A BRILLIANT SUCCESS.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXVII, Issue LXXVII, 5 August 1918, Page 5

A BRILLIANT SUCCESS.

ENEMY WITHDRAWAL OVER AISNE NOW LIKELY.. GERMAN MORALE GREATLY WEAKENED. LONDON, Aug. 3. Reuters correspondent at Jtf'rench headquarters, writing at 11 p.m. on. bhe 2nd, states that the retr&at is general. The Germans may hold on the line of the Vesle, but it is possible they may be- obliged to retire to the Aisne. Anyway, they have lost all they gained in the offensives of May, June and July. The question now is whether the remainder of the reserves will be used in a sudden blow in another part of the I front. If they decide to tempt ..for-> tune again they will 'find the Allied ! armies ready. j The British ar© now pressing through Coneroy wood, a mile east of Ville Montoire. The French army is ' advancing steadily. Cavalry patrols ! are far in advance, and the horse artillery and engineers are accompanying the infantry. It has been raining heavily all day, and' the condition of the roads retards the advance.—Reuter. The anniversary of France's entry into the war was appropriately marked by stirring news. The Crown Prince's army is again in full retreat. The immediate cause of the retreat is the brilliant success of the armies under General Mangin and General j Degoutte north of the Ourcq, who effected a junction at right angles,, enabling a beginning to be made on the Ist of August with the task of clearing the 'important ridge dividing the Crise from the Chircq. The British in General Mangin's army started the operation from Grand Rozoy. The French, co-operating, carried not merely the summit but the. reverie ' ■slope of the ridge, securing observation behind Hartennes plateau. Meanwhile in the centre of the enemy bastion, Meuniere wood, two square miles in extent, was carried. Thus the enemy's hope of establishing his line disappeared. He, indeed, has ah'eady suffered a strategic disaster owing to the reversal of the strategical position brought about by General Foch's counter-stroke and his hasty retirement upon the Vesle cannot be easy, as the only good road available passes Coulognes, which the French captured yesterday. The Allies' guns are now within range of Bazoches, where the only railway connection from the north crosses the Vesle into the salient, also to Fismes, which is the main storehouse for the German offensive, while Braisne, between Bazoches and Soissons, through whiqh the main road out of the salient runs, is also exposed to our gunfire. Hence experts are now prophesying that withdrawal is likely to continue over the Aisne.—Reuter.