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Show GERMANS IKING SERI0y STAND Battle on We3t Front Entering , Nov Phase Enemy Trying to Slow Up Allies. LONDON. Sept. 0 The battle on tho western front Is entering a new phase, j The enemy at last is making a serious ; stand just short of the Hindenburg' line. ! Tho Germans arc doubling their rear guards and seeking by counter- attacks to slow, if they cannot stop outright the encroaching tide of ,ho! allies. Their efforts have been in vain, notwithstanding the new measures meas-ures adopted, in checking the advance! of the French and the British, for both ! pushed forward yesterday in the dl-l rcction of St. Quentln. The French i mado such progress across the Crozaf ' canal, that tho enemy no longer can j hope to defend it. General Humbert's center is at the gates of LaFcro and General Man-! gin's left is beginning to creep around the St. Gobain ' forest by the west, while his right beat off tho enemy attacks at-tacks by which ' the Germans sought to cling to the Aisno front. More of such attacks are probable, but General Gen-eral Mangin will kn)w how to deal with them. They are local affairs and : a more serious effort is not likely toj be made. General Ludendorff is working for the respite which ho must havo if he I is to sort out his disorganized divls-1 ion and try to whip up" some sort of a strategic reserve. Marshal Foch is likely to be aware, however, whether the enemy is sufficiently weakened and demoralized to be smashed in at some part of the present battle front or whether a stroke elsewhere would be advisable thus giving a rest to Ihe ar- i rales that havo fought so indefatigably for the past two months. (By the Associated Press.) The Germans have markedly stiffened stiffen-ed their resistance against the allied armies from the region of Arras to Rheims, but their efforts to ward o& further encroachments into the territory terri-tory they are holding have failed. All along the front German artillery is in action. Nevertheless, the British have dug more deeply into the sector southwest of Cambrai, capturing important im-portant positions on the four-mile front between the Havrincourt wood and rieziere. regaining their old trench positions dominating Gouzea-court Gouzea-court and capturing Gouzcacourt wood. French Turning Movement." To the south the French are only a short distance west of St. Quentin and are at tho gates of LaFere. On this last named sector the French daily are enlarging en-larging their turning movement against the St. Gobain forest. The capture cap-ture of the-forest would remove the greater barrier to an advance on Loan in an outflanking movement against both the Alsne and Chcmin des Dames positions. The Germans here and northeast of Soissons also arc offering most determined deter-mined resistance. Reinforcements Rushed Up. Along the Aisne the Germans nre still endeavoring to retard the advance of the French In further crossings of the stream, probably in order to give their main army a chance to make its way nnithward in case of a quick rush by the French toward Laon. Large j numbers of ro-enforcements have been rushed up by the Germans here and also along the Aisne front where the Americans arc fighting alongside the French. Particular attention is being given by the Germans to the three hinges of their line in Flanders, northeast of Soissons and around Rheims. A breax through at cither point by the allies would spell disaster to the enemy. In Flandors the German strategy seems to be the obliteration of points vulnerable vulner-able to sharp assaults. Particularly io this noticeable along the Lys river south of Ypres, where the Germans are reported to have removed all their artillery ar-tillery to the east side of the river, and a little to the north around Wytschaete, where the British have advanced their line nearly a mile, and apparently with slight opposition. Artillery of All Calibers. The concentration of artillery of all calibres, including machines and large bodies of men In the region of Soissons, Sois-sons, where every nook and cranny ot the rolling country contains hordes of defenders, proves the importance the enemy places in holding this territory while nothing is being left undone In the region around Rheims to strengthen strength-en In gun and manpower the German line against the assaults the Germans apparently realize are soon to come. No Breathing Spell for Huns. After virtually two months of hard j fighting in which, from Arras to the Marnc, the Germans everywhere have been worsted, General Foch has given no outward indication that he is to permit tho Germans a breathing spel'. The greater portion of the German defensive de-fensive system in the battle zone already al-ready has been demolished, or is in the process of demolition, or being made untenable. Less than thirty miles of the old Hindenburg line remain intact. This is from the southwest of Cambrai Cam-brai to LaFere, and the British and French are virtually upon it at distances dis-tances ranging from a half mile to six miles at the farthest where the British Brit-ish and French are standing west of St. Quentin. When the drive began Su Quentin was thirty-eight miles distant dis-tant from the allied front. New Troops Thrown In AMERICAN HEADQUARTERS BETWEEN BE-TWEEN THE AILETTE AND THE AISNE. SepU 9. (Rcuter's) The French and American troops have evidently r,eachcd a line beyond which tho enemy considers they cannot be allowed to advance with safety to his defenses, and he has thrown himself against this new line with an energy which discloses the arrival of- fresh troops. |