Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1918-09-08
FRENCH FORCES !.
TAKE TERGN|ER !
FARTHER SOUTH
British Menace to St. Quen-
tin Increased by Satur-
days Advance.
GAINS OF GERMAN OFFENSIVE
ALMOST WHOLLY WIPED OUT.
Marshal Foch Now in Position
to Deliver Enemy Tell /,
ing Blow. fRgM
HINDENBURG LINE PIERCED
Plans May Contemplate Giant Turn
ing Movements at Cam
brai and Laon. .SiSNa
GAINS OF GERMAN OFFENSIVE
ALMOST WHOLLY WIPED OUT.
LINE PIERCED
tBy Associated Press.J

'.ss
tBy Associated Press1
Marshal Foch's succession of hama
mer-blows along the German lines
from Rheims to Arras since July IL
have now we'll nigh completely nat
tened out the great bulges created by
the German offensives of the spring
and early summer.
Further still. the we'll co-ordinated
progress OF his attack has brought him
to n point where he may we'll be able
to strike a still more disastrous blow
to the German defensive system in the
west. NI
From Laon to Cambrai the Hinden-
o9rG line stood all last year in the way
Of OF the "a allied armies seeking to drive
and Flanders. Little impression was
made in that line except, temporarily,
last fall. Already in this summers
campaign, however, the line has been
ery was SH tire 1s Its no
in the past few hours 1t has been
penetrated in Its southerly reaches by
AT CANAL DU NORD.
1t appears that Marshal Fochs plan.
may prove to involve the turning of
bral and Laon. In the north the Brit
ish have been for several days in a
position to deliver what Nigh, easily
Cambrai, where they have halted at
the Canal du. Nord and made no move
toward drying home the blow which
the logic of the situation points to as
inevitable.
In the south the armies of General
positions where the left % flank of II the ne
line is under their guns. and the edges
Of the defensive positions are begin
LINE HELD LAST YEAR
On the western outskirts of the bas-
ton Of st. Gobain. defending Laon. the
vance of the line they occupied in
1917. and further south. below the main
baSton has are are Standing on ground which
Further north they are before La Fere,
whence an eastward drive would carry
The French drive seems clearly aimed
at this massf, which, apparently safe
from capture by frontal attack. seems
an encircling movement: This. how
ever. may have to await the further
from the Aisne conde to va"xaiion
and there are not wanting military
critics who argue that tho Germans
at the Chemin des DANES position. but
that the enemy Will be forced to re-
treat still further north, thus addi-
The allied unified command makes 1t
certain that the expected drives at the
vital points on both the north in tho
Cambrai sector. and I'm the south,
around the Laon positions, will be SO
co-ordinated as to insure the maximum
result.
FRENCH AND BRITISH PRESS
ON HINDENBURG LINE
The process OF closing in toward the
HindenburE line at the points where
it had not yet been reached was cons
tinued rapidly yesterday by both the
French and the British. The British
moved forward at an accelerated pace
below the Cambrai-Peronne front, and
on that front itself they already are
close to the line. South Of the Somme
the French pressed on beyond TerE-E
nicr and moved up speedily along all
the line opposite the front between La
Fcrc and st. Quentin. !"
On the Aisne, there was little change
towards the western part of the front,
where the Americans and French are
on the river, facing the Germans in
trenchcd along tife canal which paral-
lels the stream. Further east the Ger
mans are giving grudEingly the angle
formed by the line trending off south
eastward towards Rheims. offering par.
ticularly stiff opposition to the Franco
American forces near Roman. between
Rcvilon and MontiGny-sur-Vesle. !.
In Flanders the British made some
further headway. hut found the Ger
man resistance stiffeninE around La
Bassce. The Germans apparently do.
not intend to give up Armentieres. in
this sector. hut are reported hurriedly