Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-08-15
OFFENSIVE, F0CH'S
GAME, SAYS CRITIC
Lassigny Point Of Interest in War
Just at This Time; Germans
Must Hold 1t.

Washington, Aug. l5.-Ihe' war sit,ia-
ton, up to last night, is set down by
noted military critic, as follows:
THE situation south of Roye, where
the greatest French pressure was being
eXcrted, is for the moment shrouded IN
doubt Reports from unofficial sources
have been replete with references to an
advance upon Lassigny 1t has even
been stated that the town has been
taken. But the official reports of yes
terday make no mention OF tins I'M
portant village, no reference to any
move in its direction The only gain
recorded is in the extreme southern
corner of the line at Ribecourt, where
this village was occupied
This is logical consequence of the
gain reported few days ago Of sew
eral kilomcters north of Cambronne.
The gain hedged Ribecourt around and
made its evacuation by the Germans
matter of course. As matter of fact,
except for the fact that this seizure
represents a certain gam to the north
along the Oise, Ribecourt ls of but little
If any Importance. 1t is a low-lying
village, being in the bottom land of the
| Disc Canal, and does not lead To any
thing further considered solely by 1t
self
LASsiGNY REAL POINT OF INTEREST.
"Lassigny is the real point of interest.
1t is not an important base. The rail
road which runs through it is a minor
affair, single track, and probably mar
row gauge This road, moreover, has
for n considerable part of it's length been
under fire for some time, so that 1T has
been of little value But the value of
Iassigny is entirely one of position. The
town is the centre of the northern boun-
Diary of the tangled wood-covered hills
west of the bend of the Disc
The ground about l.assgny is high and
commanding, overlooking much of the
country to the south and much 10 the
cast as we'll If the French can push IN
a wedge sufficiently deep TO capture the
town, practically the entire German po-
sition west of the Olse will be turned
and evacuation must follow While this
position and this particular hlt of
ground IS Of but little value TO the Ger
mans il is Of great value 10 the French.
Il will. if taken, clear the northern bank
of the Alsne, west Of scissors, TO
much greater extent than exists at pres
ent and give the French elbow room be-
tween their lines and the river. This,
while not so important at the moment,
will be Of great Importance IN subse-
quent operations.
LIES TO KEEP UP oFFENsIVEs
'TIhis is what the Allies must look to
at this time The Allies, having begun
the offenslyes, must keep them up, and
will keep them up until the war is end
cd The last two. while they have been
extremely successful, are as nothing IN
extent or power 10 those which the Ger
mans will have 10 face next year The
tical defects IN present positions can be
rcmcdied and the positions themselves
| improved This is Foch task at pres
ent and until the end Of the year
| such a series Of operations with ex
actlv the same objcCtives Is altogether
| familiar TO us, ard the importance OF
| obtaining such results so as 10 have a
| favorable outlook when the spring fight
| ing opens has been amply demon
| stratcd We remember. for example.
| the British fights for the Arras posi-
tions, Vimy Ridge, and later the battles
in Flanders, which resulted in the cap
ture Of Passchendacle Ridge and Mes
| sines. The French offensive by which
the Chemin des Danes was taken is
| along the same lines II is this species
of fighting which we will see before
the wear is out, and which will exercise
| an important bearing on next year
campaign.
GERMAN RETIREMENT NORTH OF ALBERT.
An interesting bit of news from the
| western threatre was the Germans re
| tiremcnt north Of Albert from thci
forward positions between Beaumont
Hamel and Bucquoy 1t is not yet ap
parent just what this means. As near
as can be made out now, II would APP
pear to be a mere STRENGTHENING out o
the lines AS the lines settled doWT
after the German advance in March
there remained between the towns men
toned a salient projecting some dis.
tance INTO the British lines In other
words. the line ran due north along
the Ancre and about mile and hall
west of Puisleux au Mont it turned
northeast to Bucquoy
There is no value to the Germans in
the possession of this salient 1t Is,
indeed, an element of local weakness
This in itself would seem to account
for the retirement At the same time,
we do not know the depth OF the retire
ment so that il is impossible TO draw
from it any conclusions.
NARROWED FRONT
Only one other possibility may be
mentioned The British north of the
Somme have been entirely inactive fot
some days They were held up by the
stiffness of the German resistance. and
the fighting finally died out An at,
tack further north, IN view of the Ger
man concentrations south of the
Somme, is not impossible, and il neeo
| he ON but a narrow front to clear TIA,
line of the Ancre from Albert north
The Germans may have got wind thai
something of this nature was contem
plated and retired in order to dodge tho
blow rather than stand and meet it