The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1914-10-02

cut of, and annihilated, or else the en-
tire German line must retreat from its
present invincible position north Of the
Aisne River from scissors to Rheims.
Such a retreat by the main army In
that country will be an extremely dan
gerous operation the moment it is driven
out Of its splendid, fortified positions.
In these circumstances tonights Of
fetal government bulletin suppresses
more than its says, when it merely an
| nounces:
I'm the region of Roye Cmeaning the
French left wing, a violent action was
successfully turned in our favor and in
| the Argonne we have made progress at
[ several new points
ArEonne Fighting Severe.
The action in the Argonne. or wooded
| country has been of great severity. In
the hope of relieving the pressure against
the German right wing the Germans con-
centrated a great force in the hope Of
breaking through.
Some officers believe that the Germans
attack at that point was a serious effort
| to pierce the allies center, which, II 1t
had succeeded, would have completely
changed the entire plan of battle be-
| cause it would have compelled the
| French Lorraine army, now holding back
| the Germans on the eastern frontier of
France, to retire and unite with the
main French army in the plains Of the
Marine River.
| The German Lorraine army then would
| have swarmed into France by the eastern
frontier through the gap Of Nancy and
thus obtained a new line of communica-
tons for their army direct from the
heart of Germany instead of through
] Belgium.
But this most important movement was
entrusted to the army under the COM
mand of the crown prince and 1t does not
seem to me to have been made in dead
earnest or with force enough to Justify
even the hope Of success.
| 1t seems to me that il was more in
the nature Of a diversion to prevent the
i French army from sending SO many men
| to their left wing to envelop Won Kluck.
German Position Critical.
At all events every French commander
| feels that the allies now have the bat
\ tie well in hand.
The allied armies believe that the Ger
mans realize for the first time the des-
pera,eness of their position. To this fact
| is attributed the Germans haphazard
fighting all along the line during the past
forty-eight hours. They have not made
a single concentrated attack at a single
| point as though they expected to IND a
weak spot.
Day by day, think the position OF
the German armies in France becomes
more critical. They can hardly hope
| ever again to take the offensive after
| they have faced the problem Of with
drawing their huge masses Of disheart-
ened, weary troops back into Germany
through Belgium and Luxembourg.
1t is quite obvious the general Often
sive along the whole line on the nine
tenth and twentieth days Of the bat
tie was the last desperate bid for for
tune, by soldiers who already see the
game is up unless they can restore their
position by a final plunge.
All German prisoners speak Of the
awful effects Of the British infantry fire
and Of French artillery fire. There can
only be one issue to the combat. All
factors now favor the allies Germans
have gained ground nowhere, have suf-
fered enormous losses and now possess
no superiority OF numbers
The question Is how decisive can the
allies make their victory.