The Chattanooga news. [volume] (Chattanooga, Tenn.) 1891-1939, 1918-09-19

YANKS WILL GIVE
METZ TORRANCE
Ultimate Capture of Iron Ore
District by Pershing's
Men, Certain.
PINcER TACTICS USED
Direct Assault Not Considered.
Long, Slow Campaign Likely,
Says Simonds.
PINcER TACTICS USED


New York, Sept. 19.-(Copyright, N
Y. Tribune. naturally, as re-
suit of Gen, Pershing's victory In thu
| st. Mihiel salient, the eyes OF all hi
countrymen are fixed upon Metz. II
| forts are now within range OF ou
I heavy /, artillery as they have beer
within range of French heavy guns OF
the hills above Pont-a- Mousson, or
the east bank Of the Moselle. since the
autumn of 1914.
From some of the latter hills Metz
itself is visible on a clear day. From
our present front north of Thiaucourt
we are distant little more than five
miles from the battlefield of Marsha
Tour. where Bazaine threw away one
OF the great chances Of military his
tory and lost not merely Metz and his
army. but also Alsace. Lorraine to
France.
And as a result of st. Mihiel. 1t is
not too much to say that the determi-
nation has been aroused In all Amer1-
cans, soldiers and civilians alike, to
make one part OF Americas work In
this war the return of Metz. and with
1T Alsace-L Lorraine, to France.
The work is not to be undertaken
lightly. We are bound now as we look
at a campaign just beginning. to rec
ognize how great are the obstacles in
our pathway. but the very greatness
of these obstacles adds to the splen-
dor OF the achievement, toward which
we have taken the first step.
A direct attack upon Metz Is ur-
thinkable. not merely because of the
forts. which are far more modern and
infinitely stronger than those of Ver-
dun, but because of the lines of de-
fense which the Germans have newly
constructed upon the circle of hills sur
rounding the old French city since the
war began.
We must recognize that Metz is the
foundation of the German defense, not
merely of the old frontier, but Of all
the country between the Rhine and
Che Belgian and French frontiers. II
Metz should fall. a permanent stay of
the German armies west of the Belgian
frontier would be impossible. defense
of Alsace- Lorraine could not long be
maintained. and the Germans would
have at no distant date to retire to
the line of the Rhine, the Lauter and
the Saar. at the very least
More than this. Metz defends all OF
that great iron district from Longwy,
in France. on the Luxembourg frontier
southwark to the point where the pres
ent front crosses the Moselle near Nor
roy To lose this iron district would
be to lose the main source of indis-
pensable war material: II would be
tantamount to the loss of the war It.
self.
When Bismarck took Metz he oheyei
the urgings of the elder Moltke and the
men: he took It because they
advised him that IN German hands Metz
German population. OF German tradition.
could he advanced for Metz: It was as
French In its population as Tours or Or
leans. But with the development OF tire
iron industry in Lorraine. Metz became
not only the key to France. but the bull
As a military problem, II Is well to dis
miss the idea that the taking OF Metz
can he by direct assault. There have
teen too many operations like the Sommc
and Flanders last year to make such an
operation tempting now. Metz will have
to he taken by the now familiar method
Of the pincers.
> IInquestionably. we shan see next year
we may see the beginning of this year
Of double thrust from Verdun straight
below Metz. and another thrust north
east from the front beyond Nancy into
the gap between Metz and Strasshurg. |
which was the scene Of the French Of
fensive OF August, 1914, which ended so
sastrously at Morhange,
These two thrusts will together envelop |
Metz, as the st. Mlhiel salient was en-
leloped the other day. and compel the |
Germans to choose between evacuating
he whole Metz position and riskirg an I
,rmy In q besieged fortress. as Bazaine
isked his army and the French cause
n 1870.
Long, Slow Campaign.
It Is proper calculation henceforth
o count on the ultimate capture OF Metz
" Pershing. probably materially aided
~ French troops. but It Is an incorrect
calculation to measure the task by the
Of the distance which now sep
rates us from the forts of Metz.
The Germans got within four miles Of
he citadel OF Vcrdun. but 1t took them
more than Ave months to make the ad-
ancc which did not amount to ceven