| OCR Text |
Show ALLIED FORCES CAPTiiooras i Savage Drive Made in Belgium and Lines Carried Far To ward Courtrai. MIGHTY BATTLES RAGE Lille Will Fall Soon and Douai to Follow Next Is the Forecast. (By The Associated Prc.s) Savagely attacking the German lines In Belgium. British, French and Belgian Bel-gian forces have captured Roulers and carried their lines far toward Courtrai Cour-trai and Thourout. There arc indications indica-tions that tho German lines have been pierced and that the enemy Is retreating retreat-ing rapidly. On the other extreme of the battle lino American troops hav6 carried thoir lines well past the Kriemhlldo posltlon'wcst of the Mouse. They are now holding a front which runs from north of Cunel. north of Romagno and thonce northwestwardly to the vicinity of St Georges at which village it turns to the southwest and meets the French lines nt Grand Pre. French and Italian forces are slowly sweeping the Germans back out of the Laon salient They are now well to the castt of the Laon -La Fere railroad rail-road and have kept up a steady pressure pres-sure against the enemy along the Oisc valley to the northeast of La Fere. Mighty Battles Raging The Allied blow in Belgium appears to be one which may have a direct bearing on the course of tho mighty battle that Is being waged over the line from Dixmude to Verdun. The progress made against tho Germans Ger-mans on tho first day of tho offensive seems to indicate that it is possible for tho Allies to press eastward and outflank both tho German submarine bases to the north and the whole German Ger-man line to the south. The railroads by which the submarine subma-rine bases are supplied are In great danger as the Allied advance carries the line nearer to Ghent. It is rumored ru-mored along the British front in Flanders Flan-ders that British monitors have entered en-tered Ostend but this report is without with-out confirmation. South of the new break in the German Ger-man lines the Germans have been In a serious position for some time, Lillo has been in danger from the south and this new attack threatens to outflank out-flank the city from the north. Should this occur Lillo will probably fall and with Its fall Douai is certain to be involved. in-volved. There Is reason' to believe that the Germans along the flanks of the line from Solesmes to the vicinity of Ro-thel Ro-thel will succeed in delaying the Allied Al-lied advance long enough to permit the forces in the big Laon salient to escape. . All reports of the fighting in this area, however, agree that the Gorman losses in material and munitions muni-tions are very heavy. The success of the Americans east of tho Argonne forest seems to bring the Germans there face to face with the necessity of either greatly strengthening the forces holding tho line or retiring to the northward. This sector Is so important to the future development de-velopment of German defensive measures meas-ures that it may be expected that the ! enemy will strive by all means to hold "back the Americans. |
