The review. [volume] (High Point, N.C.) 1908-19??, 1918-09-19
WILL GO INTO LORRAINE.

The St. Mihiel salient is no more.
Renewing at dawn yesterday, the Am
ericans with some French assistance
not a great deal, it seems-finished
I'D a Job that had been mostly done
the day before. There were some
hopes that the quick pursuing of this
seine might result in considerable
catch, but the bag is small. 1t was
said there might be seven divisions OF
the enemy in the pocket; early yester-
day morning there were hopes OF trap
ping two; the result is really about
one division Of Germans and Aus
trians, if as at present understood the
total captures count up to 12,OOO. VI
these three-fourths were taken IN the
first day. 1t was too narrow a neck,
indeed to expect to catch great many
Germans in Having no room for ma
neuver, they had no business in there;
and so when signs were observed. as
they propably were, indicative that
the Americans were getting ready to
close it in, most of what men there
were in it were probably got out.
| This operation, although conducted
| brilliantly, is relatively unimportant
! in itself, as compared to the opera
tons to which it is to be prelude
Pershing still stands at the forks of
| the road. Observers are prepared to
believe that the real task that has
been set for these Americans, in their
| first great operation is the fortnight
! invasion of soil claimed by Germany,
/ the reduction of the fortress of Hetz,
the reclamation at once OF the coal
! regions that belong to France, and
the iron mines which she claims as
hers of right. Let the Americans ad-
&0
the Lorraine statue in Paris, WHICH up
to four years ago had been draped in
mourning for IS years, will be garland
led with flowers.
Il Yet it is by no means certain, as
vet, that Metz is the immediate .objec-
i tive. To the left there is the valley
of the Mouse, leading up behind the
armies of Germany in France and Bel
GUM. Although the enemy may have
# prepared strong trench lines there, it
}, is not a frontier country, and hence
contains no such positions for defense
as the great fortresses that mark the
old boundaries of Europe. It is, too
: a country that has not been shot to
pieces, it's roads and highways not de
: ST Dyed, as are those in the region OF
l lie Somme. A good deal has been
4 limited of late about impoundings Of
y
: general section, for the purpose of in
: undating against the enemy advance
g knowledge possessed by the allies as
] to these conditions has doubtless haC
l. it's weight in the determination thai
t has been reached as to the course K
S be pursued. Pershing knows where
J. he is going, but it is secret confined
l. to a very few, and not shared by Lu
l. dendorff, who has made his deduc
n tons, which may or may not be COZ
s. rect.>
e But whether now or later, the Amer
n leans will go into Lorraine; and the,
r. will go just as soon as it is pract
4 cable to go. Eighty per cent of tn
n iron that has been used by German
If in prolonging this war, 80 per cent @
e what Germany is using now agains
y French, British and Americans, come
it out of this Lorraine district. Whe
b. these mines are taken, the war
a over, in new and vastly importa1
re sense Metal is the point, prObab1.
s. of Germany's distinctive weakness, {
s. this moment. The estimate that tn
I'd enemy used or lost in six weeks r
= Gently his production Of six month
may or may not be reasonable. Bl
or there are many signs of a prOgressiv
al weakening of the artillery arm, an ar
n that by all accounts has, in the cas-
en- of the allies, been as steadily strengt
he ened. At any rate, it appears entire
of simple that when we have got Lo
wv raine nothing can remain but Il
pc "mopping up" There is no ersatz f
gs steel, and for steel there must be iro
in The direction Of the Americs
es thrust will probably develop within
of few days. If our fellows strike up tt
Moselle> toward Metz, it would be e