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Show I HII jyXd 3 1 WMi If HI MMJw M Ml '! 3 - Under Hurricane of Shellfire They Force v Passages Over Vesle and Repulse Attacks. Prisoners Declare That German Army Will Continue Its Retreat as Far as the Aisne. WITH THE AMERICAN ARMY ON THE VESLE, Aug. 7, 10 p. m. (By the Associated Press.) More American infantry units crossed the Vesle east and west of Fisraes late today. The Germans are counter-attacking . the Americans Ameri-cans west of Fismes, but the Americans Amer-icans aro shattering the enemy efforts ef-forts and holding their ground. W IT H T 1 1 E A M EI1 C A N A KM V ON THE AISNE-MARNE FUONT, Aug. 7. Under an inferno of shrapnel and machine ma-chine -gun lire and waves of h;ih, the Americans loreed their way over the Vesle river last night and early this morning, while ruin, varying at limes from a drizzle to a downpour, drenched the battlefield. French troops ahead y have gained positions po-sitions on the American left a ud t lio joint movement has straightened out the line from a point wi.st of Hazoilies to Fismes. The Germans lost considerably hi casualties. cas-ualties. Prisoners' stories tended to corroborate cor-roborate the opinion of those pt ovlously taken that the Germans expert to continue con-tinue the.lr ret rent until the A Ihiic is reached. The ti t lack began hot ween -1 and 5 o'clock Tuesday afternoon. 1 !y midnight mid-night those on the right had reached their objectives, the main highway e;ist a ud west extending along Ihe fouthillH Unit rise north of the river. The. artillci-y was delayed, hut it also reached the line shortly' before N o'clock In the morning. The nrmy on both shies are siill fighting duels and the. Germans continue Hinull arm resistance. Hut every hour tin positions po-sitions of the French and Americans ar more secure. LIGHT BRIDGES PUT OVER RIVER. I'nder cover of it Imriiign th'1 engineers engi-neers thrw light liri'ljjc.i owr the Htteain. while the officers placed their men in position, po-sition, working llnin downward tow;ird the bridges. The challenge;: were incepted incept-ed by the German ;t rt i 11 cry, tid In a few minutes the, in!rinitti,l npi.rlp of the guns, which hud hern be;rd nil dfiy, were im'tged Into on' great run v. The clouds, whi. h had lifted slightly, reappeared Jiu-'t before the :ii1,irk w:i hi u nched and the action was conducted without much advantage. In observat Ion by airrraf t. When the. ord-r for the advance w;i.i given the men, for the moM part, swept forward in open formation. The ;rrn:i nM launched a count er-at l ack w il bout, muc- CCKH. The men on thr A merit an right fought their way along the chosen routrn. Some of them Hound red m'tu.'h 1 h rough 'he wat'r, while olhers ufi d the bridi' 8 that Ntiil were hI .'Hiding. Moe detachment of ;eirnai.F-, Miuicwhat more than a company, movrd forward Into the op' n. !. re the American rna tiinc I guns ca'jght them, ;md, ewer ping them j with t.nhcrr, destroyed them almost to-I to-I taby. COUNTER-ATTACK QUICKLY DEFEATED. The 'P-iniaus alt'-rnpi'd to rt.ril:- im A m eri'-a ns a d ' -on-'-r' irig con n f " r- b! v with M ' oij.id'-rabb; frrri-e by pluiiL'ltig down a rnvhi'- I'adhi-: to 1h- river. Their p;itii had been cleared by IV ir ;utjlery and they -might have nuci-crdi.fi in reaching reach-ing the Ainerh ans. but the. movement had been report ed to t he art 1 Ih-ry s!a-tifuis s!a-tifuis south of the V'-.1 ! and front them 1),,.re y a e,t into th'- advancing minimi Fuch a mass of shells that thy formal ion was oui' !.!' broken. At another point a detachment of Germans Ger-mans stood until the Am'-rk-ans wen i (Continued on Pajio Four.) YiKEES II IN ' ! MTfMET BATTLE (Continued from Page One.) , upon them. Then it became a hand -to- ; hand conflict, tiie only one of the kind during tiie battle. In the mud and in darkness, where the combatants were . barely able to distinguish each other, they fought it out. i The A mericans won. ; Tiie Americans on tiie left failed to reach their objectives until they had j called for a second barrage. Under its : cover thev rallied and struggled forward! to the chosen positions. ' j The. ( ;.-rma us, in attempting to repulse' i he attack, used puns of 77 and 105 j caliber and meinenwert'er. They had i them on the higher ground, considerably 10 t lie rear of tin- battle line. The Ameri j can guns did exrcllcni work, not only in . covering the advance, but in breaking up I formal ions, especially one large assemblage assem-blage of infantry. |