Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-03-16

pose between the German army before ver
dun and that before Rheims, preventing
direct communication between them and er
posing the flanSs of both.
Could the French advance be pressed home
the Germans before Rheims would be wholly
separated from those before Verdun At
Nouziers the French would he north and In
the rear Of the army before Rheims and in a
position to attack 1t in front, flank and rear
and threaten the Rheims -Charlevile line
near Rethel. The Germans would then bs
compelled to retire from Rheims and take
position behind the Aisne about RetheI The
Nerdun army would in turn be compelled to
give ground and make a new contact with
the Rheims army by way of Stenay
Another successful push would take the
French to the Meuse, near Sedan and cut
the main and the only connection between
German armies in the west and those In
the east south of Namur. Hitherto the ability
of the Germans to move their troops from
Alsace-Lorraine to Champagne and Flanders
has been the chief cause of the successive
triumphs in foiling attacks on their com
muncatlons. 1t was by such an operation
that they drove the French out of st. Quentin
and Peronne early in October and thus saved
their whole position in France from the most
dangerous of all the attacks made upon It
to the present hour,
The German Line Has Held
The sole object of German strategy was
10 hold the line between the Argonne and
Rheims, south of and covering the Vogziers
Railroad. At the end of two months there is
no reason to question the German claim that
this line has beer held. Such progress as the
French have made north &c Souain, of 10
Mesnil, of Vile-surTourbe has not yet COW
cred the half dozen miles between the
French front at the beginning of the battle
and the Vouzlers Railroad.
East of the Argonne a French offensive
marching parallel with that west has made
equally slight progress The Grand Pre- gap
stlll remains contested ground, with no indl-
cation that either side has any immediate
prospect of winning the commanding posi-
tion In sum. while the French have made
slight progress east of Rheims, as they have
lost some ground to the west, the whole
Champagne operation from September to
March has been practically fruitless. Ger
man lines still hold, German artillery stil
bombards Rheims at will. The German posi-
tion In Northern France is solid
But it Is necessary henceforth to watch
the Argonne operation closely-nowhere else
along the whole German front In France
could successful offensive be so effective in
so short distance as between Souain and
Nouziers German estimates of French loss
OF $1,000 in this operation indicate how des-
perately the French have tried to advance
The Key of the whole operation remains the
railroad.
A Mammoth Achievement
Meantime, 1t is also necessary to record
the complete failure of the Allies in thef
winter campaign. In Champagne and Fan-
ders two ambitious efforts have been stopped
almost at their starting place. The British
troops, which were in sight of La Bassee on
October 20, are still west of it; though the re-
cent operations about Neuve Chapelle, north OF
La Bassee, indicate a notable but indeelslls
advance. So far there has been notthe sman'
est indication that the Allies can by any IRE
mendous offensive sweep the Germans PACK
from France, We are still exactly where We
were in the third week of September Regara
being had for what they have accomplisaea
on the eastern frontier, this represents a.
achievement on the German part likely 10 q
long memorable in history.
More and more the situation in the wes'
comes to resemble that in Virginia IN 'As
Civil War. Between the Blue Ridge aus
Chesapeake Bay Confederate lines held uAu.
the summer of 1864 and from Richmond e
the mountains until 1865. "On to Richmonas
was as familiar cry then as "on to Bsl.
lin" is now Such satisfaction as the Alss
can find in the western campaign is disco.
erable in the fact that there is no longer Az
prospect of an ION TO Paris!" drive
France the Germans are on the defensive
but on the defensive they are yet ineA
pugnable
A DEFENSE THAT CONDEMNS
From the New Republic. 80