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Show j: j ; Germans Making One of Most i Determined Stands of the War. WITH THE AMERICAN ARMY IN v FRANCE, Aug. 29. Reports from ; points on the line whore the attack is in progress indicate that the Americans Ameri-cans are confronted by what is believed be-lieved by many to be one o the most ! determined stands yet taken by the Germane, who realize that a break at any point would likely be followed by disasters. The opinion seems to bo that every yard of territory gained will be bitterly bit-terly contested and that it Is not im-piobabl im-piobabl villages and other ob jectives will be subjected to the fate of capture and re-capture many times before their possession i undisputed. The rapidity with which the gains were mndu by the Americans and French early In the day was not duplicated du-plicated In the afternoon when the battle bat-tle settled Into a strong artillery duel in which the guns of both sides fired often at direct targets and an unusually unusual-ly close range. All the skill of General von Schwer-in, Schwer-in, commanding the Seventh guard division di-vision is being exercised to hold back the Americans at their point in the line north of Soissons and save the Germans from the menace they would bo facing if the allies occupied tho plateau extending further toward tho east. Recovering before the day ended from the shock of the early morning attack General von Schwerln brought into play his artillery and other resources re-sources in a desperate effort to check the movement- Equally determined efforts ef-forts were made by those organizations organiza-tions in front of the French divisions on the right and left of the Americans. Ameri-cans. The country which has been the battlefield bat-tlefield almost four years again Is the scene of a conflict which has started out with the promise of being most stubbornly fought. Tonight the sky is dotted "with flashes of exploding shells while the roar of the barrage and counter-barrage must be audible, almost to Paris. In the back areas shells are falling behind the lines but so frequently as at many times pre-1 vlously. The Germans apparently are using all their guns and energy in attempting at-tempting to tear down the determined lines of their advancing enemy. How many hundreds of thousands of little 'guns the Germans have immediately imme-diately in front of the Americans is not known. Every hillside, ravine and wood crackles with their fire whenever approached. And it has been In the face of their destructive offense that the Americans and the French as well, have been moving. Comparatively little gas has been ! employed by the enemy. There have ! cases of men suffering from mustard gas, but most of them encountered it in shell holes, hollows and depressions where, it was old but still effective. As the day passed the visibility improved im-proved and the aviators of both sides became more active. Those of the allies al-lies rendered valuable assistance in their observation work. Just back of the lines there is a mixture mix-ture of French and husky young Americans. Am-ericans. Truck trains and long lines of artillery crowd all the roads, but everywhere there is that precision of organization which prevents a jam for more than brief intervals, this part of the machine co-ordinating well with that fighting a few miles beyond. German prisoners were scarce at the American lines today. Less than a dozen were brought in to division headquarters, although a few others passed through the dressing stations. The wounded are being given exactly the same treatment, accorded the American wounded and arc even being treated in turn of arrival. , -oo |