Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-10-03

Continued from Pare One
that the Germans have ordered that
Lille be abandoned.
Unconfirmed reports come from Hol.
land h a the Germans are preparing
to evacuate the Flanders coast and
the towns behind II.
A dispatch from Paris says the
Matin that the Germans
are e%vacuating Lille and that the com
mander there has requisitioned all
means of transportation. eve Wheel
barrows and baskets. to take away the
booty. The newspaper adds that the
evacuation OF the townspeople to Bel
gian towns near the German border
Is being pursued hastily.
A dispatch from the Dutch border
asserts that the German Governor
General had given secret instructions
to the governors of the provinces to
send hastily all German archives to
Brussels. Allied aviators have flown
pamphlets telling the public to have
a little more patience, that their hour
of liberation Is near
The breach made in the linden.
burg system between lie Catelet md
st. Quentin by the British. Australian
and American troops. is also CON-
mented upon as III. incident OF great
Importance. Although 1t has not yet
compelled the enemy to withdraw and
while he. has temporarily regained
S%equehart. II is admitted by Berlin
that there have been retirements In
the neighborhoods of st. Quentin,
Rheims and In Champagne.
Whole Line Shakes
Taken in connection with the re-
treat further north, 1t Is believed that
the whole German line is shaking.
Nevertheless, the enemy Is putting
up a tremendous resistance and ex.
traordinarily fierce fighting continues.
The battle is ~fluctuating without great
changes in the position of the ION.
tending armies from Cambria south.
ward. 1t Is regarded as an open ques.
ton whether the desperate efforts of
the Germans indicate their determine.
ton to hold in this sector or IL merely
an attempt to gain time while evacu.
ating their present line.
The view is taken by the Mail that
the breach in the line north Of St.
Quentin imperils the whole German
position. IT say that the break in
the line was a tremendous G which
hM eclipsed everything the British
have done in the past. Special dis.
patches from the British front give
vivid descriptions of the terrific at
tacks in the neighborhood of Cambria
on Tuesday and of the stubborn Ger
man resistance in this sector. No
more furious fighting has occurred
during the whole a
Innumerable Machine Guns
Referring particularly to the strug-
gle in the sector north Of Cambria,
the Mails correspondent tells how in
one sunkep road CAPTURED by the
Canadians and British there was an
enemy machine gun every four yards,
but most Of them had been knocked
out by artillery fire. Along the road
bodies of men were mingled with the
'wreckage of machine guns. The
fighting never ceased and as the day
advanced German re endorsements
streamed forward in successive
groups.
The light was very good and the
British gunners fired round after
round with open sights. Germans
fell by the hundreds. but the gaps
in the ranks were filled and the enemy
still came on in great numbers. They
reached the points where their lines
were being fiercely attacked and even
dented the British advanced lines and
stopped for the time being further
progress there.
BY evening a deadlock was reached
and one Of the bloodiest combats in
recent history developed. 1t ended In
a considerable. but not ambitious, ad-
vance by the British, The enemy suf'
fered terribly. British forces did not
escape unscathed. nor has any day OF
the FIVE, which have been filled with
hard, continuous fight. been without
its price