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Show Sbeo " 0FH1CE German Plans for Counter-attack Foiled and a Number of Officers Are Taken Prisoner. British" Force Retirement of Enemy From For- ward Positions in Re r gion North of Albert.! . ! WASHINGTON, Aug. 14. "In Lorraine one of our patrols made a p successful raid on the enemy's lines and brought back prisoners," r General Pershing's night commu-nique commu-nique said. "In the Vosges a hos- k tile raiding party was repulsed. L With the exception of considerable jt artillery activity along the Vesle, j; there is nothing further to report." f h By Universal Service. ' LONDON, Aug. 14. The German front between Albert and Arras is coving in. - Gravely menaced in its flank by the British far to the southeast of Albert, the center of that front began to draw back early today, marking the beginning of new important Teuton retirement. The Germans cleared out of the fore- I field positions of the Beaumont-Hamel- ! Serje-Puiseux-Bucquoy line. This is a ' front of some five miles, but the German intention manifestly is to fall back to and ' across the Ancre to the . Arras-Bapaume line, thus bringing this front to a level with its battered right in Picardy. 20 MILES ADDED TO ALLIED FRONT. Thus, twenty miles more have been ' added overnight to the allied attacking front, for the British are "in touch with the enemy," according to IFaig's night bulletin, which means that this new Ger- -man withdrawal will not be leisurely and without cost if Haig can help it. It is significant that the whole Picardy battle was ushered in by exactly this eort of operation; the Germans started to g-et out and Foch, employing to tho fullest his advantage of the initiative, promptly swung Ids offensive to that sector and knocked them out. With the Albert-Arras front added, tho allies' line of attack- from Arras to the Oise Is now nearly sixty-five mile in extent. RIBECOURT TAKEN BY THE FRENCH. But at the same time something happened hap-pened at the southern end of Lho Picardy tront that made a further extension there, too, virtually a certainty. Tbe French Third army, despite stiffened German Ger-man resistance, plowed forward west of the Oise and captured Rinecourt, five and a half miles south of Noyon. They thus 1 carried the attack right up to the Olse'B west (or north) bank. That mejins that, unless they can promptly throw the French back and hold the Lasslfiny-Noyon line, the Germans will have to get out of all the hilly country southwest of Noyon. on the cast (or south) bank of tho Oise. Such a retirement, however, -would bring the French far to tho north of the Alsne. and Into the liank of the crown princo Solssons-Hhcims army below tho Aisne (between that river and the Vesle). SPREADING OF THE ALLIED OFFENSIVE. Thuf, what has lcen pictured in the.se dispatches the last two days as a possibility possi-bility the spreading of the allied drive on both sides until the whole German center Dn tho western front is under concerted attack, on a line of 125 miles, from Arras Lo the east of Rheime has overnight be :omc a strong probability. The sixth and seventh days of Foch's second drive have been marked by one of Lhose phases which are "pauses" only m the surface; in which the sustained, Lhrottling pressure of tbe attacking force ;ounts more than the most furkus hourry it tacks bv rienr masses could count. T!v;. w.re svv unofficial, and so 'ar ncnnfi-""7d . 'orts that LarSgnv 1 H K V !RBEG0URT TAKEK By FRENCH TROOPS (Continued from Pag 0a&4 had been occupied by the French. While upon the lay world the fall of a town or an advance of miles always has an electrifying elec-trifying effect, military circles are far more deeply impressed with such results are recorded at the end of the seventh sev-enth day. Poch is beginning to reap- the fruits of his brilliant strategy. Lassigny will be one of them. So wiTl Noyort. These places must now fall automatically, unless un-less the Germans should yet make an eleventh -hour counter-offensive, and of that there seems to be as little intention on their part as there is a chance of success. suc-cess. And while the enemy is suffering the consequences of his defeats and confessing con-fessing failure by large scale readjustments readjust-ments of his line, the allied general is laying the plans for the next phase plans which stipulate "readjustments" not ns tha foe djiEs them, but' as Pocii wills thm. British Raids Frequent. As on- the day and ntght before the Pica Pi-ca rdy battle opened, the British, keenly on the alert, carried out raids yesterday on Ihe- Arra-Albert front which, it is believed, be-lieved, procured for them all the information informa-tion they needed as to the enemy's plans. A few prisoners were taken last night at Ayette. ten miles southwest of Arras, and between the Scarpe and Autre rivers. Tomorrow, sortie experts- suggest, may witness a. vigorous British offensive on this front to make the enemy pay for his withdrawal, jnst as he was made to pay for it. in Picardy. Bucquoy lies seven miles northwest of Rapaame, and ten miles sonthweft of Arrasv Serna lies seven miles noth of Albert Al-bert and eight miles southwest of Ayette. Beaumont-Hamel lies six miles north of Albert on the west bank of the Ancre. Puiseux lies three miles northeast of Beaumont-Hamel. Bapaume lies fifteen miles south of Arras. Aviation: Our crews have downed or put out of action twelve German machines. On the night of August 13-14 our bombing machines dropped thirty-two tons of projectiles on enemy objectives, Tergier. St. Quen-tin, Quen-tin, Ham and Noyon and bivouacks In the center of the region of Oguolles and the railroad stations at Maison Bleue, Guignicourt and Chatellet-sur-Tourne were bombarded heavily. Violent Vio-lent fires broke out at Ham and Noyon, which received as their share fifteen tons of explosives. Army of the east: There has been moderate artillery activity along the Struma and Vardar rivers. It was more spirited on. the Cerna bend and north, of Monastir, In Albania the enemy attacked, after bombardments lasting several hours, our positions, irk the region of Gereporocanl. He was repulsed completely com-pletely by our fire and our frontal attack. Our aviators have bombarded ar-, tiHery parks northeast of Monastir. Important losses were- inflicted on the enemy. British aviators bombarded bivouacks north ot Gievgheli. |