The Sentinel=record., 1918-08-03
CITY OF SOISSONS
 REcAPTURED FROM HUNS
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Americans and French were meetms with similar success.
 Few prisoners were taken during the day but one of them, captain. admitted that the German artillery had been withdrawn. His story tenn ed 10 confirm the stories of other men captured, that the Germans were de termned to make their next big stand on the Nesie and not the Ardre. an that their movements under way in- dlcated the fortifying of Fishes as the center of the next fixed line of battle.
 1t is not anticipated that the Gar mans VIII withdraw to the Nesle lj,o without renewing their rear euard re = sistanec and 1t Is expected the nres ent virtually unopposed advance vii, end quickly, perhaps with stiff fight ing on the higher ground just south or the Ardre in order to give the Hermans more time for getting their artillery and stores across the river.
 Wlth only a slight advance in ad- dition to that of today the heavy guns of the allies will easily be in a posi- ton to shell Fismes and any part of the line the Germans may determine to stand on could immediately be made uncomfortable.
 Although the enemy's retreat on the whole has been successful and he has succeeded thus far in extricating the greater portion of his armies from the salient, observers have witnessed con- ditions which they believe indicates that the Germans are moving moro hastily than they desire.
 Huge clouds of smoke and dull ex- pIosions have come from St. Gille on the Ardre a short distance south of f1smes and other places nearer the allied front. These told of the de- struction of big ammunition dumps.
 Fires are also visible at eight or ten places even as far as Fishes
 That they had been started by the Germans seemed obvious as no al .. lied shells had reached these places during the day. The Americans ex, pected to find the enemy prepared for a bitter fight, but when they swung northward from their positions in the line after brief artillery preparation to which there was no reply. all was silence in front of them. The skir- mish line even was abandoned aiid in. men were enabled to proceed in sin- gle file through such wheat fields and clumps of woods as they had known at home.
 During the rarest of intervals there was spattering of rifle or machine gun fire which served to check the llne for the few minutes that was re- qulred to silence the enemy gunnrs.
 Three enemy aeroplanes were off cially announced as having been downed today. Three other victories were achieved. and it is expected that they will be confirmed shortly. Amer ican bombing planes successfully raided Conflans Thursday night. Lieu tenant David F. Putnam, of Newton. Mass, scored another apparent vic tory by driving down a German enemy bi-plane which he attacked from be- hind. All the shots from Lieutenant Putnam's machine gun appeared 10 have penetrated the enemy machine, but it's destruction has not yet beoa confirmed.
 In Lorraine the enemy put over a barrago at midnight last night but did not follow it up with an infantry attack as they did in Alsace on the previous night, during which eleven Germans succeeded in getting through the American wire, eight of them into trenches where one was killed
 During the preliminary bombar1- ment the enemy used a heavy coE centration of guns and trench mor- tars. shooting all kinds of shells. in cluding gas projectiles. An attempted raid at another point broke down al together