The Washington herald., 1917-11-11
BY JOHN l.. BALDERSTON.

Copyright. 1911. by the Mcclure Newspaper
SyudiC,t.D
London, Oct. 3l.-The desperate ef-
forts Of the kaisers autocracy to Sc
cure peace before winter. and the tur-
moil in the interior of Germany, are
regarded here as the direct results
of the British victories in Flanders. 1t
Is because these epoch-making sue
cessses reveal such comparatively lit
tie movement on the map. and result
in hauls of prisoners very small COM
pared to the standard set in the cam
pains in Russia, that the general pub
lie here and abroad has failed to
realize all that Sir Douglas Haig's au-
tumn Offensive implies for the future
of the world.
This great turning movement that
began in Flanders on July 81, it may
now be said, is regarded by the al
lied STATS as the first major or de-
cisive offensive operation undertaken
by the allies on the west front since
the battle of the Marine. The Somme
campaign last year. with its $4,000 cas-
ualties, more than double the num-
Der suffered in Flanders, was a sub
sidiary operation. 1t was carried out
In order to make the Gpres offensive
possible. And the Ypres offensive has
already succeeded.
Germans Must Retire.
The question that remains to be de-
cided this autumn is whether the Ger
mans will retreat to a new line be-
fore winter, or stick it out in the mud
and 90 hack in FEBRUARY or March
when conditions will make pursuit dif-
fcult. Military opinion is agreed that
they must retire, now or later. in their
own interests; if they chose to risk
everything and stand their ground.
Haig would begin again in the spring
where winter cOmpels him to leave off.
Vast strategical consequences that
are implied in the German retirement
which is foreseen within a few months
cannot now be discussed fully. The
future United States army sector. it
is permissible to say, was chosen,
months ago. with a view to the
strategy Of next years campaign, as
it is likely TO develop as the results of
Haig's push in Flanders make them
selves felt along the whole Western
front.
The Flanders Operation.
This is EnGland's year. Next year,
at least in the closing phases of the
campaign, II 1t lasts SO long, England
may have to share the honors with
America. France did her full share
and more in 1914 at the SIarne. and ia
1915 when her desperate frontal as
saults on the German line wore down
the enerly's man power, in 1916 when
her glorious resistance at Verdun
broke the Kaiser's last bid for a de-
cision. England took over the burden
in the closing phases of the Somme
battle; the Battle of Flanders over
shadows everything else in the his
tory of the present year.
am able to give to American read
ers brilliant analysis of the Fland-
ers operations, prepared by a most
competent authority who must be
nameless. This expert makes clear
why 1t Is that the statements made
above are true, he shows how the
Flanders battles which shove the Ger
man line back, for the moment, only
a few miles, represent the climax of
the war and constitute the main push.
for which Loos and the Labyrinth
and Champagne, the Somme and
Vimy, and Arras, were only intend
ed to pave the way. The statement
follows:
when the allies passed tactically
to the offensive on July 1 last year
upon the Somme. the German front
rested on the Alps at one extremity
and on the coast at the other. And
the front, while apparently it could
not be turned on either flank, was
supposed to have been made i'm
pregnable to assault. The effect of
that state of things was that the
line, as a line, could be held with a
minimum OF troops. and that al
though the total enemy force might
be of no more than moderate dimen-
sions,Dthe fortified character Of the
front still made 1t possible to en-
ploy an important percentage of
that force, and the best of it in
point OF quality, as a movable re-
serve to be used either for a tactical
counter-offensive or to meet attack
wherever attack might develop.
Thus there were some one hundred
and twenty German divisions on the