Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-07-16

Verdun.
Drive Not Yet Ended.
If we had seen the last Of this allied
offensive at this date. July ., 1t would
be wholly fair to accept the German
assertions that the allied gains have
not amounted to much. But the Ger
man official statements concede that
the end has not come. We may there
fore dismiss the achievement to date
with the statement that the British
have so far done rather worse than any
one expected of them, worse than they
did at Loos or Neuve Chapelle. while
the French have totally Unexpectedly
gained considerable ground and given
clear evidence that Verdun has not ex-
hausted their numbers or diminished
their value.
Looking ahead now. we may discuss,
first, the value of a real success in the
district in which the attack has been
made, and. second, the Typographical
details of the region. Bpt 1 desire to
caution my readers that we do not
yet know certainly that the attack Will
be pressed at the point where 1t was
begun. The present operation may yet
prove a feint and the true thrust be
made to the north from Arras or from
Bethune or even from Ypres.
Granting. however. that the Anglo
French attack has disclosed the di-
will happen if it is successfully pressed
home? We see that the French are
almost at Peronne, the British striking
for Bapaume. The French seem fairly
likely to take Peronne; the British
prospect is less encouraging.
German Salient Still Firm.
Before the present struggle the Ger
man front south of Arras cut far into
the allied line in a deep salient be-
tween Albert and Arras crossing the
Albert-Arras section of the Paris
DunQuerque railroad. Despite their
efforts the British have not succeeded
in bunting the point Of this salient.
of the salient a little by taking Fri
court. But the French moving on both
banks of the Somme have driven a
salient of their own for some miles
eastward This makes the original
German salient to the north far more
pronounced and far more dangerous.
for under pressure a salient always
tends to become an isolated island, and
the troops caught on the island have
to surrender.
If the French get Peronne and get
across the Somme east of this town, the
situation of the Germans in Bapaume
will be exceedingly dangerous. the
French will be so far in their rear.
If the French advance should continue
east of Peronne the Germans would
soon have to leave Bapaume and &c
back toward. il not to, Cambrai but
Cambria is one of the railroad centers
vital to their whole line in Artois mad
Flanders.
This business of making salients in
an enemy's line is familiar and yet
perplexing detail of trench war. The
Germans used it very effectively against
the Russians. The attacking party
does not undertake to attack on a front
of many hundred miles with equal
force. He selects some point that in
then by infantry attack, proceeds to
gnaw into the line before him.
Gnaws Way Into Lines.
If he does not break the line. he
the first line is demolished, retires to
the second. then to the third, perhaps
to fourth or fifth. But this gnawing,
as it goes on gradually eats a wedge
deeply into the opposing line until it is
so far in that the sections to the north
and south of the gnawed place become
exposed to attack from the south and
north, and these attacks threaten to
isolate these Sections-to make islands
of them, as 1 said a moment ago. Elk
actly this now threatens the Bapaume
French are east as well as south of it.
But this French advance is producing
far more dangerous salient in the
German lines. Every one Is familiar
with the famous "elbow" the German
line in France makes at Noyon. If
you draw line from Albert to Scissors
both within the allied lines-for most
Of the way this line will be the chord of
of an arc formed by the German lines.
In other words, If the French advanced
M f~nr and OF frNr L
bert their two columns would meet and
they would cut off all the German
troops from Roye to Scissors.
So far the French have made no ad-
vance from scissors; the ground is ex
ceedingly unfavorable for them; it is
the ground on which Kluck stopped the
British after the battle of the Marine in
the long battle of the Aisne. But as
they move east upon Peronne, and they
have nearly taken this town, the French
are more and more dangerously threat
ening the Germans in Roye. Chaulnes
and Noyon, as well as in the angle be-
tween the Aisne and the Disc rivers.
If they can keep on for few miles
this whole elbow" and return to La
Fere. nearly twenty miles farther from
Paris.
Like Thumb and Finger.
Think of the French armies at Pc
rome and Scissors as the thumb and
finger of hand. Peronne is the thumb.
Now the French are pressing with their
thumb and holding with their fore
finger; the Germans are trying to hold
back the thumb and keep the thumb
and the forefnger apart. The French
are now actually succeeding. but the
progress of the thumb is relatively slow
and the Germans are, it would seem,
certain to get their troops away, even
if they fail to stop the thumb.
This particular battle is an exact re-
production of the fighting of late Sep
TENDER and early October, 1914 Then
the French took Peronne, and even got
into the outskirts of ST. Quentin, near
ly twenty miles to the southeast But
the Germans recalled troops from Lor-
raine. abandoned their attack upon
Nancy, and pushed the French west out
of st. Quentin and out of Peronne and
back to Albert, where the French in
their turn held, and the battle marched
north toward the sea.
Foch is trying to squeeze the Ger
mans out of the Noyon elbow" or
threaten their communications IL he
gets much beyond they will have to
retire. At Noyon the Germans are less
than sixty miles from Paris. To push
them back here will mean much to the
French. But it will not mean any great
thing from the military standpoint. The
German position as whole will not be
materially impaired, and until the
French get close to st. Quentin no vital
railroad line will be endangered.