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Show 3VES AGGOUNT If OPERATIONS FDRTHREE DAYS V ar.guard Battle Between Allies and Germans De-scribed De-scribed by Officer on j field Marshal's Staff. IEMY DRIVEN BACK J TO AISNE RIVER inning of the Greatest juggle of War, Heavy jtillery Playing Most F Important Part. OTOON", Sept. 17, 10 p. m An ac-Jt ac-Jt o' the operations of the British in Fraoce and of the French in iediate touch with it during the pe-i pe-i from September 10 to 13, written ju officer attached to Field Marshal John French's staff, was issued to- r p by the official press bureau. The ' innt follows: Siace Thursday, September 10, the I jsl army made Bteady progress in eoJeavor to drive back the enemy jo-operation with the French. The Itry across which it had to force its j and will have to continue to do js undulating and covered with cs of thick wood. IWithin the area which faced the S"" si before the advance commenced, up to Laon, the chief feature of JeaL importance is the fact that there lii rivers running across the direc-oi direc-oi the advance, at all of which it (possible that the Germans might .. resistance. These are, in order " the south, the Marne, Ourcq, Vesle, le, Ailette and Oise. ".7r Guard Operations. Tho enemy held the line of the Be, which "was crossed by our forces j'j.Jeptember 9, as a purely rear guard !ntion. Our passage of the Ourcq. - (h here runs almost due east ana a; i-.vas not contested. The Vesle was lightly held, while resistance along Aisnubotli against the French and X'rlish, 'has been and still is of a de- lined character, j On Friday, September 11, but lit-r:- opposition was met1 with along any !. " tof our front and the direction of advance was for the purpose of 3eratiu with our allies, turned tly to the northeast. The day was !l in rushing forward and gathering firious hobtile detachments. By tfall our forces had reached a line ?lC::lh of the Ourcq. extending from m 'thy-Lc-t'hatcau to Longpont. (stantial Success. it .'On this day there was also, a gen-M-'adyance of the French along their le line, which ended in a substan- Jiiecess, in one portion of the field Wj Albrecht of Wuerttemburg's army '; j driven back across the Saulx, and fj .pre the whole of the artillery of a tan corps being captured. Several fan colors also were taken, was only on this day that the full w ot the victory gained by the allies 9 ntl'temner s was appreciated by tliem, i lltne moral effect of this success has CH J raormous. An order dated Septem-f Septem-f w i, Issued by the commander of ii.tJ,?" Seventh corps, was picked ; It stated that the great object of i'S ,iv T"3 out t0 be attained, since ' I't'wh weie going to accept battle. 3-'t upon the result of this battle tlewnrl the issue of the war and '"r ot the German armies. ems probable that the Germans r'h- expected to find that tlie British fas beyond the power of assuming- Jmensive for some time, but counted I'rencli having been driven back he line of the Seine, and that, ' Bupnsert to find the latter moving i'i i,f'"!ln 'h- a,,er 'bey liad i t ie. .Marne, they were In nowise lrom making a frreat effort. touched in Hills. eii the 12tl1- til! cnemv was fU I oc.cuI-''e a very formidable 0n the orth line at f They had both sides of the F M nn intrenched line on the hills . . i , ew ,; road bridges and two fcniii 5,;? fss',,!5 'be Aisne within I i'm ,2h0 froi,t- Sevn of tbe I MsS! h of the !atter hal been ' ffin!r,'rom tha wcst t the east, -rfrd crops gained some high L?'lh ,?f the Aisne, overlooking te. , ul l'yi t0 tlle southeast of . .hti'o, r a lonS-range artillery duel teCl. "T.?nd thoso f th French Ihnis L?, 11,0 cn"iys artillery on ,::o ,,, "UM aurl"K th0 sreater l iS a"11 enemy had a very te"Vavy howitzers !n we,i J;,Sr? '.tws army corps was W" a m! ro-l'ration with the French nO' 'wni half of the town during the rTT eorps did "ot cross T v" Vri. Sl ttrmy corPs sot over Cfli' fit , ; t0 the south of Aisne, C w eavSnS ,had becn SPCUred y i ? ? vls,on- u, thon reached iV! Alsne Practically without i ejy Against Infantry. 1!l!i!raro,'!ei,he, ,'lrst cavalry division M ' " derable opposition from in-nut'M in-nut'M IJX !lln.eu suns holding the !B , mml lhf brll3Ke- With the I ot the ,nfanr-. Rained nV .n 6 town about midday, & to 11,0 north- Somo ' ur. ,r? were captured around ''- Hermans had thrown a 1 ! r I c l,f fIld un ammunition ; '"t if J'ere U was v'slble under tho river v e 'ench reached the i ati ,Vesle- On this day be- V,."r eiaM .Whlch nmy 00 merely ' v be hi nature on a lar-'e scale, n more "lme"cement o a bat-1 bat-1 '"Ir! L " ,0US naturc-6S. naturc-6S. ,"J nil ,hV Von Saturday after- k Siiiubv PCd trH'sPort. SS "taii'oe "'raber 13' extremely 3" 1 ' our frL? s cPcountercd on the 'm' In TK'.whlch waa Kom f-fTCl-- for tho "V Tlle actl" V "at a? ESrrart ot lohB-range :a(fE!tent ,1 Germans being to a L"'enCtho,r heavy howitzers. )"; n e'j0;" e' erly concealed fflOlto ", octual crossings -ffj Kuardcd by strong de- tncliinonls rf Infantry ,vlth iniu-hine gnna "Hy lil,;litlall pnnli.iis ,,f nil ihrce coips v, r,; ,u riSH the river, the cnvalrv rptilrnliiK to the south side. l!v ihi's night, or early m-xt morning. Uir.-o pon-toon pon-toon urtdg,.s had been built and our troops also- managed ro get a, tosh the river hy means ot the bridge carrying the canal over the river. "On our left llio French pressed on but were prevented by artillery lire from building a pontoon bridge at Soissons A large number of Infantry, however' the i railway bridge left standing mn!,!"'!" thf UlH ",rpc or four davs many Isolated parties of Germans have been discovortnl hiding In the numerous woods a long way behind our line s a Tbi0 "e;, seemed glad to surrender and the condition of some of them mav bo gathered from the following Incident- An officer proceeding along the road In charge, of a number of led horses received re-ceived information that there were some of the enemy In the neighborhood. Ho 0 SF to arKe. whereupon three German Proclamation. "At Penlls. immediately on his arrival, a proclamation was issued by the commander com-mander of a (ie.rman division. The main pom s were that all arms were to he handed In at the town hall at once; that ..ii civilians found with arms would be snot at once: no person was to be in the street alter dark; no lights were to he maintained in the houses or the streets; the doors of all houses were to be left open and the Inhabitants were not to collect In gToups. Any obstruction of tne Oerman troops or the threatening ot them would be immediately punishable by death. "At Villers Cotterets. the mavor appears ap-pears to have behaved verv judiclouslv and though supplies far in excess of the capabilities of the place were demanded, the town was not seriously damaged The Germans evacuated the place on Septem-oer Septem-oer 11 In such haste that thev left behind be-hind a large amount of the bread requisitioned. requi-sitioned. "It was stated by the Inhabitants that the enemy had destroyed and abandoned nrteen motor lorries, seven guns and ammunition am-munition wagons. "Rheims was occupied by the enemy on beptembor 3. It was reoccupled bv the French after considerable fighting on September 13. ' Signed by Mayor. "On the 12th a -proclamation, a copv of which is In the possession of the Bri'tish army was posted all over the. town. A literal translation of this poster follows: Proclamatlon-In the event of an action being fought early today or In the immediate future In the neighborhood neigh-borhood of Rheims, the inhabitants are warned that they must remain ab- -solutely calm and must In no way try to take part in the fighting. Thev must not attempt to attack either lsolated soldiers or detachments of the German army. The erection of barricades, barri-cades, the taking; up of paving stones In the streets in a way to hinder the movement of troops, or. In a word, any action that may embarrass the German army, is formally forbidden. With an idea to securing adequately ade-quately the safety of the troops and to install calm into the population of Rheims. the persons named below have been seized as hostages bv- the commander in chief of the German army. These hostages will be hanged at the slightest attempt of. disorder. Also. the. town will totally or partially be burned and the Inhabitants will be hanged for any infraction of the above. By order of the German authorities. THE MAYOR. "Here followed the names of eighty-one eighty-one of the principal Inhabitants of Rheims. with their addresses, including four priests, and ending with the words 'and some others. " |