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Show HOUS OH TOE RUN OH PIGARDY FRONT MONTDIDIER FALLS TO ALLIES AND GERMANS ARE RETREATING RETREAT-ING TO THE SOMME. Americans Aid in Rolling Back Teuton Line, Enemy Being Unable to Stop the Victorious Allies in Latest Drive Toward Berlin. Paris. The French have driven the Germans before them for an important gain east of Montdidier In Picardy. That city, which was the apex of a German salient that now lias been wiped out, fell to the French fourth army at midday Saturday. Before nightfall the victorious French forces had carried the battle line onward to an average depth of six miles on a front of approximately twenty miles. In the three days of engagements that culminated in the taking of Montdidier, Mont-didier, the French, took S000 prisoners. Their capture also included 200 guns and an enormous amount of material. Crushed by the impact of the British, Brit-ish, French and American offensive on the battle line from Albert, northeast of Amiens, to Oise river north of Com-piegne, Com-piegne, German forces are streaming back toward the Soninie river and the Nesle-Noyon canal. So far as can be determined, the enemy is in full retreat re-treat all along the front against which the allies flung themselves the latter-part latter-part of the week. The drive of the past week in Flc-ardy Flc-ardy was a complete success. The real offensive was launched from the direction direc-tion of Amiens within three days after the French and Americans had been definitely halted at the Vesle river. Before the crown prince could send back any divisions to Picardy the British and French swept forwaru irresistibly ir-resistibly with tanks, big and little, as the piece de resistance of their drive. With Villers Bretonneux as a center, the British struck to the north and south. Their northern flank of attack reached almost to Albert, their southern south-ern to Hangard. South of that the French were ready for attack near' Morisel and Moreuil, -where heavy resistance re-sistance was to be expected. The British Brit-ish attacked without artillery preparation. prepa-ration. The French bombarded the enemy for about 45 minutes before moving forward to the assault. Then they took Morisel and Morueil in severe se-vere fighting. Meanwhile the British, Australians and Canadians had been pushing forward south of. the Somme with the apex of their w edge directed toward Rozieres. The first day they did not take that town, which is about seven or eight miles east of Villers, but they gained positions beyond it to the north. On their left flank the British did not make much progress north of the Somme, and on the second day of the fighting they lost Chipilly. On that day, however, the German resistance to the south was broken by the British and French, who began to get Montdidier Montdi-dier into a pocket. To the north, in the center, the British, Brit-ish, with Canadians and Australians, continued to gain toward Chaulnes after occupying Rozieres. At Chipilly Americans were thrown into the fight Friday afternoon, and, Tith the aid of the British, recaptured it. On Saturday Satur-day they pushed some distance beyond Chipilly and Morlancourt, in the same region. By this time the enemy's lines had been so seriously shattered that a general gen-eral retirement to a wholly new line was imperative. Indeed, the high command com-mand probably had given the order for this retirement on the first or second day of the fight, but even this timely provision failed to prevent the allies from capturing hundreds of cannon and thousands of prisoners. The American drive in the Marne salient was the turning point of the war, but it is doubtful whether it obtained ob-tained the fruits that would seem to be the inevitable sequence of the Franco-British victory, in which the Americans are successfully participating. participat-ing. Botli battles have been entente successes in a special sense. On the Soissons-Rheims front the French and Americans have been nibbling nib-bling at the enemy, but in die process they have established some strong bridgeheads across the Vesle river from which to continue their operations. opera-tions. If the Germans retreat to the HIndenburg line, there will be no chance of holding the line of the Vesle, and the crown prince will withdraw without attempting to try conclusions with the French and Americans south of the Aisne. By means of their air supremacy the allies can watch every movement of the retreating enemy as if the entire battle were being thrown upon a moving mov-ing picture screen. The enemy, meantime, mean-time, is almost blind. His machines have been downed in such numbers that he cannot tell what the opposing forces are doing or planning. |