Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1917-10-06
EDITOR
Light On the Belgium Drive

To read the comment Of the military EXPERTS bear
ing OH the various moves Of the war from day 10
day is almost confusing as trying 30 make up
ones own board of strategy b, reading tire dcs-
patches.
Sometimes however, we can go back to what Was
written earlier in the season. connect it TIP with the
events of the present day. and with this Iighr from
the past shed upon the situation secure. It rather
comprehensive view. This is trlr Of the present
day success in Belgium interpreted hy the com
ment of Frank II. SimondS. tine military expert of
the New York Tribune. i'll on" of his discussions Of
the war published last August.
He first answered the question Of why jho British
should select the lPrcS section for their lighting
ground. To continue along the line from ArrdS t"
1t. Quentin meant the destruction of many i'm
portant French towns and fighting Through small
villages that furnished defensive 1'ntrrS for the
enemy. TO strike farther north from la BaSSe to
Lens meant the ultimate ruin of large industrial
centers and movement through I; country with aI-
proximatey 100000 FrEri population.
ITO strike between the Lvs and tn" sea. on the
other hand. meant to fight Ger an agricultural re-
giOn with almost considerable Iowns. 1t meant
to operate in country relatively fla and offering
no such obstacles the Somme region with its
many hills and valleys.
THE ultimate strategic advantage Of success in
the Ipres sector is plain" And now comes the re
mark that will cause the readers to follow with
keener interest the present advance. An advance
of twenty miles. that is. an advance equal to that
made from Rove to the environs of 81. Quentin this
spring would compel the Germans to quit all the
region between the Lys and the sea- to give up their
Belgian seacOast and abandon the troublesome sub
marine base arZeebrugge and also their more trou.
blesome airplane base whence London has been So
frequently raided"
AT the end of a campaign like that of the Somme
last year" we are told that the British might hope
to occupy front from Holland, southwark behind
the Lys river or they might hope to force the pass
age of the Lys, having taken Menin and Cambrai and
turn the Germans out of the industrial centers of
Lille, Tourcong and RoubaiX without actually
fighting in and around these towns"
The declared first purpose of Field Marshal John
French in the fall of 1914 to cut off the Ger
mans from the coast. And it is claimed that this
purpose was missed because Winston Churchill
went to Antwerp, kept the Belgian army in the
doomed city too long and wrecked all the plans of
the British field marshal and the French general
staff
The reader is reminded that not all these objec-
tives could be obtained in one move This is sug-
gestion that is needed less as the observing public
has become better acquainted with the system of
the steady forward push of the allied forces.
Late dispatches have made special reference to
the destruction that has been done to the German
forces thrown into the breach in the hope of hold
ing the British and even driving the line back Mr.
Simond in his comment recalls the readers atten-
ton to the fact of all war that jus as the German
army before the Marine concerned, not with the
capture OF cities not even of Paris, but the des-
truction of the French armies the British are now
m liz with
gian territory but with reducing German effective
ness. All else is incidental as it was for the Ger
mans in the Marine campaign"
For this reason "the real measure of the success
of the campaign will be the extent to which it in
ficts casualties greater than its own upon the Ger
mans If it does this, We shall see this autumn or
next spring new German retreat to 1Nrter lines
or collapse of the German lines due ia lattemptI
to hold too long ite, it'll iss firie lmbers.
But nothing is less like ~ ! Ilercin he Ger
man front this year. ~ come just pnceiv-
ably as Germany might nave nier,ed the FL ch lines
at Nerdun when they had L hprs and superior ar
t1llery, but it is even less like. penetrate than
was the Nerdun thrust which had an clement of sur
prise totally lacking in the present allied opera
ton"
There is found in this same article an expIana
ton OF the special stress which recent despatches
have given to the large number of prisoners taken
ana the weakening of the enemy morale Mr.
Smond says, meantime with German reserves fail
ing, German armies outgunned and Outnumbered !
the British and French could hope to infict greater
losses than they incurred. weaken German morale
already deterorating and finally prevent any trans
fer of Germac divisions to the east to take profit
from the Russian collapse"
The retaking of Belgium is to be realized only