OCR Text |
Show ! LAON CITIZENS I FILLEDWnH JOY '1 Greet General Mangin at ' J . Gates of City With Tears ' j ; Streaming Down Cheeks. '".I , WITH THE FRENCH ARMY IN IS j THE LAON AREA, Oct. 14. (By tho f Associated Press.) In .1 literal trans- ' L . port of joy, the 6000 Inhabitants re- ( ;p roalning in Laon rushed to the gates of I jjj '1 the city yesterday afternoon to greet ' 'jj i General Mangin who made his entry I If i" into the city at 3:30 o'clock. Men, ' I women and children, with tears run- i I htng down their cheeks and waring the . j 1 trl-color, cried: IJ "Long live General Mangin! Long 1 I live the army! Long live our libera- "iJ 1 tors!" , I The crowd gathered around the gen - 4 j eral almost carrying him In triumph to f 1 the city hall where he was received by !, 1 the deputy mayor. The mayor himself 1 ' and GOO young men had been carried f off by the Germans. ': General Mangin's forces had reached t , i the Laon-La Fere railway at 3:45 p. , . ' m., and a quarter of an hour later the L J French tri-color was floating from the 1 tower of the Laon cathedral. About at , f J the same hour the last Germans had j !g ' been chased from the forest of St. ' 'i'!;, Gobain, which for four years had been fIJ one of the strongest bastions of the f enemy's line. 'I Pursuing their advance with height- X 1 ened ardor in the Joy of having dellv- ' j ered Laon, General Mangin's troops t j j went on several miles north of the ?i it city, liberating a number of villages 1 J; ; and arriving before the enemy's sec- k I" " ondary position. At Marchais, 2000 In- Ii , . naDiianis 01 mat iown greeted tneir jo'!' deliverers with joyfulness equal to 'J','y. that of the people of Laon. They pro- ' . duced a notice left by the Germans on ( I retiring to the effect that the French , ., , authorities will have until October 14, , i-l at 6 p. m.. to remove the population . i ; after which the town would be bom- A L barded. ,j , Extraordinary Advance Made, j j ;; The German resistance in this re-I re-I glon consisted mainly of machine gun ji (; I fire with a harassing artillery Arc upon j.', '' I the lines of communication. The advance ad-vance of the French troops was ex- 'I' I traordlnary, considering the difTicul- 1 !' I ties that had to be overcome. All the J ,1 roads had ""been blown up by mines at j ! . many places. The villages cither were i I mined or burned and great depths of , I wire had to be broken through. On the Y', ! front of General Gouraud's troops the I ' ' ' re-conquered villages, although seem- I 1 f fngly Intact, have been found to be j mined. I ' The Germans are defending stoically I all the passages of the river Alsne, all I ! the bridges having been destroyed. . I ') ' Fifth Army Goes Forward. I ' j-1 The French Fifth army has oontinu- I ! cd its forward movement, liberating I ! the villages of Stermc, Outre-Rame- P . court and Montaigue and reacting the U j enemy's secondary defense line before 1 . SIssonne. I' ; . Further to the east both the French I. infantry and artillery have crossed the I t, Alsne at Vleux-les-Asfeld and Asfeld- .( la-Ville. I ; , On the right tho enemy Is disputing I I .' stubbornly the positions along tho I y Alsne canal from the Aire to Chateau w 1 Porciene. |