New-York tribune., 1918-09-07
TO~DAY com .,letes the first month
of Fochs g eat offensive. 1t sees

Northern France, with every prospect of
Il long and dangerous retreat ahead Of
them--a retreat to the Belgian frontier,
which will, on the map at least, restore
tie situation of August, 1914, liquidating
every German gain since the earliest
days of the war.
Since Napoleon was defeated at Leip-
sic and began his final retreat to France
in 1913, it may be questioned if any
other month has been of equal impor-
tance in military history. Just as Leip
sic broke the Napoleonic legend of irwin
cibility, shattered The illusion created by
Austerlitz, Jena, Friedland and Wag
RAM these battles, almost too grandiose
to be measured by place names, which
have unrolled over the length Of Ile-de
France, Picardy and Artos, and are ex-
tending to Flanders and to Champagne,
have after four years, broken the spell
of that impersonal German military ma
chine which in the period between Au-
gust, 1914, and July, 1918, carried its
victorious standards from the English
Channel to the Gulf of Riga and from
the Baltic to the Black Sea
The measure of Foch's victory is not
yet to be had. The greatest fruits re-
main almost within the hands of the
British and French armies now advanc-
ing over the ruins Of shattered defence
systems and broken German divisions
We have taken more than 100000 pris-
oners since Rawlnson struck the first
blow on August s. We have taken more
than 100000 prisoners and 2,200 cannon
since Mangin turned the final German
offensive into a crushing disaster on
July Is. We have liberated 1000 square
miles of French territory, and in the
north are advancing over ground un-
trodden by Allied troops since the re-
treat from Mons forty-nine months ago.
And the last week has shown us the
best news, the best progress, since the
offensive began. This offensive has had
three phases, and is approaching
fourth The first was the victory of
Rawlinson, which determined the evac-
uation Of the Montdidier salient. It
abolished the threat to Paris and to
Amiens and defintively put the Germans
on the defensive But it left the prob
lem of whether the German could re-
main where he had stood in all the time
from September, 1914, to March, 1917
The second phase was the blow of
Mangin south Of the Disc and north Of
the Aisne, which drove a wedge between
fhn ~ &C
west of St. Quentin along the old Noyon
salient. After Mangin struck and ad-
vanced the retreat to the Hindenburg
line was inevitable. But this opened
the new problem-could the Germans
stand on the Hindenburg line as thew
had successfully stood from March,
1917, to March, 1918, when they launched
their grandiose offensive?
The answer to this question came last
week in the blow of Horne, following
the blow of Byng in a previous week.
Together these two operations carried
the British from Arras and Albert east
ward to the old Hindenburg line from
the battlefield of Cambrai in 1917 to
that of Loos in 1915. But it did more
than this. Horne's blow cut right
through the Hindenburg line, the Dro-
court-Queant switch line, the Wotan
llne-the nomenclature is confused: the
tact IS not. In two days British troops
were, and are, advancing upon Cambrai
and upon Douai, and possession of these
cities will mean German retreat to the
frontier. And as | see it, the retreat is
already become inevitable.
After all, two great facts have been
established in the last week which seem
to me more important than any gain of
territory. The breaking of the Dro-
court-Queant line demonstrated that
lines, all lines and defence systems. have
lost their earlier approximate imprep-
inability. 1t was matter of life and
death for the Germans to hold this line
Its Importance has been patent on the
map to the least militarily informed OBJ
servers for at least fortnight The
Germans had time to prepare-thev
brought up reserves and artillery-thew
made supreme effort-and thew lost
the line and $1,000 prisoners with II in
fortyeight hours.
And this reveals the second great fact.
German morale is breaking down. Go
back to the days Of the Somme and re-
call that from July to july Is Ha;o
advanced two miles on a front of seven
at cost of more than 100000 casual