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Show !i ' HARD BLOW CRACKS 1 HINDENBURG LINE I AND GERMANS RUN Ludendorff 's Troops Flee in Disorder When' Cavalry, Tanks j ; and Armored Cars Rush Through Unprecedented j' ; Things Occur at Many Points. X WITH THK BRITISH ARMY ON THE CAMBRAI-ST. QUENT.IN j ' FRONT, Wednesday. Oct. 9. (By the Associated Press) Last night (lie British and Americans had reached a , point where it was certain that the ! , German lines with probable one hard I blow could bo cracked. As a matter f of fact cavalry might have gone K through the German lines last night j in considerable number. Only patrols ' were sent over while the main bodies (i were held just back of the line, j After a night of severe firing from the British guns, the third and fourth armies again attacked this morning from Cambrai south of the front hold : by the French. At the same time the Canadian and English troops, after a . "crash" barrage, launched a powerful ' attack extending some miles north K . from Cambrai. ' Canadians Have Hard Going 1 j For miles tho front suddenly sprang $ j into actiou. The Canadians had hard i going at one place just north of Cani- ' brai, but with great gallantry swept on f , after annihilating the -Germans who tried to bar their way. From there ' ' on the resistance weakened and the , ' Canadians with the English, hurried j I . eastward smothering tho usual screen ; i. of German machine gunners as they ' i went on. ij M Germans In Deep Cellars !' ,, Canadian and British troops mot in $ the center of Cambrai which was en-U en-U 1 tered from both north and south and ft ; quickly mopped up. Many Germans " had escaped but many hundreds who k . had been held there to launch a coun-jj coun-jj tcr-attack were either killed or cap-It cap-It 1 tured. Some of tho enemy troops are Hi ; still In deen cellars, two stories un- Irt dorground, and in the tunnels the Ger-I Ger-I mans dup during the occupation of J. the city. These are being routed out j I and sent back to the cages. j j Although many fires were started 1 by the Germans, the town" was found to be not as badly damaged as had j ( been feared. The solid buildings 1 withstood the flames well. It was j evident, however, that it was no fault "( of the Germans that the city had not been razed. ' South of the city the Third and .Fourth armies rapidly overcame enc-' enc-' my opposition. The Germans started J fleeing soon after the attack began for they realized they were fighting a k battle in which they could hope for no I success. ! Front Line Moves Eastward 1 1 The front line for twenty miles bell be-ll gan moving rapidly eastward. Then ) came the reports from airplanes with ui which the sky was literally crowded, that Wambaix had been taken. Soon ! , i the capture of Harcourt was reported. ';. i From then on tidings came in rapid J succession of villages falling before . j - the Allies' rapid advance, i ; , Seluigny, Callery. L-igny, Montigny i ; and Marelz were quickly reached and passed and soon the Allies were clos- ing in on Caudry and Bertry. M At the same time from tho north it was reported that Escaudoeuvres, east of Cambrai. had been taken and that ! Inchy was being approached. I j The Cambrai -Lecateau road was N ' crossed and then the-railway between C' i SL Quentin and Bertry was cut. Seb- ' oncourt was then in sight and Fon-, Fon-, j taine Notre Dame, fourth south, had been reached by the French. By that time it was clear the enemy was badly bad-ly smashed and that the British and Americans stood on the threshold of the wide open country. Cavalry Goes Through It was about that time that tho cavalry, cav-alry, which had been waiting, went through the wide breach in the new shattered Hindonburg system and streamed out into the country beyond Fast "whippet" tanks and armored cars also crashed forward and came into action. They performed extreme-, ly valuable service- in punishing the fleeing Germans killing many and rounding up a large number of prisoners. pris-oners. They smashed down machlno gunriers whOjhad been waiting for the cavalry, knowing that it had come through the line. Allied forces are apparently west of the (owns reported captured. The Allies, Al-lies, having thus broken through the Germans north and south for many miles are endangered, for their lines are being turned. Retreats on oven a broader scalo than that now in progress pro-gress may therefore be expected. Airplanes Bring News Officers directing tho attack were distinctly satisfied as tho news came back in reports from airplanes and by runners, but, finally, one camo back that showed better than anything else how completely the enemy had been defeated. This was a report from an air patrol that British infantry had been seen marching as if on parade column of fours into and through the town of Bertry. The men were swinging swing-ing along entirely unmolested by the enemy. . , - i Cicrmans mcc in uisoracr Another patrol brought words of the! Germans fleeing in the greatest disorder dis-order as far east as Le Cateau. Enemy Ene-my troops and transports were streaming stream-ing along tho roads and over tho fields for, with tho British cavalry galloping over the country and with "whippet" tanks and armored cars working, they realized that it was extremely dangerous danger-ous for them to tarry anywhere. Such a thing as troops, who have just attacked, marching through a town 10,000 yards from the place where they started is a thing that has not happened in this war for a long time. Such a thing could only happen hap-pen now when the enemy is defeated, disorganized, disheartened and running run-ning for his very existence. The troops at Bertry did not tarry, but kept right on marching. Where the Germans Ger-mans will stop is of course impossible to tell. It is known that they have been working on a line running generally gen-erally back of Le Cateau but prisoners prison-ers say that this line is in an embryonic embry-onic condition and cannot offer much protection. Even if it did, the British Bri-tish would not have much trouble in smashing it, considering their overwhelming over-whelming preponderance of guns, munitions mu-nitions and men. British cannon had been on the move eastward all day long. In many cases batteries would gallop over the rolling places of Artois. They would stop and fire for a while and then dash on and repeat the performance. There is no intention to let the Germans Ger-mans get a chance to regain their breath and organize their smashed 'forces. British troops are advancing eastward astrWe the road f rorfi G)im-brai G)im-brai to Lecateau and every soldier has seen them further east. Tho Escaut canal north of Cambrai has been passed virtually along Its entire lnurriii t imc hoon loft far behind. The British are absolutely confident J they can break down any line the Germans Ger-mans may place in front of them. In the fighting south of Cambrai they have cleared the enemy from tho last line of the Hindenburg system, which in this locality was extraordinarily strong. Trenches protected by a belt of wire fifty yards deep, in which were numerous concrete pill boxes, were common obstacles. Tho British smashed down the wire, repulsed counter-attacks and then swept down the rear and wiped out strong German garrisons. The ground j in this locality is soaked with German blood and covered with German dead. Many French civilians have been rescued from the towns that have been recaptured. Five hundred wore brought to freedom in one town alone. It was soon afterward that tho Germans Ger-mans broke and ran that fires began to break out in the whole district behind be-hind them and the ground rocked with terrific explosions as ammunition, which they had had no time to save, was destroyed. Everything combustible in the area around Le Cateau, St. Souplet, Caudry. Inchy, Vaux-Andigny, Cambrai and Bohain was fired xind since then towns and farms well 'to the cast have started start-ed burning. Even this apparently did not satl-fy satl-fy tho Germans who seem to have, spread his carnival of destruction both north and south. More ihan ever it is evident that he intends to lay the country in absolute waste. Airmen have reported "explosions occurring all over, in one place after another." Latest reports say that the advance continues rapidly. |