Evening star., 1918-06-03

minimum or seventy hours. NOR
tunately there was no unity Of COM
mand- Take the map and draw a
line passing thrugh Barisis rOise to
the south of Noyon. and Saint-Just-
en-Chaussee. This line constituted a
wall between the French and British
armies. On either side it was each
for himself-and God for ALL"
Gen. Petain's Information led him
to anticipate an attack either against
the British front or in the region of
Champagne. When the point of at
tack was revealed the reserve units
of the extreme left were at con-
siderable distance from the active
front between Arras and the Disc.
An effort was made to correct this
geographical separation by an under
standing between the two general
STATS. But a penetration of reserves
would have been better"
The British Position.
Before the German attack the Eng
lish occupied the trenches between
the Scarpe and the Oise with nine di-
visions. In reserve they had eight
divisions of infantry and three of
cavalry. Against this total of twenty
divisions the Germans directed the
armies of Won Hutier and Won der
Marwitz The latter marched on the
axis Saint-QuentinH Ham Roye- Mont
didier. in order to separate the
French from the English armies. 1t
was the old plan of divide and con-
Quer." Won Hutter sought to hold Off
an anticipated fianking movement by
the French. If the French had given
ground no doubt he would have at
tempted blow at Paris, by way of
Compiegne.
Between the Scarpe and the Disc.
on front of ninety kilometers. at
4:40 am, on March 81. the enemy be-
gan a short but excessively violent
preparation of artillery. in which
every resource was used. After two
hours of gas and counter battery
work against the British batteries.
and three hours on the first lines.
forty-seven German divisions. or
about 100000 men. marched forward
minutes this immense force disap-
peared in the fog" bristling with
mitrailleuse. minenwerfer and rs
The first days objective was the
Somme and the Crozat canal.
Gen. Byng's army in the north sus-
tained the shock of ten divisions.
but Gen. Gough's-the 5th British
army-recoiled on the line Gozeau-
court, Epehy. lie Verdier. Canal
Crozat. That evening it appeared
that the army. deprived of reserves
on its right. was reduced to its own
for the French. Gen. Petain sent
the 9Th and 10th Infantry Divisions
and the First Division of dismounted
cavalry to the aid under Gen. Pelle."
The 125th Division. which was held
in reserve. was rushed toward
Chauny. The greatest haste was
made.
French to the Rescue.
I'm the night of the 22d-23d of
March the infantry of the 5th Corps
descended from its camions between
Guiscard. Candor. and Chiry-Ours-
camp. In spite Of the absence of ar
tillery, which trotted on the lower
roads. without horses or mules to
numbered by the English in retreat
and the Inhabitants in flight" this di-
vision hurried to the rescue.
Under the formidable pressure. and
in default of reserves. the British
right had not been able to hold the
seventy hours allotted in Gen. Pc
tain's calculations. I'm spite of our
goodwill we were twenty-four hours
late. Never mind-we did prodigies.
The German advance should be dissi-
pated 'quand meme The life of
France was at stake. Even the hum
blest poilu understood"
On the 22d the question of the COM
mand was raised. Gen. Cough had
given the order to retreat on the
Somme. Gen. Petain and Gen. Haig
saw the necessity of gathering the
units scattered by the retreat in
zone firm hand" On the 23d Gen.
Humbert took command of all the
Franco-English troops between Ba-
risis and Ollezy and assumed the in
tegrity of the line Somme-crozat
the 5th French Corps marched to the
assault. The English artillery well
seconded them. but the English In
fantry had been weakened. Our left
wing sought liaison with its neigh
bors, but was unable to find them.
confident in the appearance. of the
2od and ed, which were on the way.
When It Becomes Tragic.
.The evening came and the situa-
ton became serious. The losses to
the north and south were serious.
There were two divisions of English
in reserve, but they had been sent
to the north on the road Nesle-Roye.
This was no support for US. Gen.
Petain took a new decision. While
the third French army. under Hum
bert, covered Noyon and the valley
of the Oise. the first army, with
drawn from Lorraine. under Debeney.
barred the route Montdider-Clermont.
mand of both.
"a new breach was created between
the English and ourselves on the
morning of March "a. when the Eng
lish retreated from the line of the
Crozat canal. The twenty-second
and sixty-second French divisions
made forced marches to regain con-
tact, but only succeeded in doing so in
the environs of Nesle. On the 25th
the German effort was renewed with
fresh troops. The fight was hand to
hand, but there were not enough men
to hold solidly all the line. There
were whites in the line of fire." The
Germans attacked furiously from
Roye to the Oise.
"By this time the situation had be-
come rtagfc. Were the Germans to
enter the Oise valley and cut off our
conveys which hurried to us? The
general of the third army issued his
famous order inviting his troops to
defend the heart of France Every
thing was thrown into the fight, even
to the workers. At last came help
from the 75s. drawn by tractors
which marched twice as rapidly as
those drawn by horses. Cavalry and
infantry came. All were sent toward
Montdidier. for. the enemy having re-
again been forced to retreat. and our
left is again in the air.
When Foch Was Named.
I'm the night of the 25th and 26th
hand-to-hand fighting was the rule.
for neither side had been able to bring
up artillery. Noyon is taken. But re-
Inducements have come. The 4th
division of cavalry, 3Sth OF infantry.
1880. 56th, SD. 36th and 77th. Quick
ly, quickly we I'LL the holes. The
20 nil ri