Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-10-01
Germans Rush in Reserves
to Hold Up PershilgS Men
americans Fighting Pitched Battle in Rauin&s,
Woods and Heights Between Aryonne
<" and Meuse. &

restoring bridges and doing other
over g belt Of dev wa 0g neari y 'fre
miles in width. smoothed the way for L
the advancing supply forces by
bridging over gaping twenty-dve-foot
sheliholes. filling them in with the
plentiful rock they found In the fields
and adding thousands of sacks OF sand.
smoother.
For days at q stretch. with little
II any rest. and little food except, for
the iron rations they had brought for-q
ward with them, these engineers have
guarded and tended the roads and
hlled in the ruts as fast as the heavy
trucks have made them. far into the
soft earth. Now and again trucks
have broken down and wagons have
lost their wheels. threatening thus to
obstruct all the vitality necessary traf-
flc for indefinite periods. AS the
French did during the battle of Yer
dun, the Americans have ruthlessly
tipped over such obstructive vehicles
into the bitches, reloading the car
goes onto other trucks, so that the
vital supplies and the even more vital
ammunition might continue to ad-
vance. d.
New Roads Made Quickly.
Repeatedly trucks have been mired
throw them over to the side of the
road. In such instances new roads
Rave had to be built directly across
the sheil-torn fields-not deliberately
and carefully, but in ten minutes time. :.
and capa Bile of carrying the tremen-
dous and continuous traffic. and they
have been built almost in the time it
takes to tell it.
The situation thus described is one
which was more or less general TO
hn 70 nj
nowhere was it worse than to the
south of Montfaucon. where. the ad-
vance was all the more difficult be-
cause the Germans did not evacuate
points, and from it's heights could
harass the Americans Indefinitely as
they sought to bring order out OF chaos
in the rolling hills below.
Men Forced to Halt. p.
The troops had reached a point
about half way up the slopes ap--
preaching Montfaucon and so far
ahead of their artillery that 1t could
not shoot without danger of hitting
its own men, and a halt had to be
called. From above the Germans
seemingly held the Americans at their
mercy and hurry calls went in for the
heavy and light artillery to advance
at once. The already feverish activity
along the TOdQS peCdIHe IlOlt lcNcTisil
and the right of way was denied to
everything but ambulances so that
the guns might get into position.
The artillery was Still struggling
along the unspeakable roadways when
the American troops pushed their wa
warS Epinonviile and on to the west Of
Montfaucon. Although it had been be-,
lieved inadvisable, If not impossible. 70
storm Montfaucon without adequate ar.
spirit of the Americans would not suffer
a pause. Despite the check they had
previously suffered from machine guns.
and their knowledge of the odds against
them. they stormed up the hill once
more and entered Montfaueon. =
Germans Lose Nerve.
The Germans had lost their nerve
when they found the American troops
had advanced on either side. The enc
my thus was easily forced into a re-t
treat t'
A few hours after Montfaucon had
fallen the correspondent went to the;
scene. A view of the town showed it
far less damaged than those farther
to the south as far as the eve coulds
see and. which are now ne~a'v cru-,-
bling masses of stone, with here and.
there a lone chimney standing. ana
strength of the place against attack
may easily be seen, for from 1t one {,
gets a view for miles over the country.
to the south, where every movement
of the slightest character can be OBJ
served.
Huns Move From St. Mihiel Region
WITH THE:AMERICAN FORCES IN
LORRAINE September 80, 1890 Alb
American artillery late yesterday
shelled the back areas of the enemS
in the st. Mihiel sector. This was done
to prevent the extensive movements of
German troops. which were noted co.
ing northward, from reaching the sec
tor of present activity north of Yer
dun.
There are indications that the Ger
mans on this front are trying to send
aid. to the hard pressed forces now
under attack by the French and
Americans to the east and west OF the
Argonne forest. The German guns
retaliated somewhat when the Ameri-
can Smelling began. but their fire was
Ineffective. .