The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1918-12-28

teau Thierry, where the Germans had
crossed the river n were still gain
ing ground, but only at great cost and
slowly. In this situation Foch suddenly
struck, back upon the extended and
open flank of the Germans between the
Marine and the Aisne, using Americans
rs we'll as French troops In Mangln's
spearhead thrust.
The result was immediate and de-
cisive. II was a repetition Of the
strategy Of the first marne and it had
the same outcome: .Ludendorff was
compelled to draw his beaten troops out
Of the Marine salient, pursued by Amer
leans and French. He suffered great
losses in material, evacuated SCISSORS
and the territory south of the .Aisne,
but what was more important, by his
retreat he confessed the failure. not of
his immediate effort but of his whole
campaign. Germany had shot her bolt.
She had lost the offensive and it now
remained to be seen whether she could
hold out on the defensive until the end
Of the campaign.
On Aug. s Foch began his campaign.
He threw Rawlinson's Fourth British
army against the Germans holding a
great salient from Arras round to the
outskirts Of Scissors, broke in the side
Of this salient, taking thousands of
ately widened the area of dislocation
by throwing French armies against the
salient all the way round to the heights
north Of the Aisne. Under pressure and
losing heavily In mon and material,
Ludendorff staggered back to the old
lines Of the Somme fighting of 1916
and attempted to make q stand:
But while he was seeking to do this,
Ludendorff was suddenly assailed north
OF the Somme by Byng, who turned his
flank, retook Bapaume and forced a re-
tirement upon the old Hindennburg line
on March 81. And when Byng's blow
had exhausted its possibilities Horne,
with the First British army, struck
astride the Scarpe and actually broke
through a portion of the Hindenburg
I bos;;ai~ AP RRT aSn FIRST oS Sa1s o99 septem Smq
Ludendorf was not only back in the
| Hindenburg line, but the chance Of his
holding the line was debatable.
Meantime away out at the other end
of the front Foch threw Pershing, with
the First American army, against, the
German salient at st. Mihiel, south of
Verdun, and the Americans won, a
| swift and considerable victory, taking
many guns and prisoners, approaching
Metz and giving Ludendorff a new
cause for anxiety, since at last the
American contribution was becoming
important in numbers and was now
dreds Of thousands each month.
Hard on the heels Of the American
victory at st, Miheil came. two decisive
battles in the East Allenby in Pales-
tine destroyed two Turkish armies
broke Turkish resistance In Palestine
Syria and Mesopotamia, but, as the
event proved, eliminated Turkey from
the war. No victory in all history was
more complete and all German hope!
In. Turkey fell Instantly to dust anc
ashes.
In the same hour D'Esperey, In Mace
donia, attacked the Bulgars and In {
struggle almost as brief, destroyed tn
Bulgarian power OF resistance ant
thereafter promptly received the uncon,
d dissT,Ss from the war, thus isolat
ing Germany from Turkey, opening tn
way to the allied liberation Of Serb;
and Rumania and the eventual invasion
Of Hungary from the Danube. Takel
D'Esperey closed the fighting In tn
near East and ended all German dream
Of Mitteleuropa.
While the news Of these two victorie
was filling the world, Foch moved {
a general attack designed to turn tn
Germans out OF their great system G
On SEPT. % he threw tne FIRST Ameri
can army against the Germans mort
OF Verduns, Gouraud's army agains
them north OF Chalons in Champaign
and In the following days he loosed on
army after, another all the way to IN
broke the first system OF German de
lenses and streamed north toward tn
final line covering Sedan and the Metz
r Mauheuge railway. In Flanders tn
Belgians and British retook all the los
, ground about Ypres, pressed over N
|. hills and descended to the plain drivin
a wedge between the Germans and II
Belgian seacoast and threatenin
. eventual iolation.
But It was to the south and again'
the main wall Of the Hindenburg lii
that the main blow fell. Beginnir
! about Sept, 20 the main mass Of BIRTHS
troops, with several American division
= in line, pounded their way through Il
y whole ~ miles Of defenses eetwee
the line had been left far behind, II
. last complete barrier to allied advan,
I was gone, while northward the Frenc
3 British and Belgisns were sweepir
8 through Western Belgium, clearing q
: seacoast and approaching the scheld
ostend had fallen, or were about
fall, Laon to the south had gone. TT
Germans still bad defense systems al
. were fighting with. resolution, but
Q was apparent TO all that the jig W:
about up. Along the whole line, sa'
It before the Americans, where the &c
e mans were massing reserves al
Is making a desperate stand, the ALI
q were advancing and the limit OF Ge
3 man ability to halt American troo
o was within pain sight.
a The closing act ofths drama was no
. at hand. In the south the Italians too
i. Che offensive and destroyed Austri,
resistance in q brief battle which end,
4 in an indescribablo rout. Austria oeas
TO have an army, hundreds OF tho
N sands OF men flung down their gur
Trieste and Trent opened theiE gat
|. ! the battlefield. And at his mona