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Show GEN. FRENCH TELLS HOW GERMAN I I ADVANCE ON PARIS WAS CHECKED London. Important details of the perations of the British army in France are contained in a report which the war office issued. When the German army began its eastward movement to cut the French center, according to General French, It was ignoring the British as a factor in the fight. The allies began a general gen-eral advance on September 7 against the German rear guard of their right wing, which had been left along the River Ourcq. The British army was re-enforced. The Germans began a retirement re-tirement on their right on the seventh. It was the first time they had turned back since the battle of Mone. According to letters found on prisoners pris-oners they had expected to enter Paris In a few days. The order to retreat was a bitter disappointment. The British crossed the River Marne on the ninth with the French, and on the tenth captured 1,500 men, four great guns, 6ix machine guns and fifty transports. trans-ports. The Germans of the right army seemed demoralized. They were without with-out food and surrendered readily. The continued advance, General French says, has delighted the troops. Text of Statement Issued. Following Is the statement as issued by the official press bureau: "The following report is compiled from information sent from the headquarters head-quarters of Field Marshal Sir John French, commander-in-chief of the British expeditionary forces on the continent, under date of September 11. This account carries the operations from the fourth to the tenth of September, Sep-tember, both days Inclusive. "It will be remembered that the general gen-eral position of our troops on Sunday, September 6, was stated to be south of the River Marne, with the French forces in line on our right and left. Practically there had been no change since Saturday, September 3, which marked the end of our army's long retirement re-tirement from the Belgian frontier through northern France. Change In German Tactics. "On Friday, September 4, it became apparent that there was an alteration in the advance of almost the whole p the first German army. That army, BiiiC-e the battle near Mons on August 23, had', een playing its part in a colossal co-lossal strategic endeavor to create a Sedan for the--allies by outflanking and enveloping the left Of their whole line so as to encircle and drive both the British and French to the south, "There was now a change inits objective, ob-jective, and it was observed that the German forces opposite the, British were beginning to move in a southeasterly south-easterly direction, instead of continuing continu-ing southwest on to the capital, leaving leav-ing a strong rear guard along the line of the River Ourcq, which flows south of and joins the Marne at Lizy-sur-Ourcq, to keep off the French sixth army, which by then had been formed and was to the northwest of Paris. "They were evidently executing what amounted to a flank march diagonally diag-onally across our front. Attack French Left Flank. "Prepared to ignore the British as being driven out of the fight, they were initiating an effort to attack the left flank of the main French army, which stretched in a long, oirved line from our right towards the east, and so to carry out against it alone an envelopment en-velopment which so far had failed against the combined forces of the allies. "On Saturday, the fifth, this movement move-ment on the part of the Germans was continued and large advance parties crossed the Marne southward at Tril-port, Tril-port, Sammeron, La Ferte-Sous-Jou-arre and Chateau Thierry. There was considerable fighting with the French fifth army on the French left, which fell back from its position south of the Marne towards the Seine. "On Sunday large hostile forces crossed the Marne and pushed on through Coulommiers and past the British right farther to the east. They were attacked at night by the French fifth army, which captured three villages vil-lages at the point of bayonets. Advance of Allies Begun. "On Monday, September 7, there was a general advance on the part of the allies. In this quarter of the field our forces, which had now been re-enforced, re-enforced, pushed on in a northwesterly northwest-erly direction in co-operation with the advance of the French fifth army to the north and of the French sixth army to the eastward against the German Ger-man rear guard along the River Ourcq. "Possibly weakened by the detacli-rr.mt detacli-rr.mt of troops to the eastern theater of operations and realizing that the I action of " the French sixth army against the line of Ourcq and the advance ad-vance of the British placed their own flanking movement in considerable danger of being taken in the rear and on its flank, the Germans on this day commenced to retire toward the northeast. north-east. "This was the first sign that these troops had turned back since their attack on Mons a fortnight before, and from reports received the order to retreat when so close to Paris was a bitter disappointment. From letters found on dead soldiers there is no doubt there was a general impression amongst the enemy's troops that they were about to enter Paris. Hand-to-Hand Fighting. "On Tuesday, September 8, the German Ger-man movement northeastward was continued. Their rear guards on the south of the Marne were being pressed back to that river by our troops and by the French on our right, the latter capturing three villages after a hand-to-hand fight and the infliction in-fliction of severe lose on the enemy. "The fighting along the Ourcq continued con-tinued on this day and was of the most sanguinary character, for the Germans Ger-mans had massed a great force of artillery ar-tillery along this line. Few of their infantry were seen by the French. "The French fifth army also made a fierce attack on the Germans in Montmirail, regaining that place. "On Wednesday, September 9, the battle between the French sixth army and what was now the German flank guard along the Ourcq continued. British Take Up Pursuit. "The British corps, overcoming some resistance on the River Petit Morin, crossed the Marne in pursuit of the Germans, who now were hastily retreating northward. One of our corps was delayed by an obstinate defense de-fense made by a strong rear, guard with machine guns at La Ferte-Sous-Jouarre, where the bridge had been destroyed. "On Thursday, September 10, the French sixth army continued its pressure pres-sure on the west, while the fifth army, by forced marches, reached the line of Chateau Thierry and Dormans on the Marne. Our troops also continued the pursuit on the north of the latter river, and after a considerable amount of fighting captured some 1,500 prisoners, four guns, six machine guns and fifty transport wagons. "Many of the enemy were killed or wounded, and the numerous thick woods which dot the country north of the Marne are filled with German stragglers. Most of them appeared to have been without food for at least two days. Germans Eager to Surrender. "Indeed, in this area of the operations opera-tions the Germans seemed to be demoralized de-moralized and inclined to surrender in small parties, and the general situation situa-tion appears to be most favorable to the allies. "Much brutal nnd senseless damage has been done in the villages occupied by the enemy. Property has been wantonly wan-tonly destroyed. Pictures in chateaus have been ripped up and houses generally gen-erally have been pillaged. "Interesting incidents have occujred during the fighting. On September 10 part of our Second army corps advanced ad-vanced into the north and found itself marching parallel with another infantry in-fantry force at some little distance away. At first it was thought this was another British unit. After some time, however, it was discovered that it was a body of Germans retreating. Germans Caught in Trap. "Measures promptly were taken to head off the enemy, who were surrounded sur-rounded and trapped in a sunken road, where over 400 men surrendered. "On September 10 a small party under un-der a noncommissioned officer was cut off and surrounded. After a desperate resistance it 'was decided to go on fighting to the end. Finally the noncommissioned non-commissioned officer and one man only were left, both of them being wounded. , "The Germans came up and shouted to them, 'Lay down your arms!' The German commander, however, signed to them to keep their arms and then asked permission to shake hands with the wounded noncommissioned officer, who was carried off on his stretcher with his rifle by his side. "One of the features of the campaign cam-paign on our side has been the success obtained by the Royal Flying corps. Praise to British Aviators. "It is impossible either to award too much praise to our aviators for the way they have carried out their duties or to overestimate the value of the intelligence in-telligence collected, more especially during the recent advance. "The constant object of our aviators has been to effect an accurate location of the enemy's forces, and, incidentally, incidental-ly, since the operations cover so large an area, of our own units. "Nevertheless, the tactics adopted for dealing with hostile air craft are to attack them Instantly with one or more British machines. This has been so far successful that in five cases German pilots or observers have been shot while in the air and their machines ma-chines brought to the ground. As a consequence the British flying corps has succeeded in establishing an individual in-dividual ascendancy which is as serviceable ser-viceable to us as it is damaging to th& enemy." |