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Show IB in GERMANY FAST MOVING EAST French and Americans Pushing Hard in Picardy and Aisne Sectors British Gaining j (By the Associated Press) The French and Americans aro fast driving the Germans out of their positions po-sitions in southern Picardy and in the sector between the Vesle and Aisne rivers. So rapid has been the progress pro-gress of the nllies-thc French in Pi-lardy Pi-lardy and the Americans and French from Soissons eastward toward Rholms that the retirement of the ene-H ene-H my has the appearance of the begm-B begm-B ning almost of a rout. 1 Meanwhile Field Marshal Haig in I the north, from Pcronnc to J". has I been almost as busily "engadvith his. 1 troops in carrying out successful ma-6 ma-6 ncuvers which are only in a slight g Jess .degree of rapidity forcing the I Germans everywhere to, give ground. 1 Haig's men again have made the Germans Ger-mans taste bitter defeat on numerous sectors and the end of the punishment for them seems not yet in sight. French Reclaim 30 Villagca In the latest fighting in the region extending from the old Noyon sector to Soissons the French have reclaimed thirtv villages from the Germans; have" ci'ossed the Somme canal at several sev-eral points and are standing only a short distance from the important junction or Ham with its roads leading lead-ing to St. Qucntin and LaFere. On the south they have made further fur-ther crossings tit the Ailette river and are fast skirting the great wooded region re-gion which acts as a barrier to direct I attack on Laou, the Cheiuln-des-H Dames, and the western Aisne defens-I' defens-I' es of the enemy. Seemingly at the present rate of progress this barrier shortlv will have been overcome and indeed the entire salient northwest of Soissons obliterated. Already the I French south of Fresnes on the fringe of the high forest of Coucy, have pone-! pone-! trated the old Hindenburg line. I All behind the lines northeast of I Noyon great conflagrations are to be seen, particularly around Jussy and LaFere, which apparently 'indicate that the Germans intend to fall back as fast as they can to the old German lines running southeastward from SL Quen-tin. Quen-tin. Americans Hard After Germans The French and Americans are hard after the Germans between the Vesle, river and the Aisne and for more than eight miles, extending from Conde to Yiel-Arcy, they have driven the enemy ene-my across the Aisne and are standing on the southern bank of the river. Eastward toward Rheims almost up to the gates of the cathedral city, the German line is falling back northward. north-ward. At the anchor point of the line in the vicinity of Rheims, however, the Germans seem to be holding, evidently realizing that a retrograde movement , here would necessitate a straightening of their line perhaps as far eastward as Verdun. In the initial maneuver to the re- I treat along the Vesle front the Americans Amer-icans and French captured both Ba-zoches Ba-zoches and Fismette. From Bazoches they moved six miles ndrthward to Viel-Arcy, while from Fismette they have penetrated more than three miles northward to Barbanval, which is only a little more than a mile south of the-Aisne. the-Aisne. In Flanders the British have taken the town of Ploegsteert and positions southwest of Messines and northeast of Wulvergbeni and repulsed strong counter-attacks launched against them. British Heading for Cambrai Southeast of Arms all ,lhe way down the line to the south of the Somme below Peronnc the British have dug more deeply into the enemy's front on various sectors,4 especially toward Cambrai, and immediately north and south of Pcronne, in the latter region re-gion having driven in the enemy's rear guards for considerable distances. The Germans have been violently bombarding the Americans at Fra-pcllc Fra-pcllc on the eastern end of the battle; front in Lorraine, but have attempted no infantry attacks. More than 3,000 shells, many of them gas projectiles, have been sent into the American line by the enemy. I Americans in Furious Chase. WITH THE AMERICAN FORCES ON THE AISNE FRONT, Thursday, Sept 5. (By the Associated Press.) --In --In their endeavor to keep up with the Germans who are retreating beyond the river Aisnc, the Americans have organized automobile machine gun detachments de-tachments with three men to each car. . oro than thirty cars were operating north of the Vesle river early today. As not much German infantry had been sighted the automobile machine gunners were uncertain just where their advance might lead them. The outfit had supplies of food and equipment equip-ment to enable them to keep after the Germans for days. As the Americans pressed forward It was a different sight than that which had greeted them in their advance from the Marne to the Vesle. From the Vesle northward over the plateau the Germans had' cleaned virtually everything, every-thing, taking with them all of value, . or of use, and were burning that which they could not move northward or which might bo of uso to the French and Americans. Between the Aisne and the Vesle the Germans had loft great stores of supplies and ammunition because be-cause of their hasty withdrawal. The roads on the plateau north of the Vesle wero in fairly good condition condi-tion although in. some places over ravines ra-vines the Germans had endeavored to destroy small bridges. Engineers h iiuiciuy iTjyuueu uie roiuis anu Amen- H 4 cans on foot, on horseback and mule H teams, automobiles, and motorcycles H went ahead along grain fields overrun H with, -weeds and passed villages with H houses shot to pieces but nowhere en- H countered anything of military value. 1 Country Dotted With Airdrome Frames H The country for miles was dotted Hj with frames of German airdromos H from which some of which the Amerl- H cans say some of the Germans who H bombed Paris evidently operated. H Three or four of these frames stand in H aviation fields at a score of places. H The American oflicers believe that this H plateau must have been the principal H German aviation sito for operating H against Paris and the districts in be- Hl The covering of the hangars were 1 taken by the Germans when they ro- H tired and the wooden frame -a.-o.- ( damaged by shells that they are virtually vir-tually worthless. Germans Burn Freight Cars. Before the advancing Americans in the desolate valley of the Vesle between be-tween Bazoches and Fismette the Germans Ger-mans burned the 'freight cars along the railroad and the twisted skeletons of the cars are standing on the tracks. The - trees along the roadway between be-tween Bazoches and Fismette had been' cut down. The stone houses in Fismette have shell holes in their sides androofs and some were smashed smash-ed by German bombers Who vainly en-j en-j deavored to drive out the Americans. Check to Tanks Overcome. Attention frequently has been called to the Somme du Nord and Tortille water line as being a check to the progress pro-gress of tanks. This check now has been overebme and except in the north there now is no water line between the Entente allies and the Hindenburg line. From Harvincourt the British lino now runs to the west of Equancourt and through Bussu to Mons-en-Chaus-see, Athies and Matigny, 3V miles northwest of Ham. British Force Crossing LONDON, Sept. 6 The official statement reads: "Yesterday our troops forced crossings cross-ings of the Somme south of Pcronne in the face of the vigorous resistance of the enemy's rear guards on the east bank of the river. The villages of St. Christ-Brelst and Le Mesnll-Bruntel were captured with a number of prisoners pris-oners and our troops pressing forward astrjde the Amlen-St. Quentin road have reached Athies and Mones-en-Chaussee. "As a result of their continued progress pro-gress yesterday and last night our troops are established in portions of the old German front line east of Ncuvo Chapclle and the old British front line in the Fauquissart sector is again held by us. "By successful attack carried out yesterday evening, English troops advanced ad-vanced on the lino northwest of Ar-montleres, Ar-montleres, capturing several prlson-J prlson-J ira." |