Licking Valley courier., 1918-06-20
NEWS review Of
THE PAST Week
Germans Push South Between
Montdidier and Noyon But
Again Are Checked.
BLoOD|EST FIGHTS OF WAR
Americans Drive Huns Out of BelIeau
Wood-False Statements by Prus-
sian Minister Of War--eaIlant
Exploit Of Italian Tor
pede Boats.
BY EDWARD W. PIcKARD.

Aiming at C0mpiegne and Estree st.
Denis, with the evident intention of
forcing the French out of the NOyon
salient, the armies of Crown Prince
Ruprecht Of Bavaria, under the lmme.
diate command of General Won Hutier,
started great drive southwark be-
tween Montdidler and Noyon on sun
day. The result waS.Ihe rfost dssper
ate and bloodlest fighting Of the entire
war, for the French resisted fiercely
and slaughtered the enemy in tremen-
dous numbers. By sheer weight the
Germans were able to push forward
down the valley of the Matz for several
miles, making their greatest advance
to the southwest, but by Tuesday they
were brought almost to standstill.
Then General Foch struck back with
force and on the west side of the enc
my salient drove the Huns to the east,
retaking COurcelles, lie Fretoy, Merry,
Belloy wood and other strong posi-
tons and reaching the edge of st.
Maur. The defense of Courcelles, i'm
portant BECAUSE of its commanding
heights, was especially heroic, the Ger
mans trying by every means to gain
and hold the village, in vain.
On the east of the salient the Ger
mans, by tremendous efforts, were
able to force their way past Rlbecourt.
and by Tuesday they had reached the
Disc at Machemont and Bethancourt,
the latter village being the scene of
especially sanguinary fighting. This
so threatened the French troops In the
thin wedge extending toward NoyOn
that in the night they were quietly
withdrawn without the knowledge of
the enemy, and the line, thus short
ened and Strengthened, thereafter was
held. In this move the Carlepsnt for.
est was abandoned and the new line
extended through Ballly, Tracy lie Val
and Nampcel
With the west jaw of the pincers
thus pushed down the Matz, the Ger
mans tried to shove the other jaw in
from the east, between Soissons and
the Marne, but there they apparently
were almost unsuccessful, for the
French gave ground only slightly on
the plateau west OF the villages Of Cut
~ and Dommlers and repulsed attacks
against st. Pierre Algle and Ambleny.
At Haute Bray, north of Scissors, the
Huns met smashing defeat.
I'LL
Further to the south, in the region
OF Chateau Thlerry, the Americans
and French continued their good work
Of the previous week. Each day Per
Shlng's men struck ut the foe hard and
by the end of the week they had
scored considerable advances, the
most valuable gain being the taking
; OF Belleau wood, which had been full
OF machine gun nests, In the Clignon
= valley, just north of this, the Germans
used up five divisions In futile as
, sautS on the American positions. The
French In this region occupied Mont
J court and part of Busslares.
r In the latter part of the week the in
domitable French struck heavy blows
P at the Germans on the eastern wing
I Of the new front and drove them back
p across the Matz with severe losses
n Between the Aisne and the Vlllers-C
terets forest the enemy made some
progress, but southwest of scissors hi:
!. attack was broken.
v n
|. The outstanding fact In last weeks
s fighting is that the Germans suffered
enormous losses, In return for whlcl
: they gained ground that is compare
h lively mlmportant Certainly ut III,
/. beginning Of the week there was feel
|, ing OF nervousness among the allies
II the civilians, not the soldiers-but Thu
Z quickly disappeared ane was replace,
II by .he former confidence In the ahll'u
Of the allied armies to resist the ham