AMERICAN ADVANCE LAUDED.

Grey River Argus, 5 October 1918, Page 3

AMERICAN ADVANCE LAUDED.

' « SAMMIES ' ' REFUSE TO. STOP. AUSTRALIA ALSO "THERE." SUMPTUOUS • QUARTERS. MR. MURDOCH'S ACCOUNT. (Rec. October 4, 9.30 p.m.) Reuter's Telegrams. LONDON, October 3 Mr. Murdoch, writing on Monday, says- The. fine successes gained by all sections of the Allied armies in the north, south and centre, resulting in at least a hundred thousand of the enemy rroops being put out of action in; four days, include many heroic stories. None surpasses that of the American advance. Storming over muddy shell holes across acres of barbed wire and entangled trenches, nothing could exceed their brave determination or the?r willingness to undergo suffering or likewise their eagerness to secure victory. After capturing Bellicourt and Noura'y the American" refused to pouse. Scattering afield, tney declared they- would take the Australfan objective as well as their own. They pushed on to Jrmcourt, where, late in the afternoon, Australians came up ana found groups of Americans holding out gallantly against strong enemy forces. Subsequently the line was established at Nonray for the night. Many tanks, intended to help the Amer/cans, were knocKed > out soon after starting, one whole line being blown up by a series tof small land mines. The. Americans lacked skill in clearing out the' German nests hidden in the large tunnels and complicated dugjut system. They had thus to pay the price of their lack of knowledge. Writing on Tuesday, Mr; Murdoch describes the steady progress of the Australians through the Hindenburg system. They went! on under terrible rlifficulties, through heavy rain and mud, and without artillery support, for fear of pouring shells upon the isolated pockets of Americans left in forward shell holes. The whole area, says Mr. Murdoch, is covered with scattered fighting. There are nests of machine guns which make it impossible for runners to go averland, and the shelling makes telephonic communication uimost impossible.. The best way to picture the fighting is to think ofl two bare rolling ridges, a few scattered villages, numerous lines of deep trenches, and no sign of life, except spurts of white smoke, as bombs burst. Then picture laborious parties of soldiers following the lines wf bursting bombs thai are hurled' against the Germans hidden in trenches ahead. The Huns cling desperately and resourcefully to the trenches covering* the whole of the underground tunnel, from which stair-ways-lead to exits Concrete posts on the surface hold machine gunners. The tunnel is 25 feet wide. The troops inside it are safe. ,No shell could pierce its ■. walls y and no gas fumes could enter. As we. win the surface of the tunnel, yard by yard, we thtow bombs inside at the same time guarding the enemy outlet. The Australians and Americans in the captured portions have sumptuous battle-quarters. They eat German sausages, and smoke -German cigars aboard their ' German bnrgtfs. -Writing, on Wednesday, Mr. Murdoch says: The situation is best summed up by saying that we have a sporting chance of turning the German defeats into wide sectional retirements, akin to a nout but if the woatiicr -enables the enemy to stick on some temporary line for the winter, we w on 't miss much, because we are confident of finishing the job when the spring comes. In -yesterday 's and ti^-day 's figliting the enemy's disorganisation approached in some places the phase of disintegration. The enemy apparently have no plans, except to stick where they stand. They are showing bravery and determination in some sectors, but there is a wretched moral on others. Perhaps the most striking evidence of deterioration is the number of unburicd dead behiind the Hindenburg lne. The Germans have always been punctilious ejneerning military biirlals. To-day one cannot avoid ghastly sights of decomopsing Germans. The ! Hindenburg line itself is muddy and dirty. Its immense strength and vast system of dug-outs, tunnels, and concrete emplacements are mocked by -tmks and aborainatiions from the decomposition and decay of the proud Kawer's vain-glorious force

says. It is. feared jthat numbers *of Americans, who weift forward yesterday, as far as Jouay, have been taken prisoners. The Australians have been pressing on, to-day. They released many parties of the "Sammies." who had spent a wet night in shell holes. The attack of the Americans undoubtedly threw the enemy ivnto a state of serious disorganisation. It speaks highly for American fighting qualities, dash, and rapidity in acquiring the technique of the soldier craft that is necessary to the finished fighter. Writing on Tuesday, Mr Gilmour says: The Australians and Americans have tyst no time in. investigating the captured underground canal, which all had considered one of the chief obstacles of the Hindenburg line. They found the place in utter darkness. Electric torches disclosed long lines of fh ating barges. There was > every sign that' the Germans had recently been living there in large numbers. The Americans, whose duty it was to guard the southern end of the canal have promptly adopted house-boat life. They have made themselves comfortable. Their mm re adventurous spirits declare that they have already walked through the entire length of the canal, which is six thousand yards. Thiib must be a risky thing to do, because the Germans are believed to have burrowed in all directions, thus making the eanal-Mmnel a main eorricjpr, from-whieh there radiate numberless shafts, passages and dug-outs. Our line- at presj&nt embraces twothfrds of the tunnel. Prno c was afforded during the Australian auvance that some Germans still remain in certain places. They had built vast underground habitations. As we push on their position becomes perilous; that is, unless they have tunnels ahead leading far back into the German lines. ' Referring to the enemy's desperate resistance round Joncourt, Mr Gilmour says: Evidently the Germans, on this part of the front, have been made 4"> realilse that they have their backs, to the wall, and that the Hindenburg Line must be held. They already have sent in two reinforcing divisions, and are making the most of their artillery, but our men feel that the enemy does not yissess guns or troops in numbers sufficient to stop them. The Americans are highly pleased with their success. The Americans tell some amusing stories of the surrenders of GermanAmericans. As the Americans approached the German trenches, the German-Americans greeted them with a pronounced American accent. One shouted: "I'm from Chariest* >wn; I've been waiting for you since 1915." Many of them, had already put on their packs iii readiness to surrender. Writing on Wednesday, Mr. Gilmour says: The penetration of the Hindenburg line is being steadily completed. The Americans, who first reached Requeval, the entrance of the underground Canal, found it ablaze with electric light, like a vast fairyland grotto. The Germans left their packs and personal belongings on the floors and shelves and in barges. In a cookhouse fourteen corpses were found apparently cooks whp had been- killed by an exploding shell. Five wounded Germans were discovered on a bar^e They stated that they had not been tended for four days. The whoie tunnel and its extensive ramifications have not yet been explored. Mr Percival Phillips states that the platforms on the underground tunnel are piled with every conceivable kind of equipment, including, numberless rifles, plates, medical stores, timber and entrenching tools. '