FOCH'S NEW OFFENSIVE,

Evening Post, Volume XCVI, Issue 78, 28 September 1918, Page 5

FOCH'S NEW OFFENSIVE,

ON THE CHAMPAGNE-VERDUN FRONT

HINDENBURG LINE SMASHED

SIXTEEN THOUSAND PRISONERS TAKEN

(ATTST&AIiIAN-NEW ZEALAND CABLE ASSOCIATION.) , V (Received September 28, 9 a.m.) NEW YOEK, 27th September. Mr. Edwin L. James, correspondent on the West front for the New York Times, states : "The American First Army, under Major-General Hunter Liggett, attacked between the Meuae and the iA-isne on a twenty-mile front, and smashed through the Hindenhurg line. Our line now runs through Forges Forest, and NantiUois to the Meuse. The attack started at 5.30 in the morning, after three hours' intense artillery preparation. The brunt of the attack in the centre fell on a corps composed of Kansas, Pennsylvania, and Missouri troops, who stormed Varennes, Mont Blinville; Vauquois, and Cheppy, in the face of the most stubborn resistance by the Prussian Guard. Tanks gave brilliant aid in the region of Varennes. Our aeroplanes held full supremacy through>out the advance. The American troops are pressing forward beyond the old German-Defence lines. . "There is little doubt that General Foch and General Pershing surprised the German commander. The Germans expected an attack on the St. Mihiel sector, and had reinforcements there. By seven o'clock the first line of the Hindenburg defence system was captured, by nine o'clock the second line was taken, and by noon the Americans had .passed through the whole series of defence lines, well ahead of schedule. Many, of our troops had never been in battle before, and were elated beyond words at their initial success against one 'of the strongest enemy positions." • (Received September 28, 9.30 a.m.) ~ WASHINGTON, 7th September. Mr. Newton D. Baker (Secretary for War) witnessed the start of the American offensive west of Verdun. , After the enemy had been bombarded with high explosives and gas, the ' tanks advanced, smashing the wire entanglements and destroying machine-gun nests.' The airmen swooped over the-enemy trenches, and prevented him discovering v/hat was impending. Already the Americans have captured Malancourt, Montfaucon, Cuisy, and-other points. The German opposition is strengthening, and new divisions are arriving. A gas attack overwhelmed Vauquois, where forty miles of subterranean passages are known to exist. The ' town was first flooded with gas clouds and then surrounded with a circle of artillery fire. .

NEW YORK, 27th September