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Show GERMANS RETREAT 1 A WIDE FRONT Troops Outfought by Franco-Americans Franco-Americans Between Rheims and Argonne "Forest. RHEIMS IS DELIVERED Americans Battling Brilliantly and Slowly Clearing Area of German Forces. (Ey Tho Associated Press) Outfought by the French and Americans, Ameri-cans, the Germans are retreating on a wide front in the Champagne sector between Rheims and the Ai'gonne for-' for-' est. The eneny has been caught be-j be-j tween General Berthelot's army, on the west, and General Gouraud's-forces on jtho east, and is retiring northward to-! to-! ward the Retourne river. I It may be possible for them to stand back of that stream but it scemsim-f scemsim-f probable that thero will be much of a halt in the retreat until the Germans reach the Aisne. General Bethelot's advance in the Rheims region has ' gravely menaced tho enemy forces south of the Retourne and, although the retrograde movement is being covered cov-ered by rear guards, well supplied with machine guns, it appears to be going j on rapidly. The French seem to have j reached the Suippe over a wide front. I American forces have been battling j brilliantly with Gouraud's army and jhave aided maierJally in expelling the t otfeinyrrofirfmr,'Chami)agne sector.' 'Further east thr Americans fiehtinir between tho Argonne forest and the Meuse are slowly clearing the Germans Ger-mans from the area before the Kreini-hilde Kreini-hilde line and gathoring their forces for an assault on that powerful position. posi-tion. Germans Retreat in Lille Region. From the region of Lille southward to Cambrai the German retreat begun when Lens and Armentierco were abandoned last week, is continuing with what appears to be precipitation. Thero is every reason to believe that the city of Lille will be Evacuated by the enemy within a few days and that his retirement will extend far down tho front to the St. Quentin sector where both the French and British are reported to be clear through tho Hin-defiburg Hin-defiburg line. So far the German line from St. Quentin south to the Ailette and thence eastward to Berry -au-Bac is standing quito firmly and evidently this part of the enemy's position is being used as a pivot as his armies to the north and east swing back to new positions. Hinge of Line Broken. Italian forces however have struck at the German lines in front of Laon and early reports of progress made thero would appear to justify the be lief that the hinge of the foe s lines may be broken. German detachments which have been fighting beside the Bulgarian army in Macedonia are being withdrawn, with-drawn, according to an announcement made at Berlin. Serbian and Freuch forces are reported to have inflicted a defeat on German and Austrian units near the city of Vranje. American Press Comment. "Unconditional surrender," Is the answer of tho American press to the appeal for peace made by Austria and Germany. Olllcial copies of tho pence proposals of the Central powers have not as yet been acted upon by President Presi-dent Wilson, but it is reported that the. attitudo of official Washington does not encourage the hope entertained by the enemy that tho allies can be induced in-duced to enter into negotiations at a time when Germany's armies are in retreat and when Marshal Foch's masterly mas-terly strategy is beginning to' bear fruit. So far as press comments reflect the situation in France and England, there is no disposition in those countries to consider the effort of the enemy other than a new manoeuver which promises but Jittlo more than mignt many times since the beginning of tho war have attacked the city and who have vented their Impotent rage against it with incendiary in-cendiary bombardments but who have never been able to take it. Bombing Squardons Busy. "Atmospheric conditions on October 1 wcro not favorable for observations along most of the front. Our bombing squadrons dropped thirty tons of bombs during the day on assemblages of troops, convoys and enemy batteries. batter-ies. During the night in spite of the bad weather other airplanes dropped 1700 kilograms of projectiles on military mili-tary objectives at Chatclet-sur-Re-tourne where a fire was observed. During Dur-ing the clay eighty -one enemy machines ma-chines wore shot down or put out of the ilghting." I LONDON, Oct. 7. Further progress! was made by the British last night on the front between Lens and Cambrai. Field Marshal Halg announced today that posts have been established on orossincs of the Scheldt canal, uorth of: c Aubencheul-au-Bac and east of Oppy, The British also have pushed in slightly toward Lille on the west and southwest, capturing a German coast east of Barcleau and progressing somewhat north of Wez Macquart. French Capture More Towns. PARIS. Oct, 7. French troops last night captured the town of SL Mas-mes, Mas-mes, northeast of Rheims, and penetrated pene-trated the town of Hauvine, further to tho east and north of tho Arnes river, the French war office announced today. to-day. French Cross the Suippe PARIS. Oct. 7 French troops have crossdd the Suippe river eastward of Oralnville and have reached the outskirts out-skirts of Basancourt and Boul-aur-Suippe after severe fighting, it is officially of-ficially announced. At Clement-a.-Arnes heavy losses have been inflicted inflict-ed upon the Germans who retired in' disorder. Sunday's fighting completed the deliverance of Rheims. The battle north of St. Quentin continued con-tinued all day and RemaucoUrt Tilloy farm and several fortified woods were captured, the announcement says. The enemy resisted furiously but was unable un-able to check the French, who captured cap-tured several hundred prisoners. Announcement of these succeses was contained in the official statement issued at tho war office last night. The text of the statement reads: "North of St. Quentin the battle continued throughout the day. Between Be-tween Morcourt and Secjuehart our I troops have taken Remaucourt. Tilloy farm and many fortified woods and 'places where the onemy resisted with furious energy. They failed to check the advance of our troops who conquered con-quered positions foot by foot and took many hundred prisoners. "North of Rheims wo have reached rhe Suippe at a number of points. German Ger-man rear .guards along the river to 'the south made vigorous resistance nndTaunched many counter-attacks but our troops repulsed them and inflicted in-flicted sanguinary losses. We hold tho southern outskirts of Aguilcourt and the village of Berthrlcourt on the north side of the Suippe. To the right we have forced the passage of the! river to the cast of Oranville and have taken Pont Givart. "Combats no less violent have taken place in tho region of Basancourt and BouI-sur-Suippe. These combats have enabled us to reach the outskirts of these villages. "We have debouched from the village vil-lage of Bethenvillo in spite of violent machine gun and artillery fire and also have taken ground north of St. Quen-tin-a-Arnes. In this region our troops in the course of their advance had to meet very strong counter-attacks. Our artillery fire caught enemy battalions and inflicted heavy losses upon them. They were forced to retreat in disorder. dis-order. "Today's events have completed the delivery of Rheims, the richness and historical associations of which excited excit-ed the covetousness of Germanv. I British Capture Prisoners. LONDON, Oct. 7. In the local fighting fight-ing Sunday around Aubencheul-aux- ers. The official statement reads: "In local fighting yesterday in the neighborhood of Aubencheul-aux-Bois we captured about 400 prisoners. "Yesterday afternoon one of our patrols pa-trols in the Oppy sector brought in 300 prisoners and four machine guns. During the night wo established posts at the canal crossings north of Auben-chel-aux-Bac and also northeast and east of Oppy. "A German post east of Berclau was captured by another of our patrols. We made slight progress north of Wez Macquart." I Eleventh Bulgarian Division Surrender PARIS, Oct. 7. (Havas.) The general gen-eral in command of the lileventh Bulgarian Bul-garian division has surrendered his force to the allied troops in Macedonia. The division was composed of two brigades bri-gades and with it a large quantity of war material fell Into the hands of the allies. Allies to Strike Eastern Macedonia. ATHENS, Sunday, Oct. 6. Greek and allied troops, says the newspaper Embros, will yet strike into eastern Macedonia toward the Rhodope mountains moun-tains and beyond tho Nestos river. The Rhodope mountains separate eastern Macedonia and Thrace from eastern Roumella, Bulgaria. Pershing Reports Advances. WASHINGTON, Oct 7. Slight advances ad-vances by the American forces between be-tween the Meuse and the Bois des Agones Ag-ones in heavy fighting were reported j today by General Pershing. He also reported re-ported increased artillery activity everywhere on both sides. A communique for Sunday, adding to the one received last night by the war department follows: Headquarters American expeditionary expedition-ary forces, September 6: Section A Our troops have made 'slight advances during the day. Between Be-tween the Mouse and the Bois des Agones there has been stubborn infantry infan-try fighting. Further to the west machine ma-chine gun and artillery combats wore constant and heavy with everywhere Increased artillery activity by both sides. . " |