The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1917-03-21

and holding fast elsewhere.
Let us consider chiefly the shift OF
ground, which is the situations dom.
inant material fact. The Germans
began visibly to let go at Bapaume
toward the end of February, after
the British had driven them from
the lines of the Ancre, at Miraumont
They yielded slowly at first and
more rapidly as time went on. Dur
ing the past week they have given
up cities and areas of country almost
as fast as would have an army re-
firing in the open field in the days
before trench warfare existed.
The withdrawal, after gathering
Roadway, was at or near its height
this week. 1t had already extended
over a front of sixty miles, linear
distance, between Arras and the
river Aisne. At first the Germans
gave up a mile or two a week, for
cling the British to bring up the slow
baggage of siege warfare against
successive lines. Lately the French
have broken through the German
screen with cavalry and light troops
in such fashion as to raise the rate
of progression to several miles day,
and the British no doubt followed
the example in pressing on more
rapidly. The German retreat, how
ever, shows evidence of having been
carefully co-ordinated. Thus far the
front has been drawn back without
buckling or cracking. Just as the
ceded towns, dismantled with i'm
pressive thoroughness, give evidence
of preparations for retreat begun
month ago, so does the precise
alignment of the rear guards reveal
tactical planning of the minute order
in which the officers of the German
general staff are adept. The move
may surprise some folk in the armies
of the entente, but it wears the as
pect of an operation deliberately de-
cided upon in advance and marked
out as to its. extent and object.
From Lille, on the old Belgian Dor
der, southwark at first and then
bending a trife to the east, fairly
straight line drawn on the map
passes through a series of cities
strung along at intervals Of from fif-
teen to thirty miles. These are Lille,
Douai, Cambria, st. Quentin, and
Laon. They form a remarkable de-
fensive chain, free from twists and
turns and crossed by few obstacles.
The first three towns are linked by
direct railway route. Cambrai's rail-
way connection with St. Quentin is
roundabout, but between the two
towns runs a canal. The link be-
tween st. Quentin and Laon is weak
est, having but an indirect railway
connection and being crossed by the
river Disc. Nevertheless it can be
compared in strength with the line
that the Germans held for over two
years.
The line of five cities forms the
frame of the front to which the Ger
mans are now retiring. How much
of the forefield they are prepared to
hold, beyond the line itself, is of
course conjecture. That they should
yield even this line and fall a long
distance farther back is only barely
possible. The obviously probable
limit of the present retirement is the
chain of cities we have named. At
their recent rate the Withdrawing
Germans in the area south of Arras
are in no place more than ten miles
distant from the front that they may
be expected to defend.
AS compared with the line that
was ceded, the Lille-Laon line is SUI
perior in many respects. 1t is only
about two-thirds as long. As against
the old lines framework, based on
the small and irregularly scattered
towns of Lens, Bapaume, Peronne,
Roye, and Noyon, it has larger
towns, more regularly placed. 1t
may in fact be considered as the
main line, of which that defended till
the other day was only the outwork.
The chief gain to the western al
lies, apart from such intangibles as
the newly gained feeling of super
iority and success, is in the recovery
of something near 1000 square miles
of fertile territory, in time, if prompt
measures be taken, for spring plant
ing. The cession of the ground does
not do away with German chances of
capturing Ypres, Dunkirk, and
Calais, by a great westward drive
further north, but it diminishes that
prospect. With the Germans out of
Noyon and Roye, their last hopes of
a direct advance on Paris fade away,
for these places were at the apex of
the salient where it approached
within sixty miles of the city.
Shortening the German line means
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