The Washington herald., 1917-12-30
lal News OF Capital Secret and Frater1al Societies

year In the west That Is the factor
Of position.
The desperate and bloody struggles,
which appeared failures or at most In
decisive successes when they were
fought at Loos. Notre Dame de Lo-
rette and In Champagne In 1915. on the
sompe in 1916. at the Chemin des
Danes, Arras and in Flanders this
year. are about TO bear fruit. Little
by little. through the long and terrible
years, as each push followed the last.
the dominating heights along the West
front have been wrested from the en-
cmy and have passed into French and
British hands. One great retreat has
been forced. the abandonment Of the
Noyon salient last spring. but even
this well-conceived and skilfuIly exc
cuted measure only postponed the des-
perate position in which Hindenburg
now finds himself.
Hun Positions Formidable.
Between verdun and BeIfort no Sc
'rious attacks have been made during
the war, and the German positions,
fortified during three years and pro-
tected by the Vosges mountains, re-
main formidable. AS for the rest OF
the Western front. excluding Italy. II
Il not too much to say, since the bat
ties OF Flanders and Cambria. that Il
is shaking.
Hindenburg and Ludondorf have tho
rest OF the winter to find a way oui
OF their difficulties. II they can. They
are able straegists, and IL would be
rash to say that they viii not succeed
In discovering some temporary expe-
dent or some new line that will serve
for a time their stubborn defensive
All that can be done here r. to indi-
cate the truly critical situation IL
which the German armies in the West
have been placed as the cumulative
effect Of three years Of French anC
British onslaughts.
Leaving out OF consideration the gar
that leads from Belfort by Switzer
land into Alsace, II seems probabl,
that the front from the sea 10 Cham
payne will continue to be the decisive
theatre Of war, as Il has beer from tn
beginning.
In Flanders. the Germans are face,
by the necessity OF retreat. The los
Of most Of the Passchendaele ridgt
leaves them exposed TO British fir'
from concealed positions directed
against their exposed lines in the plain
The nasty Flanders salient in theil
front offers possibilities to an attack
ing force that the German command
cannot afford to extend when the muC
dries up next spring. Accordingly. tn,
enemy must go back
BInEo BynE's Bang.
Forty miles to the south, Gen. Byng
by the most brilliant attack Of tn
war in the West. has driven a salien
into the German front before Cambria
that outfianks much Of the HindenburI
line to north and south. Given tn
winter to concentrate for an attacl
here, his situation would be such tina
the German command will probabl!
refuse to face the terrible peril thei
center armies would be placed in
an advance of a few miles were mad
by the British in good campaigning
weather from the new salient Here
too, a retreat seems forced before tn
1918 campaign begins.
About the same distance south o
Cambria as Cambria is south OF Ypres
Gen. Petain in October. after month
of terrible fighting. cleared the Chemii
des Danes. and forced the enemy bacl
over the Ailette. A gap between tn
hills to Laon. five miles away. offer
tempting possibilities to an attaCkin
force.
{ Tragedy. for the Germans. lies in tn
fact that a local retreat from one O
all of these danger spots does nc
appear possible. Last autumn. whc
the French and British drove a wedg
into the line and threatened Bapaum
and Peronne in the Somme fighting
the enemy constructed the HindenburI
! line and abandoned the threatened sec
I tor. This was possible because. an