Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-09-22

thrown back from the country behind
the dixie to the line of Verdun-RheIme,
and the bulwark regafned Its old mill.
tary value. It covered the hank OF
the Mouse; it was the foundation of
the whole western stretch OF the
French defense system.
Hun Aim After verdun Failure.
Having failed at the Marine the Ger
mans had in September. 1911. to re-
construct their plans. and they con-
ceived Of an operation which should
seek to envelop Verdun. The crown
prince was to come south. west OF
verdun and across the Paris-cha-
lons-verdun railway. another army
was to come east out Of Metz, break
through the dixie midway between
Verdun and Toul. and the two armies
were to join hands behind Verdun.
surrounding it and presently captur-
ing 1t.
BY the third week in September this
double thrust was well in progress;
the crown prince was driving south
from Montfaucon and had taken
Varennes. Meantime German army
heights Of the Mouse. half way be-
tween Toul and Verdun. broken
through the dixie. captured the little
city OF st. Mihiel on the Meuse. with
the strong Fort Camp des Romans
above 1t, and had forced the passage
Mihiel fell and the kaiser sent q mes
sage Of jubilation to his wife, which
thrilled all Germany.
Joftre to the Rescue.
But once more William was destined
to be disappointed. Joffre had already
begun his great turning movement
between the Disc and the Somme. and
in short order all available German
troops had to be hurried from Lor-
raine to Picardy. to Artois. and pres
BILE example Of the value of the initia-
tive. Joffre had won it in the princi-
pal field at the battle Of the Marine
Before Moltke could regain 1t by an
operation in a field still subsidiary
Joffre employed It. still in the main
little strategy and run westward to
prevent Joffre from reaching the flank
and rear Of all the German armies north
Of the Aisne.
AS a result st. Mihiel disappeared
from the battle news. and when the
occupied in this region salient some
thing like the still more famous
British salient of Ypres. but larger
and far more defensible, because
while at Ypres the Kaiser's troops
sat on the Messines- "Whitesheet"
Ridge, as spectators sit on raised
seats at stadium. and looked down
mans at st. Mihiel occupied q portion
Of the Heights Of the Mouse and at
the highest crest Of all
the hills. nearly 1,400 feet above sea
level and sweeping the whole Woevre
Plain. A spur Of outlying hills to the
protected valley by which to rein
force their troops and munition them.
and along this valley from Thiau-
court, where it met an existing rail-
way, they constructed a strategic
railroad to facilitate transport. De-
spite it's odd shape. the character of
the country thus made this st; Mihiel
along the whole line. as the French
were presently to find out.
We have seen that the st. Mihiel
operation was originally undertaken
in conjunction with an operation to
the north. designed to envelop YER
the occupation of st. Mihiel and the
little village Of Chauvroncourt, across
the river, the Germans had cut the
Toul-Verdun railway, one of the two
lines serving Verdun, which were
vital to its defense. In the same
fashion the crown prince at the north.
while he had been checked, had come
south far enough SO that. when the
moment came, he could with his long
range guns forbid to the French the
use of the Verdun-Paris railroad, and
then Verdun would be without any
adequate rail communication.
Foundation of verdun Attack.
Here was the foundation of the Ger
man attack upon Verdun in February,
1916. In addition, holding Fort Camp
des Romans. the Germans, likewise
with heavy artillery. commanded the
Paris-Nancy railway north of Com
mercy. but this was less serious for
the French, because a detour line
could be constructed around the zone
Of fire. borrowing existing lines to
Gondrecourt, but at the least this add
ed twenty or thirty miles to the dis
lance between Paris and the eastern
frontier and imposed certain handi-
caps on transport.
Recognizing the threat of the st.
Mihiel salient to Verdun. Joffre. the
moment his hands were free, sought
in February. 1915. to pinch out the
side. where it came down OFF the
heights Of the Mouse into the woevre
plain. We had then the fighting about
Les Eparges. which, after heavy
losses, came to nothing. In the sum-
mer Joffre tried again. this time
above Pont-a-Mousson and on the line
between the Moselle and the Meuse,
but his efforts came to nothing. The
salient stood. and in the next winter
it was an essential detail in the Yer
dun offensive of Falkenhayn
After Verdun had been saved the
French built a new railroad from Bar
le-Duc straight up to verdun, out of
range OF German artillery, and the st.
Mihiel salient lost its chief value. 1t
was still nuisance, but the French
the price in casualties necessary to re-
duce It, because the gain would not
be sufficient to make the investment
profitable. As result st. Mihiel be-
came quiet sector, and as such 1t
was used as the training front for
when we began to get to France in
some strength.
When American troops in large num-
bers began to be available, however,
St. Mihiel assumed a different aspect
for the allied chief. He
could now AFFORD to spend casualties
in taking the position, since by taking
1T he could Improve his own commune
cations. achieve certain necessary
preparations for later and more con-
taking 1t he might inflict upon the
Germans a defeat which would have a
moral value and loss in men and in
supplies, guns and munitions which
would have a material value.
Pershing's Purposes in Attack.
Accordingly Pershing was asked to
reduce the st. Mihiel salient with
these. purposes in view: First, to
make the enemy trouble in q new
area and compel him to occupy re.
serves Of men and guns in covering
mines. from which Germany derived
the larger part Of her iron ore used in
her manufactures. thus preventing
him from using the same men and
guns further west, where the main