The Twin City star., 1918-09-14
GENERAL PERSHING Is IN DIRECT
COMMAND OF ATTACK.
ING FORCE.
TANKS SMASH GERMAN LINE
Infantry Advances on Each Side Of
ST. MIhieI Salient Behind Heavy
Artillery Barrage-Yankees
Fight MagnificentIy.

GOUOOUS oCPIs HC S\UuCii.
can first army under command Of
General Pershing is in action
against the Germans on 20-mile
front on the famous ST. Mihiel
salient in Lorraine, which has
stood az sharp wedge in the
French line southeast of verdun
since the beginning of the war.
In the preliminary thrust,
ground was gained on both sides
of the triangle and also at its apex
at st. Mihiel and at last accounts
the Americans, with whom some
French troops are brigaded, were
fast sweeping across the salient
In an effort to close the mouth Of
the big pocket before the Germans
can extricate themselves from the
periious position they are in as
result Of the suddenness of the
blow and the element Of surprise
1t carried with it.
With the Americans on the Metz
Front, Sept. 13.-The first American
offensive started at a. m. between
the Meuse and the Moselle rivers.
The attack was carried out by the
First army under the direct command
Of General ]. ]. Pershing.
On the early advance the Americans
captured 10 villages.
The French. are assisting toward
the right and also toward the left.
This dispatch is filed from the st.
Mihiel salient.
The region Of the Meuse and the
MoselIe is on the Toul front, before
the important fortress of Metz, in
German Lorraine. This is the point
where the American concentration
has been on for months.
The American line is within two or
three miles of the German border. At
some points the line actually touches
the Lorraine line. The battlefront is
approximately Is miles from Metz.
Tanks Manned by Yanks.
More than 100 tanks manned by
Americans aided in smashing the pow
erful concrete reinforced first line of
the enemy, in the region of st. Baus-
SAINT az miles east of st. MihieD. The
tanks drove forward at sunrise, be-
hind dense smoke screen.
The town of Montsec (seven miles
east of st. MihieD was kept shrouded
In a smoke screen all morning long
to prevent effective German observa-
tion.
The Allies have complete supremacy
of the air.
The Germans now are falling back
on the fronts on each side Of the st.
Mihiel salient. The American attack
was preceded by a barrage lasting
four hours.
American infantry attacked behind
q heavy rolling barrage timed to go
forward 100 yards every 40 minutes.
The Americans are intensely eager
and fighting magnificently.
American and French troops today
began an offensive on 20-mile front
In Lorraine near the German border.
The movement evidently is aimed pri-
marily at the elimination of the ia
nous st. Mihiel salient, which for
more than four years has projected
into the Allied line southeast of Yer
dun.
Attack on Both Sides.
The attacks were launched on both
sides of the salient on 12-mile front
on the south and an eight-mile front
on the westerly side. The assaults
were progressing favorably at the lat
est reports.
A barrage lasting several hours pre-
ceded the thrust. Heavy concentra-
tions of French and American artil-
lery and airplanes had been effected.
The fire poured in on the Germans
from the Allied guns was terrible
one, while the German reply on the
whole was weak.
The st. Mihiel salient is nearly 20
miles wide at its mouth, from Fresnes,
IL miles southeast of Verdun, to Pont
q Mousson, and somewhat more than
Is miles in depth with it's apex Just
to the southwest of st. Mihiel. It was
driven into the French line in sud-
den German eruption southeast of
Verdun early in the fall of 1914.
Former Senator Blackburn Dies.