NEWS OF THE WEEK.
ri'HE American Army, under General Pershing, undertook its first
independentoffensivein France on Thursday week and achieved a swift and brilliant success. The Americans, supported by French troops, attacked the St. Mihiel salient, south of Verdun, where the Germans established themselves on the Meuse during the first battle of the Marne four years ago. Thrusting at the western and southern edges of the salient—south of Fresnes on the Heights of the Meuse and at St. Baussant, midway between the Meuse and the Moselle—the two American columns broke through the strong German defences at both points, and with an irresistible rush swept forward till they met. In twenty-seven hours the salient had ceased to exist. Fifteen thousand prisoners and two hundred guns were taken. The remainder of the garrison decamped in such haste that they had not time to blow up the bridges or to remove the population of St. Mihiel, which had sustained little damage. Many of the prisoners came from an Austrian division which was stationed at Combres to protect the German retreat, and suffered severely.
