Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-09-06
HUNBERT'S ARMY
CROSSES SOMME
French Advanced Guards
(, Now Nearing Ham and
Berlancourt
FOES MAN.POWER CRISIS
Bandaged Men Forced Back
Into Line With Partly
Trained Youths
BY WALTER DURANTY
Specidl Cable to Evening Public Ledger

BY WALTER DURANTY
Z Specidi Gable to Evening Public Ledger
Copni0ht 1918. by Ne,o York Times Co.
With the French Armies, Sept. 8.
General Hurnbert's army, having bit.
Ten. of the block which was formed
oy the angle of the enemy's line be.
tween the Somme and the Disc, con-
tinued to advance yesterday.
The left of the line of the Somme
Z has been crossed at Epenancourt. Hill
~, the scene of several days obstinate
lighting, has fallen. Our troops have
occupied EsmeryHallon, midway be-
tween the canal and the Ham.Guis-
card road. Here our advanced. guards
s are not more than three miles from
Ham. and the guns will soon be able
! to play on the Ham-St Quentin rail-
way. which, lis the enemy's main means
OF access to his front in the sector
between the rivers. Three hundred
prisoners were taken. Further south
Humbert's troops at Flavy Meledux
are thousand yards from the Ham.
berlancourt.Guisca road, on which
the enemy anticipated he would be
able to make a further stand.
AS our troops are on the outskirts
OF Berlancourt and Ham is menaced
from the north 1t. is obvious that
further retirement Is imposed on the
enemy. On the Aisne front Missy has
been taken.
il The Germans are retreating on part
OF the French battlefront. The British
victory. combined with Mangin's dog
sed pressure. is beginning to produce
the inevitable result. All Tuesday
night the heights behind the Vesle
were illuminated with the same fires
that preceded the retreat from the
Marne.
Wednesday morning patrols crossed
the river in the belief that the enemy
. was abandoning his position.
On the Ailette and the Disc front
the Germans are working their artil-
lery to the utmost. They know it is
Impossible to evacuate their vast ac-
cumulations of sheils-.and probably
guns. also-and are trying vainly to
retafd the hour of reckoning. Never
thelsss, the French continue to
progress on the outskirts Of the
Courcy forest.
But 1t is northwest of Noyon the ad-
vance is most considerable. Toward
Guiscard a double movement is being
, carried out. On the left Humberts
troops are pushing the dispirted
+ boche rear-guard eastward from
Chevilly toward the high road, and
along the road itself there is
Simultaneous push north from the
IeklOI1 VI 1NoyOIl. AT tllc IIIOHtHI VI
cabling, cavalry is reported to be
within a short distance of Guiscard.
The enemy must long now for the
noble trees that bordered the road cut
down in last years retreat. Time has
been wanting to mine the highways,
S>and there is nothing to bar the pas
I sage of armored automobiles, whose
machine guns and light cannon aid
the progress of horseAhen spread out
far <sVise on either flank
Makes Won Hutier Anxious
On the French left, Ham is meraced
: hardly less than Guiscard. and the
eastward march along the Somme val
ley offers possibilities that must fill
Won Hutier with anxiety regarding
the men and material still packed in
the Noyon rnassif. Chauny and posi-
tions southwark.
Can the Allies end the war this
year?" is a question one is beginning
I, to hear seriously debated.
AS was said to your correspondent
Y Tuesday, it is less eXtravagant now to
entertain such a hope than on July
\ IL to anticipate that the enemy
would be in the position that they are
today. The results already gained by
: Foch's strategy warrant the highest
hopes, and the Decentralization Of the
= enemy-which prevented him from
holding the colossal Hindenburg line
render more than precarious such
m operation of general retreat as he
seems-about to be forced to undertake.
AS early as 1915, it was declared to
your correspondent that the key to
The German line in France lay east Of
= Arras. At last the opportunity is
given to put that conviction into
practice. The confusion of the Ger
man : units shown by, the British
Identification of troops of eleven diff
ferent divisions on front of barely
three and a half miles. will be ac-
centuated in the retreat-always the
: mosA difficult Of military operations.
Bandaged Men Back i'm Line
IN Nor does the quality Of the reserves
available hold out chance of retriev.
ing matters. War.worn recuperated
81 Wounded are hurried back. still wear
=, ing theissbandages, to the battlefields;
Old. feeble and disguised factory hands
or miners, and boys, Of just eighteen
Z are being thrown into the furnace
under well.night panic conditions,
after few weeks Of insufficient train.
ing. A recently captured captain Of
K the regular army spoke bitterly on the
4s6ubject to French officer who In
y terrogated him. -
sIt is all over" he said. 1--WE will
he lucky II we can stave off defeat
\ this year. Some of our men fight well
enough, but the majority seem to have
lost hope and energy. And where are
our old noncoms and officers?"
'If they were all ike me- he added
i naiyely. 1--WE might hold out until
J winter gives breathing space; but
the ones we have got seem to know
nothing, and only care for their own
skins. And this dry season has served
YOU we'll. Your Internal tanks can
pass through places that We're marshy
~.