Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-08-01
AMERICAN CAPTURE OF
SFRINGES, BRILLIANT toif

London, cdncq,lay July 81 ester
day was q day 81 shocr hard n-and ont
GrhtIng On the American front. tclc
praphs Reuters correspondent IN thc
front north of the Narnc lie saws that
the final capture ot Sorngcs by The
Americans was an especially crvditahlc
achievement
Since the americans took the village
on MONDAY. the Germans madc no IN
fantry attack on the place hut kept ny a
constant artillery and machine gun fire
to drive them ont Tins continued all
dav on Tuesday and towards evening the
Cncm, seemed to think that the siirtt of
the defenders might possibly hc broken
ana then thcv began to emerge from
the \cslc- forest in n WAY that seemed 10
forecast fresh attempt 70 taxi he village
OF tho lighting which ensured. the CORE
spondcnt writes
Tho Americans after three DAYS of to-
and-ito lighting through Villages had
learned suhtlctN and were determined 10
have a rcal fight 10 tlni-h They cous"-
oucntl1 withdrew IS II retiring from
Scrlnpcs and the Germans crept down
from the high ground convinced they
had hcir opponents beaten additional
German troops came pointing IN until he
town was occuPlcd ~ y never had been
| before
Bur as the new occupants lVgan 10
organic thcir detcnccs they found that
bullets appeared to hc comm" IN from
three sides of he village and II was not
| long before thcy discovered thar the
| Americans. While withdrawing from the
front of the town had commenced an
! encirclIng movement on both sides, thus
! forming n uuC almost completely around
/ II
Then came tragic lighting The Prus-
! slan Guard had voted not 10 surrender
and thcIr opponents were just as ANXIOUS
10 sec the thing through Il was an
! affair of small arms, but the Americans
/ proved to be better shots and slowly pick
ed off men here and there
Subsequently the fighting extended
still further eastward and the Germans
who attacked were annihlated. Later
an attempt to drive the Allies from Hill
lS7 west of Scringes failed Therefore
the FIRST time since the Allies crossed TIA,
Ourc0 the Germans may be SAID To have
detintcI, taken the offensive
All through the days sighting the
enemy : airplane> attempted IN the most
daring manner to assist IN the assault
Early III the morning siX enemy planes
succeeded III penetrating as far as the la
Croix Blanche farm. near La Fere forest
firing upon Allied troops.
The issue never was IN dou bt. ~ this
Kind Of fighting he American Is more than
equal TO any Prussian guardsnan. and IN q
| little more than ten minutes all WAS over
! Except for a few German prisoners, every
German III the village was killed
During the night the enemy twice
attempted to rctakc Scrgy but each tim,
he was rcpulsed with heavy losses Then
he made a fierce assault on Mcurcy farm
east of Ser ingcS. winch was piled with
dead which he had left there the day
before when every man defending il died
al his post There again the enemy was
| unsuccessful Heaps of German slain were
| doubled
Members OF the Prisslan Guard who
were taken prisoner state that they were
ordered to hold the line at all costs Al
three Of their battalions apparently wer,
in the line on this memorable day. which
/ ended everywhere in victory for the Allies
| although there was no great gain Of grounC
During the following night grounC
near Cierges was captured by the Amer
cans This advance will make it possible
for the troops in this sector to Join hands
with the conquerors Of Sergy and Seringcs
"Thcn the Americans began TO advanc,
and slowly their ring closed about tn,
village, the defenders saw their doom
approaching, they redoublcd their fire
but still the Americans came on un
falteringly.
When the Americans reached III,
precincts Of the village, their fire cease,
and with one wild yell they closed will
| the foe. The fierce uproar suddenly gav
place to strangpsilcnce as man grapplet
with man Only the clash OF steel ol
steel and he groans of the strickeI
| could be heard