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Show - J Jj i li WITH THE BRITISH ARMY IN FRANCE, Aug. 10, ' i by The Associated Press. The enemy seems to be retreating :f today all along the battle line in Picardy, especially in the f center, where he is being heavily attacked by the British. m LONDON, Aug. 1 0. Information received in London shortly before two o'clock this afternoon was that the' French line was still advancing on both sides of Montdidier. One important result has already followed the Allied plunge in the Somme region east of Amiens. The important Paris-Amiens railway, by way of St. Just, use of which had been blocked by the proximity of the German line, was working work-ing again last night. LONDON, Aug. 10, 8:00 a. nr. The important town of Montdidier, which was approximately at the apex of the German salient south of the Somme, has been captured by ! the Allies. Enemy counter-attacks in the Morlancourt-seGtor -which followed the Anglo-American success were beaten off in in-1 in-1 tensive fighting. By nine o'clock this morning Montdidier had been surrounded. sur-rounded. Only a small number of Germans with machine guns were then inside the town. According to the latest advices, the front now runs through Dernancourt on the Ancre south of Albert, through Tailles wood, two miles east of Morlancourt; Chipilly on the Somme about 2J miles southeast of Morlancourt; Proyart, some three miles southeast of Chipilly; Lihons, about two miles west of Chaulnes; Meharicourt, 2J miles southwest of Lihons; Rouvroy, two miles southwest of Meharicourt; Bouchoir, 24 miles southwest of Rouvroy; Boussicourt, about four miles north of Montdidier and Gratibus, about 2J' miles slightly to the northwest of Montdidier on the Avre. Gratibus was still in German hands at the last advices. LONDON, Aug. 10, 8:25 a. m. The Picardy battle is spreading to the south of Arras, the Pall Mall Gazette says this afternoon. Heavy fighting occurred this morning in the battle area, with the Allies making satisfactory progress and taking large numbers of prisoners. One hundred additional German guns have been taken by the Allies. The ew attacks by the French extended the battle line some sixteen miles further to the southeast in the Montdidier area. In this movement the French scored an advance of four miles in six hours. To the north the important junction of Chaulnes is now quite untenable for the Germans as it is well within the fire of the British field guns. The 100 uns added to the 200 previously captured by the Allies were taken by the French in this morning's fighting. The opinion in London today was that the enemy could not now possibly hold any sort of a line until he reached the Somme and the canal from Nesle to Noyon. That would nake a maximum retreat of twenty miles. Roughly speaking the average Allied advance in two ?days on a front of twenty miles has been twelve miles. On the British front splendid progress is being made and the average twelve mile progress forward was an infantry advance with the cavalry, tanks and armored cars well ahead of the infantry and pressing the retreating enemy. LONDON, Aug. 10,8:41 a. m. Canadian cavalry which Is operating close to Chaulnes report that the enemy is fighting fight-ing strong rear guard actions in order to enable the stores of ammunition and guns to be removed from that town. PARIS, Aug. 19, 8:30 a. m. The German army of General von Hutier is retreating from the Montdidier line. The retrograde movement of the Germans is being accelerated ac-celerated by the favorable progress of the new attack south of Montdidier. The retreat of von Hutier's army is showing traces of utmost haste. Much war material is being left behind. The German rear guards are fighting desperately. Von Hutier's ref,reat from Montdidier was cut off when the French captured Favrolles. The Germans' position along the Montdidier-Ro3'e road is precarious, (By The Associated Press.) Montdidier, the apex of the German salient In Picardy, has fallen. The French early this morning smashed through the enemy's lines and encircled encir-cled the village, cutting off the enemy's retreat. Between Montdidier and the Oise, the French have taken the offensive over a Gixteen-mllc front arfd have swept the Germans out of the western side of the salient. To the northward, the British advance ad-vance is still unchecked, Chaulnes, the German base south of the Somme, is in hourly peril of being captured. The British have reached the village of Lihons, less than two miles away, and have the railway junction south of Chaulnes under their artillery fire. Further north the Germans are resisting re-sisting desperately but the village of Morlancourt has been taken. American troops are operating in this sector and had a hand in taking this savagely defended de-fended position. London reports that the fighting has spread northward and that a battle Is being fought south, of Arras. This, if true, is a new menace to the whole German position north of the Somme. The most Important development in the news today Is the French attack along the line from Montdidier to the Oise and the fall of Montdidier. The Germans placed a high value on Montdidier during their offensive in March and the fighting south of the Montdldier-Noyon line early in Juno was of a character that evidericed the Intention of the enemy to tear through the allies toward Compelgne. North of Montdidier the situation appears to be very dangerous to the Germans. The rapid advance of the French and British has virtually cut off the southwest which must retire eastward toward Noyon on open road3 which are under fire for long distances. If Chaulnes Is captured, the German! 'position further south is precarious in the extreme. Nothing is said In dispatches today of the situation in Flanders where it was reported yesterday that the Germans Ger-mans were retiring from the extreme side of the Lys salient. There' Is no new reports of events along the Vece and Aisne. LONDON, Aug. 10. The number of prisoners taken from the Germans in the fighting In Picardy has increased to 2-1,000, today's war office statement announces. American troops delivered an attack at-tack in the angle between the Somme and the Ancre and achieved a considerable consid-erable success. American and British troops captured cap-tured the town of Morlancourt between be-tween Ihe Somme and the Ancre. Canadian and Australian forces captured cap-tured Bouchoir, Meharicourt and Lihons, Li-hons, and have entered Rainescourt and Proyart. The French forces captured Lo Tronquoy, Lo Fretoy and Assainvil-lers. Assainvil-lers. PARIS, Aug. 30 The French began be-gan a movement southeast of Montdidier Mont-didier last night and virtually have that place surrounded, according to the official statement of the war office of-fice today. The towns of Assanivillers and Rubescourt were captured and the French reached Faverollcs, less than two milos east of Montdidier. Northwest of Montdidier the' French have advanced east of Arvillers, six miles northeast of Roye and have captured cap-tured Davenscourt, two miles east of Pierrepont. |