The Washington herald., 1918-08-09
ALLIED POOL,
PLAN OF FOCH,
HAS SUPPORT
Success in Picardy Advance
Yesterday Proves All
Forces Now Welded.
lis MARCELCOVE NEXT?
Another Great German
Railway Center May Be
Bay in Near Future.

News Of the steady advance of the
Franco-British armies In Picsrdy yes
terday caused renewed expressions Of
confidence by experts here in the abil-
ity of the allies to recover before win
ter all ground gained by Ludendorn
in the fighting of this year.
Both French and British military
attaches placed emphasis upon the
two significant truths revealed by re-
ports of the big operation.
II Is agreed here that by the as
sault of this morning with its re-
sulting capture Of thousands of the
enemy and hundreds of guns, General
Foch has set at rest any doubts that
the allies hold the initiative.
Secondly: The success Of t. opera
ton will silence that small minority
of military experts who have express
ed doubt of the value of the French
tactics by which troops are pooled.
A prominent British of3cer who has
seen much service I'm the rolling coun-
try OF Picardy frankly expressed sur
prise that the allies were able to
launch such a wide attack at this
time. He said:
Foeh clds InItiative.
at was not thought that an attack
Of quit the extent Of that now being
driven forward could be attempted.
,Rks- s--frous -fss-Tcports Of the operation
1T is clear that Gen. Foch no longer
is hampered by any doubt as to the
strength Of his reserves. This in itself
Is Overwhelmingly bad news for the
boche. II means that from now on
Gen. Foch dominates the situation and
the Germans are forced to undergo
the strain Of awaiting the next at
tack.
"of perhaps equal importance in the
progress Of the strategy Of the pres
ent moves is the fact that again the
allies are using with excellent effect
the new tactics involved in the use of
pooled forces. In the drive from the
Marne. French and American troops.
under the command OF Gen. Mangin,
and British and French troops, oper-
ating under Gen. BertheIot, gave op-
ponents to the theory slight cause for
any further criticism of the plan of
placing allied forces In conjunction.
In this case. according to the first re-
ports. we see the French and British
operating under the command Of Field
Marshal Haig. 1t must be apparent TO
all now that there is one army on the
Western front.
To Take Less Prisoners.
Just what may be expected from
this operation is. of course, largely
matter of conjecture. It is clear,
however, that the operation, unless
unusually successful will not re-
suit in as great a bag of prisoners
and of material as did the recent
fighting in the Marne salient, The
Marne salient was narrower and
offered a better opportunity for cut
ting off the enemy. The salient at
Amiens is much more shallow and
has less the aspects of the bag. This
means that the enemy has a greater
opportunity to retire in order"
French authorities here were
overjoyed at the action of the allies
in exerting additional pressure al
new point in the line. One of the
French officials said:
THE attack being carried to
the eastward at a rapid rate. The
plan of action apparently calls for
n advance along a front, the axis of
which is the great national high
way connecting Amiens and st.
Quentin. and which runs in an al
most perfectly straight line for
miles at the point where today's
| fighting took place.
Marcelcavs Nextf
] "The capture of Marcelcave, al
, though not officially confirmed, ap-
pears probable. This town Is prac-
tically on the line Of one Of the i'm
portant railroad lines of the salient.
The occupation Of La Motte-eu-Sa
terre. to the north of Marcelcave,
shows that the Allies are working
their way along the great highway.
| 1t is natural to expect that the ad-
bance would be help up somewhat
| around Morisel and Moreuil, where
the heights and woods present good
defense positions. The capture OF
these places would lead our men to
the great plateau beyond and would
no doubt. result in a considerable ad.
vance"