The sun., 1918-09-15
Entire Salient of st. Mihiel
Cleared in 27 Hours by
Americans.
ARE NOW CLEANING UP
Total Advance of 13 Miles
Recorded by Straightcn-
ing Out of Line.
NEW RETIREMENT BEGUN
Germans Begin to Fall Back
East of Verdun as Result
Of Blow by Americans.

Copyright. 1918: all rights reserved.
PARIS, Sept. 14.--1t is believed
here that the extent of the American
achievement in Lorraine and the
unprecedented feat of Gen. Pershing
in clearing the great st. Nihiel D.
salient, which had withstood all ns.
saults for four years, in just twenty.
seven hours, as is now revealed. with
n capture Of prisoners officially re.
ported at 10000. but which 1t is he
lieved will be close to If not quite
25 900, Is much greater than the Of
fetal reports indicate.
While the official reports indicate
and the Germans assert they nrc
standing on the new lines, informa.
ton received here is that the Ameri-
can forces are pressing the Germans
in these new positions very hard, 50
hard indeed that there is likely to he
crack at any moment. The Ger
mans are fighting desperately to hold
on, but the suddenness of the attack
and the great losses they suffered
have severely shaken their power
OF resistance, while the American
| troops. flushed with victory will sIm-
ply not be gainsaid.
Advance OF Mile Made.
The only retirement shown def
nitely to-day was in the neighborhood
OF Chatil!on, almost due east of Ner-
dun and a general Strengthening OF
the line across what was the south
side OF the old salient which made
general advance of perhaps a mile or
so; the maximum depth of the ad-
vance Is put at thirteen miles
In adAtiOn to the number or pris-
| oners captured, which is believed 10
constitute new record for the time,
very large quantity of guns and
| all kinds of military material was
taken. No attempt has been made
yet to list this booty. The number
of guns so far counted exceeds sixty
and probably will run above 100
The Paris newspapers are devoting
much space to the American drive and
continue their enthusiastic comments.
Some OF them ask IL the offensive Is to
be limited to the immediate object o:
4
Toul and Verdun railway line or whether
1t Is a prelude to other action Tho
more ambitious are making maps to
show Metz and the Briey-Lougwy iron
| fields, while editorial articles recall
Germany's fear of losing these vital dis
tricts, Of which the holntsche Zcltm0
said in 1916:
THE narrow belt Of territory con-
| tained in the Briey basin Is an important
| guarantee OF our military Independence.
| We require BIiey."
Aithough an extraordinarily sm"''
! lowed TO come through from the Verdun
region, the opinion among the people
here is general that the reduction Of tho
st. Mihel salient would not have been
| undertaken by Marshal Foch except a-
| an Intermediate or preliminary step to op-
.ro,io,s or cr,,dor sco,o ava ,hs mora
on,Irots,,o ora 49,, ltsnosod ~ 90, or,,
' '-',. "'e NO. GU ~ ''' 90,
"e"f i'"''s oi' u'e u'''""'o r"u''s W"'c'
may be achieVed'
Everybody here now is absolutely GER
tain that the Americans will do and do
| well whatever task is SET for then.
Sinca this hri,,,pt d-,,,o about =,
| ,,tL,o, A. ,.o,,. =, -,
''' ''e 'e.""e !" 'ee"'" " '''o Aine'
icAn troops mas h'eh mu'h lh'enslned'
| and to-day hundreds or soldiers In the
American uniform in the streets OF Paris
were stopped by strangers who insisted