DIVISION
.eThc divisions that tried tu prevent
the crossinc of the canal and river.
The Associated Press correspondent was
informed bv French officer. who has
partlcIpatcd IN most of The campaigns
of the war accomplished the greatest
concentration uf machine gun hr' tha'
has been witnessed IN tins war
rotRpAYs roc GAtN 500 YARDS.
The French troop were Obliged to
face that fire AZ rangr of twenty wards
~ order 10 cross the Olse Aisnc canal
I ond ,hc river Allcitc Pioneers throwing
bridges over The canal seventeen Nards
vide suffered not only from the quick
A. r. fi TIER
vrcnadc- |, required two days I" nd
vance Ia The AlIottc from the village
pont SAINT Mard. and four DAYS 70
0ain 200 wards ol ground The machine
guns we're posted thlcklN all along the
canal In front 81 Quincy md ~ the
woods thlrkcts and marshes he
French engineers finally succeeded ~
br,dgna the canal and over tn" hrst
bridge an cnragcd sergeant charged me
Germans around tuachuo gun p"st'lon
and SINGLE handed uadc twelve oi them
prlSnucr~ Such was the work that vent
on both along the rvcr and the canaI
during he ave DAYS each day cNhaH~tnp
German, : best divisions.
KILLED uttNS 81 rHtIV ru<~
TWENTY-FIVE quick hrcrS were found
n i small thicket called Etuaralssag'
who'd They we're almost aS thick 10
Nachc wood and the more extensive
timbcrcd land fronting Coucv Lex hate
and Coucv lille Where the French
could get At them, they charged anc
killed the German gunncrs on thcn
pirccs. hut many cmplacCmcnts "er'
too welt hidden Or protected for y dlrcc'
attack and Il was necessary 70 shei
them
RotHE FiEI HAVING sTokE~
During several hours French pro
iectiIcs sent Splinters f1lng AL through
the timber, and when he infantry charged
they had to 20 10 CoucN NiIlc e
catch the enemy who had fled leaving
his guns and an enormous amount @
materials and supplies behind
Coucv-le-C hatcau and the height OF
which It stands thus was turned from tn
north and dankcd AZ the same tlm
from tho south. while thousands o
shells filed the RUNS Of the surrounding
positions Chateau \ogent. 10 TIN
southeast. was taken about the SAM
time and with il the Germans lost posi-
tions on which they had spent trrmend
ous effort
They retired behind their three line
of harbed wire ON the line to Fresnes
The booty they left behind IN tw'
immense engineering dumps included
locomoblles guns and one l5-inch guI
with which they had hoTnbardcd Frencl
towns far behind the lines east Of tin
Ailptt4