Omaha daily bee., 1918-09-08
HUNS KEPT
ON THE run
BY ALLIES
Enemy Pushed Back Almost TO
Positions Held Before Be-
ginning Of His Big. Of
fensive in March.

Paris, Sept. 7.-(Havas)-The lat
est news from the front has created
an excellent impression. The battle
center remains on the St. Gobain mas
sif, where the commanding position
of the French tends to render the situ-
alton of the enemy most difficult.
On the British front the Germans
arc holding on desperately but Field
Marshal Ha:g's men continue their
progress.
L'Heure says that between Petit
Barisis and Coucy-Le-Chateau Gem
eral Mangin's forces continue the in
filtrating movement that will give him
the upper hand at Anizy-Le. Chateau,
from which place the French fire will
reach back to the western part of the
Chemin Des Danes.
Paris Sept. 7.-Allied troops are
continuing to keep the Germans on
the run and as result of yesterdays
operations. have pushed them nearly
back to the positions they occupied
March 2l. when the first big enemy
offensive of the year was launched.
The Germans still enjoy a little lee
way in the Vermand region and be-
fore St. Quentin. but elsewhere they
are extremely close to if not actually
in their old lines.
The rupture of the right hand
hinge of the German line at Peronne
was an awkward blow for the enemy.
but as long as )the left-hand hinge
held on the Soissons plateau he could
play for time by pivoting around it
and clinging to temporary line on
the heights between the Disc and the
Somme. The moment that General
Mangin knocked down the defense of
the Ailette. however. that makeshift
combination became impossible, for
the range of hills on the Disc -Somme
front was turned on the side of
Chauny and Tergnier.
Then the enemy was obliged to
return Immediately to the solution of
a similar problem adopted by Won
Hindenburg in the winter of l9i7-a
retirement to the half finished canal
on the front from St. Quentin to
Cambrai and the line of the Canal
Du Nord and he lost no time in ex-
ecuting his plan.
French Progress Rapid.
The French progress yesterday in
following up the enemy was rapid, as
may be seen from the fact that the
troops engaged on the Disc at APPLY.
more than Six miles southeast of
Guiscard, moved northeastward to
Viry-Noureuil, the extreme point
reached on the Oise yesterday by the
allies, which accounts for the adj
vance of 10 kilometers mentioned in
last nights French communique.
: The enemy also was obliged to
hasten his retreat in the sector of the
Somme between Ham and Peronne.
The British progressed southwark
along the Peronne-Ham road toward
Athies. AT the same time General
Debeney's troops, which had crossed
the river at Epenancourt. obtained
footing on the highway and finally
captured the heights of Voyennes and
Ofoy, breaking the line. A general
retreat in the direction of Vermand
and St. Quentin became inevitable for
the enemy as did the abandonment of
Ham. which was outhanked on the
north and south. the latter by General
Humbert's advance north of the Oise.
The progress realized in the St.
Gobain region south of the river by
General Mangin's left had the same
consequences for Chauny.
The giving up withoutSa blow of
such places as Ham and Chauny must
have been bitter pill for the German
staff' tor it is considered unlikely that
their methodical retreat called for the
complete abandonment of these two
positions, the one. of which consti-
tuted bridgehead on the reverse side
OF the St. Gobain range of hills and
the other stood as al outer defense
of ST. Quentin,