Omaha daily bee., 1918-08-01
WILL
CONTINUE
BIG DRIVE
Kaiser's Best Troops 0utfought
by Rainbow Division; Each
Army Bent on Destruc-
tion Of Other.
By Associated Press.

Washington, July 31.-An
odd calm fell over the Aisne-
Marne battle area today with
only the thunder of the guns
to tell of new and more ter
rible gusts of the war storm to
come. Paris and Berlin both
noted it. The infantry had
paused for breath while the ar
tillery pounded new roads of
advance for General Foch's
,ictorious armies.
Just what the lull may prove was
not apparent. Possibly the enemy. is
already on the move after the decisive
defeat he met in the battle which be-
gan Saturday and centered on the
American positions aiong the north
bank of the Ourcq.
Here the American third division
and the now famous Forty-second dl-
vision. the Rainbow division COM
posed of former national guardsmen
of many states, have made good their
positions against the enemys best
fighting units. .. =,
They have met, outfought and
forced backward by their herce ardor
picked Prussian and 'Bavarian di-
visions brought fresh to the field with
orders to hold the line of the Odgcq
at all costs.
Line Broken By Americans.
The line has been broken. The
American spearhead, driven forward
again and again, finally broke the
fighting edge of the enemy defense.
When supporting columns surged
forward across the Ourcq to consoli-
date the ground so valiantly won and
held by the first rush, enemy hopes
Of clinging to the present line dwin-
died.
Holding the apex of the allied line
at the center, the Americans had
paved the way for the dashing cap
ture of Chalmont Butte, to the west
ward by the Franco-British forces.
Allied guns now dominate the en-
emy's lines from this height tore
telling new inroads to his positions
and the strong probability that he
will be compelled to fall back to the
Vesle line.
Bent on Destruction.
The victory was given new signifl-
cance today by General March, who
told the newspaper men at his mid
week conference each army now was
bent on the destruction of the other;
all lesser strategic objectives having
been swept away on both sides. and
there can be no hating short OF the
goal.
AS General March never before has
talked at these conferences in gen
eral terms, when he turned today
from the pin-dotted map where the
turn and sway of the battle was
outlined in every detail, and for the
first time disclosed the true signifi-
canoe of the struggle in the narrow
confines, his words carried convic-
ton to his hearers. ..
"Whatever the enemy's objective
was at the start Of the drive" he said.
picking his words carefully, "and
whatever our hope was in the counter
offensive on the flank of the salient,
it is now perfectly evident that those
aims have been set aside.
Mission Now is to Kill.
"The objective of each army is the
other army; each one of them wants
to kill as many of the other as pos
sible. .
"The holding back of the jaws (of
the salient) by the Germans at Sois-
sons and near Rheims has made it
practically impossible for us ito ex-
pect bag. - -
"They have had two weeks now to
withdraw from the dangerous points
down near the Marne and the OBJ
iectiye of each army is the other
army"
The chief OF staff had prefaced/this
new conception of the great struggle
with a careful outline of the battle
positions, showing that since last Sat-
urday another ten miles had been cut
out of the length of the battle line by
allied successes. It is now barely 81
miles around the hattened salients in
which the enemy has massed virtu-
ally a million men, las against "a miles
when the counter assault was set in
motion. From Chateau Thierry the
Americans have made the maximum
,d,,,oc. royar;no IA ,o;1es fo roar