The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1918-05-02
GERMAN ARMIES
WILL GIVE ON
Gen. Foch's Defensive PIs,
Seems Apparent.
SLAUGHTER OF THE TEUTONs
Expert Contends That The Terrltor,
Gains Germany Is Winning Ar.
Not Compensating For Her
Losses In Men.

Washington.-Von Hindenburg m,
tinued his ceaseless slaughter Of Go,
man manpower the past week by do
veloping double offensive toward
Amiens and Ypres.
No success of tactical importaBn
resulted from the Amiens operation,
but the capture of Mount KENNEL /,
the northern area of operations ba
emphasized the German thus
against Ypres. The net result Of b
weeks operations, however, has MOI
given to the Germans sufficient 70,
ritory to justify their losses. Til.
capture of Amiens is as far off a
ever, and the fall of Ypres would MOI
have important strategic con,s
quences for the Germans as long a
the British lines hold Immediately 70
the west. The small sectors of terri
tory occasionally yielded by the Allig
are far more worrying to the nerve
than their importance justified. nkI
uncomfortable to read of the German
advances, but if these little victorg
were not won, there would be no temp
tation to Won Hindenburg to contInp
the merciless slaughter of his owl
troops.
There are two possible ways by
which Won Hindenburg can win ths
war in the west; first, by separatns
the French and British armies and
annihilating one or the other of them,
second, by wearing down the morale
of the Allies. The first method ha,
been made practically impossible with
the appointment of General Foch 10
the supreme command of the Allied
forces. To win by the second method
is Won Hindenburg's purpose in in
cessantly hammering at the weston
lines for petty gains. If attacks o.
this character continue long enough
1t sometimes happens that demoralia
tion sets in among armies on the de-
fensive.
No indication of such a condition
has been shown on the west front
and by continuing to guard against It
the Allies can eventually bring the
game back into their own hands.
Foch is demonstrating more and
more his abilities as a defensive lead
er. In the past weeks battles the re
newal of spirited resistance by the
Allies after the fisheartening loss Of
Mount KENNEL has been very en-
couraging. Foch can recover this
sector of ground by the employment
of a sufficient number of reserves,
but 1t is questionable whether he
thinks the tactical gain would CON.
pensate for the future lessening of his
reserve power.
Foch is conducting his defensive
operations with the help of very few
reserves, as he must if German man.
power Is to be depleted first. 1t would
but equalize casualties If each area
won by the Germans at enormous
cost were to be retaken by the Allies
with the same casualties. When
therefore, position like Mount Ken.
mel is lost Foch must decide whether
its recovery is worth duplicating what
the Germans have spent upon It. 10 |
almost every instance since the pres
ent localized assaults began Foch ha
decided in the negative. Foch's judg
ment must be trusted. That he has
highly developed plan is certain. t
may require a number of months for
this plan to work out in detail, but a,
long as the morale of the Allie;
wavers neither at the Somme rr
at Ypres the plan will eventually m
fold.