ENEMY PINNED TO NARROW STRIP OF MARNE VALLEY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16909, 23 July 1918, Page 5

ENEMY PINNED TO NARROW STRIP OF MARNE VALLEY.

FRENCH COMMAND OF SOISSONS-CHATEAU THIERRY ROAD ' f GERMANS IN RIVER VALLEY IN PRECARIOUS POSITIONAustralian and N.Z. (Received 3 p.m.) LONDON. July 21. The correspondent of the Australian Press Association learns that the French this morning captured the village of Brasles, on the north bank of the Mame, a mile east of Chateau Thierry. Their line includes heights north of Brasles which give a good bridgehead in front of the town. The line west of Rheims leaves the enemy a strip of about ' 13 miles of the Marne Valley, its greatest depth being four miles. This is all the enemy retains of the results of his offensive. There was much fluctuating fighting there on Saturday. British divisions gained Marfaux and Ceitron villages and Courton Wood, but a German counter-attack retook some of the gains. The Germans hold a line along the Marne Valley from Reuil to east of Chateau Thierry. Their rearguards apparently sacrificed themselves, enabling the main bodies to cross the river and checking the French efforts to push detachments across. The French pressure between the Aisne and the Marne continues heavily, and also in the Ourcq Valley, where they are approaching Oulchy le Chateau, the largest town in the neighbourhood. They have also reached near the village of Hartennes, on the high road and railway from Soissons to Chateau Thierry. The enemy's situation on the Marne is becoming more difficult hourly. The Germans must either clear the French off the railway or flatten the salient by withdrawing troops from tfye north of the Marne. The enemy is still fighting hard, bringing fresh troops and delivering local attacks, but is unable to hold up the French advance, which is now from six to eight miles and a-half in depth on a 22-mile front.