Evening star., 1914-10-04
The army man continued:


mistake of the German general who
! tried to move along a line parallel to
| the French front, contrary to all ac-
cepted military maxims and rules, or
because of the alert French strategists
| and tacticians, at any rate, the Ger
| man grand turning movement failed at
| that critical moment when, as Napo-
| leon once proclaimed. the drawing of
| a breath or the winking of an eye
might eliminate in victory or defeat.
Then began the now famous retreat.
the orderly withdrawal of one of the
mightiest armies that ever drew away
| from battle. But there was no crucial
moment for either side. The allies in
mastery manner pushed back the big
| gest army that had ever invaded
| ing their ability to stop and fight at
| will, finally faced the allies at the
Marine. Then again the retreat con-
| tinued.
| generals as we'll knew exactly what
| was to happen; the retreat would con-
tinue until the Germans reached their
the so-called battle of the Aisne that
| is destined to go down in history as
| the most wonderful. the most bewil-
| dering struggle of military mankind.
1T was natural and characteristic of
| the German strategists to select that
long line of battle. with the Meuse
| river on one flank and the Disc river
on the other. with two rivers in front.
| It was a fine tactical conception that
placed the Germans on the hilly ground
overlooking the valley of the Aisne.
over which the allies must cross to the
| trenches and bided their time for one
of the longest fights in history.
but why call it the battle of the
Disc? Whoever heard of single bat
tie line 140 miles long? 1t was a series
of battles-a battle in the east, another
in the center. another still in the left
| center and a fourth in the west, with
the left wing of the allies pshing and
fighting hardest of all against Ger
man general who has shown more pug
nacity and tenacity, as well more
generalship. than possibly any other
leader on the Teutonic side.
THE bewildering feature of the So
called battle of the Aisne. however, is
this: One of the military text book
rules prohibits or discourages any plan
to fight all along the line And if that
sort of thing were forced upon either
or both sides, then each or both, re-
| garding it as a sort of accidental bat
tle.' might have been expected to fol-
low the usual text book methods. ac-
cording to the lessons taught by the
worlds best strategists.
But neither side seems to have fol-
lowed the usual military rules in this
respect. and the interesting fact looms
up that maybe the time has come for
the initiative on both sides-the time
when generals will create order of bat
tie and forms of attack instead OF
hlindly following text book plans and
diagrams. In war, the military writers
say. more than in anything else there
are exceptions to every rule, and the
commander who uses discretion and
succeeds is the better soldier and
| leader.
"One thing, however. is dead sure.
The worlds best generals tell US that
equally balanced o. nearly equal armies
waste time in hammering each other all
,long the line; that 1t is foolhardy for
any body of troops not tremendously
-t,onger in point of numbers than the
ldversaries to attempt to cut through
he enemy's center without at the same
| lime effecting a successful flank attack
IN one or both fanks.