FRENCH OFFICIAL REPORTS.

Hokitika Guardian, 18 October 1918, Page 1

FRENCH OFFICIAL REPORTS.

r I*ER ntESS ASSOCIATION. —COPYRIGHT.]

OPERATIONS IN CHAMPAGNE

'LONDON, Oct. 16,

A French communique to-night- says: ' Wo have slightly progressed at night time north of Sissone and north of Asfekl. Wo chocked a violent counter attack in the region of St. Germainmont. South-west of ‘Bethel, wo captured the village of Acy. Reuter’s correspondent at French headquarters states: ur continued advance on the Laon-Aisne front has dissipated any enemy hope of standing on his prepared Serro-'Sissonc-Rethcl line. The French troops have keen fighting incessantly for three weeks and most of them with only a brief spell, since the spring, but they scout the idea, of an armistice. They know that what prevents the enemy from retreating rapidly is his inability to escape without disastrous loss, from thC tentacles which Foch has thrown round him, j The German retirement, technically, is being well-conducted. The enemy lias got most of his material away, but it has blocked the roads for the retreating trbops. Hence the retreat pace has been compulsorily slackened. It may yet prove the most costly operation which tlie German command lias ever attempted. The French gained the Bethel neighbourhood, on the other side of the Aisne and this is notably assisting American progress.