The sun., 1918-10-12
Three Drives by Allies All
Aim at Railway From
Metz to Flanders.
IMPERILS ENTIRE LINE
Enemy Hastens to Reach
Lille, Maubeuge, Sedan,
Montmedy Position.
BRITISH SWEEP ONWARD
French in Champagne and
Pershing's Army Still En-
counter Resistance.


verglng attacks of the Allies the
whole German line in France has
been broken and the enemy is in slow
movement rearward. Douai has been
tlanked by the British, and now. ac-
cording TO reports from the front,
is being evacuated by the Germans,
whose retirement extends through
the Laon region, ut the great elbow
in the line, and eastward to beyond
the Meuse. Here the American troops
are harrying the retiring Germans
and making life for them almost un-
bearable.
On the northern sector. between
Douai and the region south of st.
Quentin, the retreat is so rapid that
the pursuers frequently lose touch
with the fleeing enemy and they have
been unable to bring their artillery
to the actual front, which moves
| faster than the guns can progress.
In this sector there is practically no
infantry resistance by the Germans,
| uioN 10 ullilpSl tuSl.
Probable stand OF Enemy.
In the Champagne region and as far
, east as the Meuse the retreat is to the
north and Is at a slower rate. with
considerably more resistance. Ace
cording to a late despatch from Am-
! sterdam Gen. Won I.iebert writing in
| the TdegIiSChe RundSChdu of Berlin.
Indicates the retirement of the Ger
man armies to the line of Lille, Maui
beuge, Sedan, Montmedy, Metz and
Dledenhofen CThionville). The writer
gays that here is laid the strategic
chessboard on which the German
fatherland is to be defended outside
its own frontiers.
This great retrograde movement has
| affected also the Belgian front where
the Germans already have practically
evacuated the coastal region and are
said to be destroying the harbor works
at Ostend and Zeebruggc.
Railway Line Is Objective.
IN their advance toward Douai the
British have reached the Lens-Douai
| railroad near Beaumont and further
north are at Henin-Letard. Their OBJ
jective here apparently is not Douai,
which is as good as theirs now, but to
reach and cut the great railroad which
Is the main German supply line, ths
NalenCennes-Lille railway, which ex-
tends eastward through Mezieres and
then through Malmedy 10 Metz
The French drive northWard in the
Champagne is aimed AZ this same rail-
way while the Americans further east
have made it their objective also and
they are quite close TO IT. In a very
short time the road will be cut and then
the whole German position in France will
have 20 be evacuated
In their main attack the British have
left Cambria far behind and to-day were
| pushing eastward from lie Cateau. They
crossed the Sellc there and made a
! maximum advance of about five miles on
a front OF about thirty miles In this dis
trict. At the same time they are driving
forward in the adjoining sector to the
north where they are progressing along
the northerly bank Of the Haute Deule
Canal, east OF Lens
The victory in the Cambria region in
creases daily in magnitude, producing In
direct repcrCussions over the whole front.
The wedge driven into the German lines
to depth OF twenty miles I'm five days
menaces the Douai-Laou sectors. The
Germans are in general retreat from
this region to Ncrduu
French Advance Four Miles.
East OF st. Quentin the French adj
Nanced in places about four miles, free.
ing numerous villages. Gen. DeDeney
close on the heels OF the rctrcating Ger
mans, has reached the Disc near Berne-
vile, where the Germans are trying to
make a stand against him.
Further south Italian troops under
Gen. Mangin have coached the famous
Chemin des Danes IN the region Of
Courtecon. This powerful, position is
being abandoned by the Germans as
rapidly as they can get away aud there
is every indication that the massif OF
81. Gobain, near the western end OF
the famous road, is no longer tenable
: for them. lts capture by the French
Is regarded as a matter Of days, al
= though for four years II .,hod all cf-
forts OF the Allies 10 ntvS, Il from the
? kaiSers troops
t The enemy front in this region, under
the assaults of Gen, Mangin's forces and