The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1918-12-06
Biz Chance Comes.


Then, at last. the greater change
comes. We have an army and IN nldr
September our army fights Its first
battle at st: Mihiel, 1t marks the flrNs
held since 1914 He loses towns and
territory, he loses $4,000 prisoners, while
our casualties are but 1000, This is
our first real blow, but more is to come
shortly.
AZ it stands, in the last days Of Sep
tember, the German is hard pressed on
all fronts, Hts retreat has begun and
for this retreat he has two routes--thAt
northward through Liege, that south
ward through Sedan. 1t Is to be our
mission to close the southern door, II
we can Then % grsSt Is sr6 the eSSI,iens SSnGie.
@SaG SSSn te e gam GaSe ana IN four %%SHs ysars
disaster is bound to follow. The Liege
neck q the bottle is too narrow to
sesSs sU ,ra sss spE gsppO1sss ss to Nov !, W, fight
to close that Sedan gateway, One army
grows to two, and besides we lend Dr.
visions to help IN Flanders and Cham
pagne We lack tanks and war ma
terial for our allies need all their re-
men SUa'ss serve Ss'fGHt for machines. The German
perceives the peril and sends his best
troops to face US. Forty divisions first
and last For more than O. month he
holds his ground, but his strength be-
gins to sbb, he cannot keep ,SS up the
and in the next days our troeps reach
the edge of Sedan. the southern gate
way s closed There Is left surrender
or a supreme disaster, and Ludendortt
chooses to surrender.
The thing that happened TO Napoleon
has then happened to William II. In
the end the young troops OF the aroused
nationalities OF Europe wore out his
veterans. To the end his troops fought
well and the skill Of his command was
unmistakable, but he lacked the force,
ing Importance; his defeats were heavy
and his battle losses irreplaceable. so
finally we had the abdieation OF Fon-
tainbleau, companion piece to the armt-
stice of Senlis,
when Ludendorff began his last cam
upward Of 40 divisions and we had one
division ready. When it ended we had
40 divisions, 80 in the field 10 serving
as material to replace wastage. More
than all else this tells the story Of the
campaign Of 1918. Seichprey with a
more than three divisions at the Marne
In June, perhaps twice as many IN July
and theu--one army at St Mihiel, in
September two between the Seille and
the Bar in october.
We were the last reserve OF civiliza-
tion. We arrived terribly late upon a
field on which disaster had been
avoided only by the supreme and un-
belieyable heroism and devotion Of our
associates But having arrived we gave
all that we had unhesitatingly and what
we gave was placed In the hands Of
one OF the greatest captains OF all time,
The winning Of this war IL not the
single achievement Of any nation, Com.
parlsons OF amounts contributed will
not be made by those who shared all
the tasks Loyalty and to the limit OF
their capacities, II Is for our allies 10
appraise the vaiue Of our services, but
they will be the first to recognize that
national sense OF deep and lasting pride
farm and factory, which made the cam
paisn OF the Meuse of 1918, broke the
German lines, closed the Sedan gate.
way and were on the road to Germany
itself when the foe surrendered
As for Gen Pershihg, his personal
achievement 10 revealed In that Of his
army and he wisely and charaoterIs-
ticaily leaves II at that, But how many
foolish tongues will be silenced by the
generous and Just tribute he makes 20
our Observation-Disclosures word--to
our allies,
Tribune. lne)