New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-08-26
The Allies Are Thrown Back on
Their First Line of Defence.

fence inst within the French frontier. Dispatches
from, Paris say that a small part Of Alsaee is ST."
held hv the French who are now under orders
70 evacratc if. and possibly there are few
allied troops stlI operating in Belgium. apart from
the Belgian field army in and near Antwerp. Bu,
for s practical purposes the repuise Of the French
oftcnsive IN Lorraine and in Southern Belgium has
ended all plans for meeting and stopping the on
rushing German forces before they could reach
French soil
The offensivedefensiye campaign planned by 'ne
t.ra,cb General STAFF has come to naught and the
allies must now stand strictly on the defensive
,nt thew recruit their strength and recover their
confidence through successful repulse Of the
German attack.
The grand strategy Of this war plainly assigned
81, tho allies defensive role in the western
theatre Their task was to Illustrate German
invasion Of France. In order to get anywhere
GERMANY was obliged to deal France another quick
and fatal blow. If she could crush the French
armies and take Paris inside of three or four
months she would then be free 10 deal at her
.cisure with the Russians on her eastern border
She was obliged to assume relentless offensive
and iDasmuch az the troops she could mass on the
french frontier we're probably slightly superior in
numbers TO those Of France and Great Britain 1t
WAS the natural thing for the allies TO await an
attack and thus avail themselves Of the great adj
vantsaes which the defence enjoys in modern
warfare
The French inclination in war is always toward
The offensive and against the defensive French
troops are supposed to fight better when they at
tack For that reason. undoubtedly General JoffIe
modified the obvious policy of defence by in
i,iatipr n series Of forward movements He in '
,aded Alsace successfully and made some progress
i'm Lorraine. He pushed troops into Southern Bel
.iup. and Germanys violation Of Belgian neu-
traity compelled him to send large force to pro-
feet the west bank Of the Meuse northward as
Jar as Namur
Thus he attempted to stop the big German on
slaught before it got really under way. But for
reasons not yet clear the offensive which be took
was not well enough sustained. At several critical
poipts it failed completely. There is little or moth
iue in the guarded news given out in Paris to
soften the reports Of German victories coming by
wireless telegraph from Berlin. 1t was announced
at Paris two or three days ago that the Lorraine
invasion had been abandoned and that Luneyile
was in the hands OF the enemy. Berlin reports
say that German army under Crown Prince
IN, t1.
district east Of Luneyine and Grey. Further
north in Lorraine at Diedenhofen, on the seilo
River. an army under the Prussian Crown Prince
Wilhelm defeated the French advanced corps and
drove them back in the direction Of Longwy. Still
further north. at Neufchateau in the Ardennes
forest region OF Southern Belgium an army under
the Grand Duke Abrecht Of Wuremberg pushed
the French west toward the Meuse River near
sedan and Mezleres On the Meuse River still
further north and on the Sambre River which
empties into the Meuse at Namur the allies were
more strictly on the defensive, and the contest
was indecisiye But the fall Of Namur made It
hopeless as well rs useless to try TO maintain that
line and the allies have had TO withdraw 10 the
covering frontier works between Maubeuge and
Nlezieres to the southeast and Maubeuge and Lille
20 the northeast.
The war in the west has therefore entered upon
second stage. The Germans have made good
with their plan Of sezing Belgium base Of
operations against France, and along the Franco
German frontier they have arrived In full force
within striking distance Of the first line Of the
cnemy's defences The big German military en-
CINE has worked smoothly, brushing aside or run.
ming over the opposition which it has so far en-
countercd. Its successes TO date Will greatly
hearten the German people and will spur the army
10 the most heroic eXertious The German leaders
know that they must push their present advantage
To the utmost
10 does not follow that the resistance OF the
allies will be paralyzed by the reyerSes suffered
iu the last ten days The battles which went most
seriously against them were fought between Aug
ust ~ and August ~. That was week ago. lei
,hcrc is no evidence as yet that the first lire of