THE NEW ARMY'S BRAVERY

Evening Post, Volume XCVI, Issue 16, 18 July 1918, Page 7

THE NEW ARMY'S BRAVERY

(AUSTRALIAN-NEW ZEALAND CABLE ASSOCIATION.) LONDON, 16th July.

Mr. Philip Gibbs writes : "Apart from the earLy morning fog the weather was not favourable to the- enemy. A south wind prevented ]Ac use of poison gas, and oil the open moorlands in the Champagne was likely To blow back the fumes of their own shells upon the assailants. The American counter-attack on the Manic, in which they took one thousand prisoners, was a most brilliant episode. The Americans held a four-kilometre front (about two and a-half miles), where the bombardment was the heaviest the Americans had ever been subjected to. It lasted ten hours, but they stuck it out without turning a hair. The ferocity of the American response,, and the machine-gun fire by the infantry in the counter-attack, drove the Boches to the river in such haste that many were drowned while attempting to cross. One American artillery unit ran short of ammunition, and called for volunteers to travel three miles of shell-swept road. Every man volunteered. A number of picked men drove the horses and caissons at a gallop through the shell-bursts. When the horses were killed, the men managed to cut them out of the harness and managed to bring up the ammunition." Mr. Gibbs is of opinion that Prince.Eupert of Bavaria may be ordered to make a number of holding attacks against the British, and strike a series of hammer blows with the object of keeping the British heavily engaged. (Received July 18, 9.30 a.m.) . WASHINGTON, 17th July. American airmen destroyed five enemy aeroplanes and one balloon in the fighting over the Marne. General Pershing (Chief of the American Army) reports that only five hundred Germans were captured at Chateau Thierry.