Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-10-02

them and rebuilt them. Back of these hills
three trunk lines reach north to Belgium,
while a cross line makes It easy to rush
troops from east to west.
Here the Allied pursuit Of the Germans
was held up after the Marne. Here the
Allies were repulsed in the battle Of the
Aisne, and later in the French offensive
north of Scissors. This position seems i'm
pregnsble. and against It the French have
directed no serious attack since last winter.
The best evidence points to the permanent
abandonment by the Allies Of any hope OF
storming this position and TO the belief that
the Germans can only be turned out of 1t.
East of the Rheims forts and between
them and the Argonne is S0-mile front,
which offers the attacker the best oppor-
tunity to be found on the whole western
front. There are no natural obstacles, the
country is fairly fiat, sparsely populated,
thus removing the objection that French
artillery must destroy French cities.
Could the French push north from their
line about Souain six miles, that is from the
point which they held when the present
drive began, they would cut the Challerange-
Bazancourt Railroad, which supplies the
whole German front from Rheims to the Ar
gonne They would insert a wedge between
the Argonne and Rheims armies and they
would threaten the flank Of each. Another
successful push and the Germans would be
compelled to quit the Rheims forts, and the
Crown Prince would have to give up his
year-long struggle In the Argonne and be-
tween the Meuse and the MoselIe for Ver-
dun.
East Of this Champagne plain, where the
Republican army defeated the Prussians at
Valmy, and Attila's host was crushed, is the
long ridge Of the Argonne a dozen miles
wide covered by dense forests and penetrat-
ed by few roads. In this tho Crown Prince
has been fighting for months trying to get
six miles south to cut the Paris-verdun Rail-
road at st. Menehould and isolate Verdun
from the west. The country here precludes
any great drive, as his operation has shown.
Eastward the trenches in front of the forts
of Verdun, the heights Of the Meuse and
woevre offer serious obstacles, and there is
small chance OF any major success, because
to the east lie the permanent forts of Metz
barring the road into Germany. For pres
ent purposes the Vosges and Lorraine fronts
may also be disregarded.
Another Polish Salient
Now with this hasty glimpse of the geog-
raphy of the front in mind. It is clear that
the Arras and Champagne fronts are the
only points that OFFER real promise of profit,
local or ultimate. A local success in the
Arras sector would win Lens. II might clear
the Germans out of La Bassee and It would
threaten the whole German position south
Of the Somme, because 1t would take the
Allies close to the main railroads on which
they depend.
Exactly in the same fashion a local sue
cess in the Champagne sector would relieve
the stricken city of Rheims. imperiI the
flank of the Crown Prince fighting to isolate
Verdun. and II might be pushed far enough
north, that is to the Aisne. about Rethel, 10
menace the Eastern trunk line which sup
ports the German position in the Aisne sector
Recall the Polish campaign of the Ger
mans and the point viii be clear. Hinden-
burg and Mackensen were striking at the
two ends Of the Russian position which
extended in a wide curve from the East
Prussian to the Galician frontiers. They
had been halted in a frontal attack at the
middle OF the curve before Warsaw.
In August they attempted TO turn the
Russians out Of Poland by converging at
tacks which were directed at the railway
lines behind the Warsaw front. The Brit