Evening star., 1917-04-01
New Front Today.

diagopally southeast from the eastern
suburbs of Arras at Beauralns to the /
western outskirts of St. Quentin at
Saw curves slightly around st. Quen-
tin and reaches the Oise river at Moy
thence in a right angle south ana
southwest along the banks of the Oise,
overlooking La Fere to Chaulnes. ana
thence southeasterly again to the Vicin-
ity of Scissors. Save for loop around
the forest of ST. Gobain, between La
Fere and Soissons. the line has now
been completely Strengthened. all the
old salients have been removed and
slight retirement on the part OF the
Germans between La Fere and scissors
would make the front straight from
Arras to Scissors.
At the outset 1t is necessary to dis
cuss what has already been achleVeo
by the German retirement. FIRST OF
all the front has been shortened by Y
some forty miles. which would mean
saving of not less than 15O,ooo troops
| for the Germans and at least twice as
many for the allies, who hold their
| lines much more strongly. In the sec
| ond place, all the preparations made
| by the allies for a spring drive on the
| front between Arras and scissors have
| been rendered useless. There is now
| between the 'front.' on "HiSH lHe blcPd
| rations for attack were made and the
new front a devastated area, varying
| from five to twenty-five miles III depth,
| which is destitute of roads and rail-
| roads and has been turned into black
| ened waste. 1t will be hardly less
| than two months, and il may be three,
| before allied preparations can be made
| for a new attack on this front, if allied
strategy determines to attack here.
| The Immediate German Gain.
We see then at once the immediate
| gain for the Germans in their retreat.
| 1t is necessary to recognize it's mean
| ing. both negatively and positively.
| Tie Germans have declined to fight an
other battle on the ground they de-
Tended last summer. They have con-
| ceded the allied success of the battle
| of the Somme by retreating from the
| positions occupied at the close of the
| battle. knd they have thoroughly con-
| frmed the British claim that had the
| weather remained favorable last year
| for another month the results of the
| battle of the Somme might have been
| very great. if not actually decisive.
| The German retreat was retreat
forced by allied cannon and allied op-
| erations. quite as much as was the
retreat from the Marne 1t clearly es-
| tablishes the battle of the Somme as
| an allied victory. 1t plainly demon
| strates the enormous progress made
| by the British in the art of trench war
| and of British artillery in mastering
| German defense.
Turning now to the other side, we
| perceive that the Germans have made
| a remarkably successful retreat. They
| have escaped from trenches which they
| have held for over two years. retiring
| over a wide front. withdrawing an
| army that can hardly have been small
| er than half million, with minimum
| of loss with a skill and fhOrOuPbnpSS
| which will long command the admira-
| tion of the world, if it is not followed
! by any subsequent disaster, and there
| is at present no suggestion of this.
! The Germans have declined to battle
and they have retired, but they have
| made a retreat which gives the lie to
| any charge Of breakdown in their
| morale.
Now on Famous Line.
| We do not yet know whether they
have elected to stand on the Arras-
Cambrai-St. QuentinLa FereLaon
scissors line or not. We do not know
whether this is the famous Hindenburg
| line so much discussed of late. Sir
| Douglas Haie told me when l was at
British headquarters that the Germans
| had prepared strong defensive line
going between the cities just mention
ed. Substantially the Germans are now
on that line, although it may be that it
is materially east of the British front
, at the moment-say, five or ten miles.
1t may be several weeks before we can
say definitely that the Germans are in
, the line they mean to defend this sum-
ner. 1t is more than likely that we
shall see a subsequent Strengthening of
the line between Cambria and Lille
which will cut off an ugly salient of
which Arras is the apex. British Off
cial reports in recent days suggest such
1,,t e-l,n -
bered that this would only be one more
| detail in the whole Strengthening Of the
line and would give the Germans
strong, easily defended position, eX-
the hills behind La Basse, behind the
marshes above Douai. behind the
Scheldt between Cambrai and the
heights north of st. Quentin, along the
high ground between the Somme and
the Disc, behind the Oise from a point
north of La Fere to the high land and
forests of st. Gobain, and thence on the
heights before Laon to the Craonne
plateau. 1t is well to recognize that
such line may easily prove to be as
difficult to dent or break as that line
which held up the British and the
French from July of last year to Feb
ruary of this.
The Larger Strategy.
Turning now to the larger question of
German strategy, we nave TO consider
several possibilities. First of all, it
was frequently suggested in German
official statements that the German re-
treat is leading the allies into a trap.
Conceivably this is so, but it Is ex-
ceedngly unlikely. The classic trap
of the sort indicated was that into
which Joffre led the German armies at
the battle of the Marine, when the
whole German flood was caught be-
tween Paris and Verdun and attacked
on its f1ankS but the German lines at
that time curved very deeply into
France, thus exposing the tanks.
whereas the present allied advance has
merely Strengthened the allied front
and the flanks rest solidly upon the old
trench lines before Arras and Scissors.
i Again, the advence of the allies so far
has not exceeded twenty-five miles at
ANY point, and Is much less at many.
which leaves very little ground for
maneuver, and under threat it would
be simple for the allies to retire to
their old positions, which remain in
tact. while the Germans would be
faced with the necessity to advance
Il over country which they have deVas-