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Show FOE WITHDRAWS ABOUTPEOOiE Heavy Outpost Fighting Occurs to East and North of Position. German Morale Becomes Lower as Soldiers Foresee Disaster. Ey POTT .IP GIBBS. (New York Times-Ohtcaco Tribune Cable, Copyright.) W A 1 1 C ORRCSPO N D E.NT S HEADQUARTERS, HEAD-QUARTERS, ept. 11. Heavy outpost fighting is still In progress east and north of Peronne, where the enemy Is strengthening hi rear guards and resisting re-sisting the advance of o;r troops more doggedly. He has a considerable amount of artillery in position again with Ahich he is spelling our advanced lines and villages like Fine and Lq jancourt, and places south of Epchy. where thei e was similar fighting in the spring of lat year, when be retreated for the first time over this ground. Our brave oatpoats arc not having an easy time round about ouzeaucoivt and on Chapel bin, where the enemy made some strong counter-attacks, arid t:e:r progress has been checked here and there by severe machine gun fire from German positions. Nevertheless English, Y,e'.s.. New Zealand and Australian troops advanced ad-vanced their lines again during the !as. forty-eight hours and have taken a good many prisoners after .s!:arp encounter!:. t'r.t enemy falling baric be'ore them w!.en our pressure wains German rear guards they must escape by further withdrawal or suffer heavy losses. It seems probable t!.e main Hindenburg line east of a.l this rear guard activity is new he!d In strength, by divisions tr-at have been partly part-ly rested and reorganized. Germans Confused. The best troops that the Gei-man high command can now bring into line are standing, while the divisions broken In recent battles are falling back through them. So for the time being the enemy gains a little respite and after the wild chaos of recent days, when in spite of great skill In leadership his forces became be-came hopelessly confused, he may hope to order his defensive positions according to old traditions of stationary warfare and repair damage inflicted on the morale of his men by assuring t.em that the gravest dangers are past. It will not be easy to do t.iat. for the German soldiers are" beginning to think more acutely for themselves and draw conclusions from evidence of their own eyes. There comes a point in all conflicts con-flicts w hen masses of men who have been falsely led to believe in victory suddenly awaken to the awful truth that all their labors and suffering, all their sacrifice of blood and ail their hoDes have been in vain and that their remaining remain-ing strength is of no avail against the powers against them. That point in time and thought has been reached by large numbers of soldiers after tle frightful disiHufionmen of their excited hope that the grand offensive of March could break through, crush the enemy's willpower and war machine, and bring peace at last. Men Disillusioned. Even then, as I wrote at the time, it needed supreme persuasion by their officers of-ficers to convince them that this possibility possi-bility was within their strength. There were many who refused to believe they could break us and turned deaf ears and cold hearts to the campaign of propaganda prop-aganda in which they were doped by military and political leaders of Germany, intoxicated themselves by prospects of their gamble for highest stakes. I wrote all that last February', on good evidence, which may have seemed a little false when, with their overwhelming numbers of Hi divisions to forty-eight, the figures fig-ures that have been given, against the Rritish front, they actually did break through our lines and threatened us with grave disaster. Then for a time, while that was happening, hap-pening, German officers said to their men, ""What did we tell you?" and the3 had no answer, because of success beyond be-yond their first belief. But now, when all thiit has been washed out. when they are back again in old places after frightful fright-ful losses, and when their strength has been shattered, they will never be strong like that again never again they have fallen from what optimism was theirs to depths of black forebodings. Defeat Foreseen. Vic tori" never be theirs in the field; they know that as a certain fact. They know it so well that when, in recent re-cent days, we captured large numbers I of Second guards division, cf which a remnant had just been withdrawn from the line, they desired capture, and had no more fighting spirit. Yet they used (Continued oa Pas Four.) FOE WITHORIS , ABOUT PEHQ1E (Continued from Page One.) to be proud troops, these mn of Kranz and Alexandra and A uusta rKl merits, and the kaiM-r had no prouder men in his army. n-r any more disciplined by training ami tntditlnri. Mr' n of I'rtinz r.-K ime ms were brought in f i rit, and w ere mih-ruble, t-ut later, when, after on or two more days of , hard fihtiiur. prisoners of Alexandra and , Augusta r KUnents murchrd down In i droves throuKh our lines, they not only were pban.'d at th.-tr capture, but actually actual-ly UTK-'d our men to at'ackinK and take, a.i many liermans as ponhiblf, so that the war would end uulckly. Kadi batch of prl.-oners was grcrted with open delight at our succt-.-s. As 1 haw with my own eyes, one party of the proud S.-cohd (iorman icuants had orie down und- r pr- --Mire of to) ifrat a blow, whi.h tru'k down all th.-ir f.nth anl hopr. S.i now que-r. Krlni thmps arc b.-in .-aid by the tii-rnun soldi.! arnonit th''f:-.- n and w rut- n to t-a- h I ohfr In iri irrt w o:rthtw' ' hr-ir f I il -rnsnr-s and f a lr-ti our hands, of siniM.-r lh:rs tru'h h. h , Ionic h;i b.-n h id l.-n from th-m A I fimi-i-'iiiimi.v..iMri rr of thr 2Jlrd ,-e-T. infuii'rv r's'im-nl, wntin to a I cornrad- in th- 'i'ttird r-rir infan'ry n-tc'rtw-rii ,,f th t,t.;htihirl division re-1 re-1 c:fitl , .".ay. , Propherics Sinister. j 'I ; .id reit !.i ;.i;i.-a n !':. .ir; 1 I 1 : r-:,.Mf i ; r ifrr.n I 1' is : I ;, o-i b.id hrJlW -i-'-.i.T;.-', I ,i i omH Ir-'rrnlr,! to ; 'v''ivr ,irr -.(irf f h.,d o it miKrt i ''if;. -r l ' l - il".(rf. 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