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Show IMIS USE URHIHDDS Desperate Contests Won in Dense Growth of the Argonne Forest. TTITH THE AMERICAN FORCES NORTHWEST OF VERDUN, Sept. 27. (By the Associated Press.) All along the entire American front the Germans made a stand today, but, tn spite of their determined de-termined efforts to hold, their positions yielded one after another to steady hammering. ham-mering. The sweeping advance of the first day was slowed down, hut tonight the line had heen moved forward f;tr i enough to satisfy headgnartei's nd win j the praise of the French, whose liaison officers are closely observing the opera- ! tions. The country about Montfauron and thr1 j Argonne forest was the R'-epe of de-perate de-perate contents. The Germans led masses of machine cuns, and it wan ' against such formations that the Amer- i ioans were forced to advance. jn the Arconne forest the fiRhtln often developed devel-oped into an almost hand-to-hand character char-acter as the men reverter! to the pre- llmlnary principles of warf;ne and crowded crowd-ed forward through the dene growth. It was fu'htinp without artillery, for the1 combatants were too rioyo t'?ether to i pprrnlt the use of ruhs. and tbev were Iftft. o ficht tt out. They still are in th ' forest, but reports Indicated steady progress. prog-ress. ApDarently tlielrs was a fitfJit alone, h'd alon the flanks, even to the north, unit", of Americans ha1 advnnre.l HterifJIly. niakin? eertnln the eventual withdraw rii of tiie com para t ively small p- rr r( t nemy'R forces stationel in the wood to dl.ty the peneral advatic. Tanks apain co-operated In t h opnr,i-Hons, opnr,i-Hons, while airplanes .'ontribi)tC' nm tprially to their su-oks after the hcaw clouds which followed thp rain of the ra rl v mornine had dlsn ppea rd. Murld -roads hindered for roim" time the brlric;-rg brlric;-rg up of artillery, but hy noon the Runs were n position. They soon r- vernal what ha'J appe;ird up to that time tn he a slight advfiTitii at for tlie Ofrrminp. H was evident, however, that the enemy I had i-ofoverer) su f fi 1 "iitl - a ft r ) h- Mist RtaKti'-riiiK attnrk yesterday to tn hlish biv line nlonsr the sc otida r v d fn ;. ThTe position ar" Rood, and It Is ev -P" 'tfd tli at from them the German will offer a. stubborn reMst -i ne In an en- fc u ''fir to at lea fit rhfx-k the off n'-lvt 1 MopplnR up the countrv on the Airier - I l.vin left Involved ttiff 'tlsfhtlnR in the . r-'K'on of rhft ruent ry( which continued j until lat In the dav. The Grnians h-ft si rnn? d in ' hmen ts of machine Runner h flanking 'he town, arid t w?m ronsid'-r'-'l wl: to nupplf ment t he lpf;i nt ry'n work with tliat of artilU-ry, which was pl,T--d In poi-lt'ori at mlddny. |