NO RESPITE FOR THE ENEMY

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 29, 29 October 1918, Page 5

NO RESPITE FOR THE ENEMY

CEASELESS PRESSURE BY FIVE BRITISH ARMIES BRILLIANT SUCCESS OF THE NEW FRENCH ; v ■;/,, ■ OFFENSIVE ' ; ; ■ 1 •■-■■ ".■ ■ .■'. . ~~, .'' ■ / ■ By Taleerftj>li»Press Assooiation-Coiiyiiirtit '.'.■'■ . . ' , London, October 27. Reuteir's correspondent at British Headquarters', writing on. Saturday, says: •'lFive British armies are giving the Germans no Tespite. Whenever there is a pause it is merely to deal a fresh blow. There was desperate fighting to-day along the-western. ..fringe, of, the ten-mile long. Mornml Forest,, between Le, Cateau and Maubeuge. ;It must be reeking with the gas we have pumped into it. In spite of severe opposition we are making good progress, and the number of German dead lying about testifies to the intensity of the resistance. The Germans are trying to flood the country in order to hamper our movements, but luckily the season has hitherto been dry.' , —Eeuter. ' ■ ./ ■ ■■ \j . THE NEW FRENCH OFFENSIVE , '■■'..' , London, October 27. Eeuter's correspondent at French Headquarters, reporting on the evening of October 25, 6tates that General Debeney's army between the Oise and the Serro is attacking von Hutier's so-called Hermann position on a front of fifteen miles. The Germans have converted the villages into fortresses, and are resisting mos,t bitterly, knowing that the safety of the,army facing General Gouraud on the Aisne depends on the Hermann line holding, von Hutier has another chain of positions some miles in the rear, forming the western edge of the Hunding line. The Hermann defences are already penetrated at several points, and with the entry to-day of Hangin's and Guulaumat's armies, in the region, of Chatoau Poroien, extending the battle front forty miles, the Hunding defence has been fought clean, through. The resistance to Debeney is appreciably weakening. ■..■■'■■ '' Later. Eeuter's correspondent, in a later dispatch, states: "General Debeney's army, after three days and nights of uninterrupted fighting, has dislodged the enemy from the Hermann line, land is pursuing him to the next line, a few miles further north'. There has never been harder fighting than that in which the French, British, , 'and Belgian armies, are now .engaged. It was the advance of the British and Belgians in the north that caused Marshal Foch to order the at-, tack east of, the Oise. General Petain, on this front, has since engaged .three French armies successfully. The battle to-day extended from the Dutch frontier to the Aisne. The Germans know what jg at stake, and are fighting as they did in 1914. Their machine-gunners, .covering the, infantry in the retreat to-day, died at their posts rather than surrender?'—Eeuter. v

A GIGANTIC BATTLE V . / .' v ,■ ' ' ■■■■ < .' ..' I ' '■'~''■ ./ "■ New York, October 27. Mr. Duranty, the Not York "Times", correspondent on the French front, says that a gigantic battle continues with the utmost desperation. General Guillaumat's force continues to drive against the positions which protect the German centre. The German defenoes include a quadruple trench system, with five lines of barbed wire, each twenty feet deep, and anti-tank mines' liberelly sown throughout,the terrain. In spite of these defences the French troops broke through on a eix-mile front between St. Quentin-le-Petit and Heriey. The Germans are .opposing ths advance with a deluge of gas and high explosive shells. Large numbers of German soldiers have been sent home to suppress internal dis-turbances.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. , ' . ■■'■ TURNING THE ENEMY'S POSITION SOUTH OF VALENCIENNES ' ' ■ v (Eec. October 28, 7.20 p.m.) . , ' ' .; , London, October 27. The British have slightly advanced north of the Scheldt and also alongxthe high ground north of the Courtrai Canal. We are turning the enemy's positions south of Valenciennes. The French are continuing their advance south of the Oise up the Peron Valley.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. ENEMY FEVERISHLY FORTIFYING. . (Eec. October 28, 7.20 p.m.) Pafris, October ''7. The Germans are feverishly fortifying their front between Pont-a-Mousson and Avricourt, and also north of the River Seill, which joins the Moselle at , Metz.—Eeuter. . . . SIGNS OF PRECIPITATE RETREAT LONG ROW OF GERMAN NAVAL GUNS ON FLANDERS COAST. ■■-'■■■..■■■ "' Paris, October 27. The correspondent of "Lβ Journal" says the hastiness of the departure of the Germans from ithe coast is obvious from the uninterrupted row of big naval guns every hun'dred yards along the sand dunes from Ostend to the Dutch frontier. The Germans had only time to blow up the breaches. The entire Momish region is almost intaot.-Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. AMERICAN FIRST ARMY'S" BAG " TO DATE , ; . ' I New York, October 27. Mr. E. L. Janios, New York "Times" correspondent at the American front, says that the American First Army has inflicted on the Germans 70,000 casualties, including the loss of 20,000 prisoners.—Aue.-N.Z. Cable Assn.