The Chattanooga news. [volume] (Chattanooga, Tenn.) 1891-1939, 1918-10-08
BRING new PERIL
TOCERMANLINE
Crossing Of Aisne at Berry-au.
Bac First Step in Final
Drive
TO HURL FORTH THE HUN
In Champagne Franco-Amer
ican Follow Close After
Retreating Foe.
(Associated Press.)

\ASSOclaCcu TrcSS.)
Renewing major operations on
the center of the line from the
Meuse to the north sea, British
and American troops today are
smashing into the rear defenses
of the Hindenburg line between
st. Quentin and Cambria.
While Field Marshal Haig is
attacking on the twenty-mile
front north of St. Quentin, the
French along the Suippe continue
their progress northward toward
the German communication line,
despite strong enemy resistance.
The French have reached the
juncture of the Suippe and Aisne
rivers and have forced their way
into the two large towns on the
middle Suippe.
The Anglo-American thrust
along the sector between Cambria
and St. Quentin follows success
full local operations Monday in
the regions of Beure-revioir in
which 23O German prisoners were
taken. On the front of attack the
British and Americans are push
ing eastward from the hills west
of the canal between the two
towns toward the railway juno
ton of Bohain and the railway
lines running north and south
which are so important to the
German supply system in this re-
gion.
By entering Isles-sur-Suippe
and capturing Bazancourt the
French apparently have broken
the German hold on the Suippe
and made necessary a retirement
to the Retourne or Aisne, further
north. On the north the Belgian
and British pressure is maintained
and under the threat of further
major attacks the Germans con-
tinue to withdraw from the Bel
gian coastal region. 1t is re-
ported the enemy is removing all
telephone, lines and burning his
stores at Knokke, five miles from
the Holland frontier east of Zee
brugge.
From the Suippe to the Meuse,
on the southern end of the line,
the French and Americans con-
tinue to press the enemy hard.
Large fires are reported behind
the German line on the American
sector east of the Argonne and
the important town of Brieulles
on the western bank of the Meuse
is burning.
Crossing the Aisne at Berry-au-
Bac the French have brought new
peril to the whole German line in
the Laonnais and Champagne sec
tors in France. This advance by
Gen. Berthelot's men seems to be
a stroke which may be considered
in the future as the first step in
the final operation designed to
hurl the Germans out of the po-
sitions they have held for so long
from the Ailette river to the
Meuse.
will be compelled to fall back
rapidly. At the same time the
Germans retreating before Gen.
Gourad's army, further to the
east, will find that the Aisne, their
objective in the present |
retirement, is not refuge. 1t
may on the other hand be but a
trap for the shattered forces now
back from the Ply,
Arncs and upper Aisne rivers.
If the French are able to de-
bouch from Berry-au-Bac and OBJ
tain a bridgehead on the north
side Of the Aisne, the German
forces still clinging to the Che
Danes, along the ridge
north of. the Aisne, further west,
In the Champagne sector Gen.
Gouraud's French and American
troops are closely following the
enemy, who is retreating in the
direction of the Reitourne river.
The success of the French fur
ther west will probably hasten
the retrograde movement by the