| OCR Text |
Show i a . . Enemy Rear Guards Arq Held Up by Flooded River and Are Annihilated; Annihi-lated; French Push Foe Back From Rheims. VAST AMOUNT OF BOOTY LEFT BY FUGITIVE ARMY By the Associated Press. . The German retreat continues unabated, with the allies everywhere every-where in hot pursuit. Apparently the situation now has resolved itself into a race for i the northern bank of the Aisne river by the Germans, who have , been evicted from strategic positions along the Vesle river, in the center of the line and directly "east of Rheims, which seemingly ren- f ders necessary that they put the Aisne between themselves and their ! pursuers to escape further large losses of men made prisoners. Just how large this bag of captives is at present cannot be reckoned, but unofficial advices from Paris assert that when the figures are made public they will thrill the allied world. General i Pershing in his communication says the Americans alone have taken 8400 prisoners and, in addition, 133 guns. FRENCH AND YANKEES TAKE FISMES. After hard fighting the Americans and French have succeeded in taking Fismes, once Germany's great ammunition and supply depot, midway on the railway between Soissons and Rheims, while to the east at a number of places along the Vesle river the French have crossed the stream, driving the enemy northeastward. East of Soissons, allied troops have negotiated the passage of the Aisne and are in position to harass the enemy as he endeavors to straighten out his line in conformity with that running northwestward. So fast has been the retreat in the center that already some elements of their forces have succeeded in reaching the northern bank of the Aisne and getting numbers of their big guns across with them. All through the salient towns are still ablaze behind the retreating Germans, and even corn fields have been set afire in order to prevent the allied troops from garnering the ripened crops. With the Vesle at flood and the Germans unable to ford it, they stood with their backs to it and gave battle for their lives. Most of them were killed and the remainder made prisoners. One of the most important maneuvers north of the Vesle was the penetration pene-tration by the Frenchrto the village of LaneuvDlette, which releases the German hold on the northern outskirts of Rheims and seemingly delivers the cathedral city from the German menace. f HUNS RETREAT NEAR AMIENS. With the Germans now thoroughly vanquished thus far on the Soissons-Rheims salient, eyes are being turned to the regions in the northwest on both sides of Amiens. Here the French and British Brit-ish are keeping up their hard pressure against the armies of Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria and have forced them on two highly important sectors to retreat. Southeast of Amiens on the old Montdidier sector the Germans have fallen back across the Avre river over a wide front, while northeast of Amiens, in the region of Albert, a similar retrograde movement has been made across the Ancre. The German official communication, in admitting the ! withdrawal near Albert, declares the maneuver was carried out j without interference by the British. j There again has been considerable activity on the Italian mountain moun-tain front, where, at several points, the Italians have attacked and defeated the Austrians. GREAT BAG OF PRISONERS. PARIS, Aug. 4. (Battle front, 1:05 p. m.) Allied troops have crossed the Aisne at several point between Soissons and Veni-,zel. Veni-,zel. The German resistance is faltering on the left wing of the allied advance, while it is growing stillborn and desperate on the right wing, where the Germans still retain a foothold on the south-; south-; Drn bank of the Vesle, between Champigny and Jonchery, northwest of Rheims. The number of prisoners captured by the allies during the last two days will thrill the allied world when announced. The Vesle river, which wai flooded owing to the recent heavy rains, ' (Continued on Page Two.) .: HUN ARMIES SHATTERED; THOUSANDS CAPTURED (Continued from Page One.) has " hampered the German rear guards, who were unable to ford the stream and had to fight for their lives. The most of these Germans were killed and the rest were made prisoners. Fismes is completely surrounded by American troops. The Germans are retaining a foothold in the extreme northern part of the town, where there is house-to-house fighting. Crack Prussian guard units are offering the most desperate resistance to the Americans. Amer-icans. FOE'S FLANK TURNED AGAIN. PARIS, Aug. 4. (Battle front, 4:20 p. m.) Both flanks of the German forces between Eheims and Soissons appear to have been : turned. The French have forced a crossing of the Vesle west of Rheims. German reinforcements are reported arriving in the Soissons sector from the north. The allies continue their advance, accord-1 ing to latest reports, although it is held within prudent limits. The ' allied left wing has moved faster than the right and further prog-! ress in the Soissons region might expose it to a counter-attack from the enemy. Allied forces in pursuit of the Germans have passed through veritable charnel-houses. Bodies of Germans found in clusters beyond the range of the allied artillery indicate that severe punishment punish-ment was inflicted upon the fleeing columns by the aviators. |
