New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-08-12
Military Comment



Copyright. 1918. by The Tribune Association
;The Ne,O York Tribuse)
IN July "a, when the German
III retreat from the Marine sa
- lent was still in it's earlier
stages, this military comment ended
with the following paragraph:
"The many nibbling operations on
the Amiens front seem to fore
shadow an Allied offensive in the
near future north Of Montdidier. If
one German salient can be wiped
out, why can't another be-"
What then presented itself only
as probability-a project tempt
ing to a strategist of cool nerve and
indomitable resolution-has now be-
come glorious reality. Foch had
the nerve and the confidence 20 seize
his opportunity. The German re-
treat from the Marine had hardly
ended when he struck at the enemy
north Of Montdidier. In four days
the Montdidier salient has been eff
faced. With it has gone the enlarge
ment to the original salient created
by the fourth Ludendorff offensive
that south from Lassigny into the
Matz River Valley.
The armies of Won der Marwitz
and Won Hutier have been rolled
back practically to the old German
lines in Picardy, held from the fall
Of 1914 to the spring of 1917, ex-
cept in so far as they we're altered
by the costly British offensive of
1915 on the Somme and the Ancre.
Ludendorff has lost 10000 prisoners
and more than 300 guns. He stands
to-day on the rim OF the old Noyon
salient. But it is doubtful whether
he can hold on there. He is fighting
rear-guard battle for the extrica-
ton of his material and his armies,
just as he had to fight for two weeks
inside the Marine salient to secure
similar retreat. He tried then to
stand on the line of the Ourcq Now,
possibly, he will try to check the AL.
lied advance on a line up the Somme
from Peronne to Nesle or Ham, and
thence south to Noyon. But his mis-
adventure in Picardy will cost him
more than his m;sadventure in
Champagne-certainly in prisoners
and in morale. His own reputation
is ruined. He might have camou-
tagged one surprise and defeat. He
cannot camoulage two surprises
and defeats in quick succession.
Foch's two brilliant offensives
have much in common. Both were
characterized by audacity and flaw
less execution. But there are some
differences. On July 10 the great
French leader attacked the right
flank of a salient crowded with Ger
man troops. His own forces were
inferior to the enemy in numbers.
But they found weak point and set
IN motion a retreat which could not
stop short of complete evacuation
of the broken salient.
The very density of the German
masses inside the salient made extri-
cation<all the more difficult. The
German strength could not be fully
utilized, because cross communica-
lions were choked. But Allied prog
ress was necessarily slower, since
German resistance on the sides of
the salient stiffenad much earlier
The direction from which the blow
came, more than the blow itself.
made Ludendorff's retirement in
evitable
In Picardy the Allied armies made
a hesd-on attack. But thew had a
decided numerical superiority. Their
initial gains were much greater be-
cause no German reserves could he
thrown in promptly. Foch's armies
f1attened out the Montdidier salient
by main force. Now they are begin
ming to face the sort of desperate
resistance which the Franco-Amer;-
can forces had to face in the Marine
salient from the. second day ON.
Ludendorff fought bitterly vester-