Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-07-01
Starting Point for Drive
Captured Between Villers.
Cotterets and Soissons
1900 PRISONERS TAKEN
Resistance in Cutry Hollow
Quickly Reduced, and Count.
er.Attacks Repulsed
BY C.. Fl. PERRIS
Special Gable to Euening Public Ledger
lopDrtoht, 1918. by NcU York Times Co.
With the French Armies. ImlN /.

'opDrioht 1918. bv Ncc York Times Co.
With the French Armies. July |.
The troops which have achieved vic
tory midway between Villers-Cotterets
and Soissons are in high fettle. It was
In every way well-deserved success,
and. even without the haul of 1900 pris-
oners. would have been we'll regarded.
The aim was to take over from the
enemy several strong points on the east
side of the ravine of Retz. which he
mad organized as jumping off places for
his next attack, and so to obtain COM
plete hold upon what may be called the
Glacis of the baston of the Morte Fon-
taine plateau. which Is the great out
work of the French flank. constituted by
the forests of Nillers-Cotterets and Com
piegne.
As the Nieppe forest covers Haze
nrouck, but on a vastly larger scale
these tracts of the closest woodland
| cover the Partisan region. They are
simply an immense natural camoufage.
hiding roads and railways, camps and
depots of all kinds, and so giving the
French army invaluable liberty of rest
and movement. The deep valley of the
Retz Rivulet is the eastern edge of the
whole system of defense
Enemy Definitely Set Back
Held firmly whenever he made a
frontal attack, the enemy had begun to
try less heroic method, that Of creep
ing forward here and there into the
margin Of the woods. He is now definite
ly get back
lhe German positions between Amb-
leny and st. Pierre Aigle lay across two
stout hills. and the gap between them.
the hollow of Cutry. which was strongly
lortihed. The assault proceeded, there
fore' by envelopment three battaltons
strlklng north and five battalions south
"f tutry gap, behind which they ioined
hands.
The Moroccans, Zouaves and part Of
the famous corps of the line carried
| out the action and reached all their
obJectives in a half hour.
All time of the preliminary bombard-
fnent was dispensed with altogether. tho
valuable.
Led and supported by a number of
small tanks of French design. the troops
advanced fast behind a powerful rolling
barrage and with few losses fell upon
the German lines
II was only in Cutry hollow and in
the caves and quarries that riddle the
hillsides that there was any prolonged
resistance. and this was quickly reduced,
Half the prisoners were taken around
! Curry
The whole ravine, with the villages of
! Fosse. Laversine. Cuivres and Valserv.
with the east side of an important hill,
marked Meter 1852 and called Three Pop
! lars Hill. is now in the possession of the
! French, who under several rather feeble
! counter-attacks have not lost anything
Of their gains.
In a corner of the forest came across
the latest thing in cars of assault. IT
was a suitable scene for these weird
beast of prey. The woods was thickly
spotted with pine needles family lit by
| flickering CLEANS from above and closed
in by mysterious blue depths of wood
land. Over the crest of this fair domain
there suddenly tilted an oblong ochre-
colored machine, very much like armored
cars of earlier war days and then an.
other. and at last a whole line of them
When | approached an iron window
opened in the front of the leading ma
chine and revealed the driver, and pres
emily his companion, the gunner, put his
head cut of the turret above.
Baby Tanks More Rapid
These baby tanks-they weigh les!
than seven tons-are, in fact. armoreC
cars carried on caterpillar wheels will
powerful petrol engines and small can
non or machine gun. They are more
rapid and more easily maneuvered thar
the larger tanks. On Friday their ca
pacity for climbing steep hills was par
ticularly valuable, and they great!
helped in the reduction of the hollow a
Cutry. rolling around the edge of thu
hills above and firing downward.
Their weakness, of course, is that the!
cannot carry large stocks either of petro
or ammunition. but one car worked 1t
way hither and thither over the battle
fields for four hours and twenty minutes
which would seem to be as much as an!
two men. to say nothing of the machine
could endure. All the tanks | saw wer
pitted with bullets and shell splinter
which had not prevented them from doint