Bisbee daily review., 1918-09-04


 tains a menace to some of his forces and orders apparently have been given to get them out with all haste. The canal Du Nord, where the Germans are retiring, is simply a canal under construction and contains no water. It is like a railroad tunnel, with the top off It is eighty feet across and sixty feet deep, with its sides for the most part granite-walled, slOping slightly inward toward the bottom. There may be as hard fighting here as there was last year.
 It was early in the morning, after a night in which most stubborn bat tie was fought, that the Germans be- gan to show real signs of generally being beaten. The village of Etaing was reported cleared up. Hamblain- Lez-Prez, on the extreme flank, was taken and the troops moved eastward. But they did not go far as the Ger mans, in desperation had damned the river Scarpe at Vitry- En-Artois and flooded the lowlands in this territory.
 Patrols entered Biache St. Vast, which soon was reported captured. From this general locality on the north lu1 lbl u- Early in the forenoon airplanes report ed no Germans in any number west of Ecoust St. Quentin, which is east of Recount and Saudemont, where the British were pushing on and overcom- ing the diminishing resistance.
 The first substantial indication that the Germans admitted defeat was when the British troops entered Re court. after having reached the out skirts last night. They had been in the town only few minutes when the enemy artillery began smelling 1t heav fly from a distance.
 The British drove down the Arras- Cambrai road with ease today. One force, according to word received at headquarters captured Inchy-Eu-Ar- tois, another occupied and cleaned up the entire Buissy switch.
 While this was going on a squadron of airplanes, discovering large group of the enemy some distance to the east, managed to break through the protecting German planes, and rained bombs down upon the masses and this probably upset any idea the Germans had of making a determined stand west of the canal.
 Since that time airplanes report | only a few Germans visible for any | distance on the western side of the | canal and these observers flew over the whole region at an altitude of only | two or three hundred feet
 During the forenoon the British in- fantry moved forward so rapidly a. many places that they completely out ran their own artillery and pressed on with only machine guns preceding | them. Since then the guns have been brought up and it is crossed by the | Arras-Cambrai road. There is a bridge | head and the concentration of fire undoubtedly is hindering the enemy | efforts to get his transports and his guns on the east side
 The men can cross by scrambling | down and up the sides, and probably | a few crossing have been thrown over.
 After Inchy was taken the British forces among them Royal marines and naval battalions, began a drive to the ] south past MaeuYFes in an effort to reach the Bapaume-Cambrai road be- fore the Germans who were bleeing along it. Pronville having been taken during the night, the British worked southeastward and closed the valley of the Hirondelle river to Germans de- string to retreat that way with the re- suit that the enemy forces had to swing southward, then eastward, prob ably along the direction of the Ba- paume-Cambrai road also.
 Some idea of the German disorgan- ization may be had from the fact that a number of crews of German howitz- CTS captured were standing around their guns which they had blown up. Others complained they had had noth- ing to eat for four days because of the disorganiaztion at their rear
 Lack of German shell fire was ex- plained in many instances when gun ners captured said they had no am intuition. Many times, they said, they could have fired with open sights into the advancing British but they had no shells and could not get any.
 The fighting this afternoon seems to