By this time the Germans were busily en gaged in two important contests, and Foch thought it time to add to their embarrassments. On the 28th he sent forward a force of Belgian, French and British troops, under the conunand of ICing Albert of Belgium, on a 20-mile front in Flanders. It Was directed against the Ger man army of General von Arnim which had be gun to feel the effect of Ludendorff's strait ened circumstances. Having used up their gen eral reserves, the Germans were now forced to talce from one part of their line to protect an other; and as von Arnim had seemed to be the German general in least immediate danger, troops had been taken from him to strengthen the lines elsewhere until he had only five divi sions left They were no match for the supe rior forces of Foch, and in two days' fighting were forced back to a maximum depth of eight miles. The Allies were within three miles of Roulers on the road from Ypres to Ghent, and they took 10,000 prisoners. It began to appear that King Albert's army would outflank the entire German line at its northern end.
Nor was this all the misfortune that came upon Ludendorff. He well knew that Haig's forces before the Saint Quentin section were massed for an attack and dared not weaken his line there. While he waited at this point for the expected blow Foch gave still another thrust. This time it was between the Ailette and the Vesle in the Chemin des Dames re gion. Generals Mangin and Guillaumat were sent forward on the 2Eith and in a three days' combat carried their opponents back more than three miles. It was hard fighting in the best mariner of the French, to whom the certainty that retribution was at hand had brought a state of exalted courage that would take no denial. By their side fought Italian divisions.
On the 28th, therefore, Foch WaS pressing the Germans in five places: along the Meuse, west of the Argonne, in front of the Chemins des Dames, in front of Cambrai and east of the Ypres salient. In each place his troops were advancing slowly despite the dogged fighting of the best German units. Then came Foch's great blow at the tunnel sector of the Sieg fried line. .11ere stood the British 4th army under the command of General Rawlinson. For two days his guns had poured a steady fire on the German trenches, and his infantry had been thrown fonvard against some of the ene my's outposts, crushing them in. Serving in lus force at a point opposite the strongly-for tified tunnel was the 2d corps of United States troops, consisting of the 27th and 30th divisions. On 27 September a regiment of the 2/th division carried some of these outposts in front of the tunnel and thus brought the two divisions directly vis-d-vis with that formidable position.
The main attack was made at dawn 29 Sep tember, the two American divisions going for ward side by side with some of the best British troops. Behind them were Australians and other British troops in support. South of the tunnel sector the North MicUand troops, 46th division, Englislunen, crossed the canal on mats, portable boats and life-belts and carried the German trenches on the east bank in a desperate battle. North of the tunnel other British troops drove badc the foe and a portion of them entered the outskirts of Cambrai. Against the tunnel sector the two American divisions charged with determination. The 27th en countered stiff resistance but penetrated the German lines and a part of them went fonvard for a considerable gain. But the main body was held up by having to defeat the large num ber of the enemy who swarmed up from the underground chambers. Here they fought all day on the Siegfried line. In the evening Brit ish and Australian troops c,ame up in support and going through their lines pressed the Ger mans back still farther, and the 27th was sent to the rear to recuperate. Meanwhile the 30th had gone through the section of the Siegfried line on its front, taking Bellicourt and Nauroy and holding them against counterattacks, after which the division was withdrawn to rest but ordered back into line almost immediately.
Meanwhile, the British troops were carry ing on the struggle in this vital part of the Ger man defenses. The breach at the tunnel was of vital importance and the troops that poured through opened beyond it fan-like, always en countering the stiffest kind of resistance. South of the British the French army of Gen eral Debeney moved against the defenses of Saint Quentin, carried them and entered the town on 1 October% These were serious days for the Germans, each 24 hours bringing them a new disaster. On 30 September it was an nounced that Bulgaria had accepted an armis tice that amounted to complete surrender. Next day Saint Quentin fell and to its loss was added the capture of Binarville by Pershing, and Conde and Marvaux by Gouraud. On this day, 1 October, Mangin pushed on in the Aisne Valley, clearing a considerable part of the south ern bank of the Ailette. The British also ad vanced in the region of Cambrai, taking a firmer hold on the adjacent positions. On. the same day they announced that for the previous two months they had captured 123,618 Germans and talcen 1,400 guns.