Evening star., 1918-06-12

third point of danger, Paris, and espe-
cially the rich industrial metropolitan
region about Paris.
Capture Wouldn't End War.
Army officers here generally hold
the opinion that the capture Of Paris
is not the aim or hope of the Germans
in their present operations. They
hold that opinion because they credit
the enemy with intelligence enough
to know that the capture of Paris,
however desirable for its effect on the
morale Of their own people, would
not be a decisive military victory.
The French people once before had
prepared to evacuate Paris, and thus
the shock to them, il they had to do
SO now, would be discounted by that
fact.
But the penetration of the allied
line at Amiens, with the consequent
separation of the main bodies Of the
allied forces. or the capture Of the
channel ports. and the menace to
England ENGLAND, apd laasspdissp e her trans,
Constitute the sort 81 AdvahtSgss
which Germany would regard as de-
cisive victories which would bring
her a step nearer winning the war.
And officers here state that calcula-
tions about Germany's movements
that she is exerting every effort to
win the war this summer.
Must Get Close to Paris.
If the Germans really seek to bonn
bard Paris it is believed that she will
have to get within fifteen. miles of
the city to make her bombardment
effective. Despite the wide advertis-
ing Of the iong-range guns, siege
of a city. to constitute a real danger,
would have to be conducted by artil-
lery with a range OF from fifteen to
twenty miles, and ten miles would be
even better. :
In front of these guns the attacking
force must hold a strip five or more
miles wide in order to protect the
would entail the loss of the artillery.
Should Germany get near enough to
Paris, it is conceded, she has the ar
tillery to carry on bombardment
which would constitute a real men,
ace. She has available many of her
used along the front and many which
she has captured. Germany is not
now thought to be suffering from lack
Of artillery.
Considerable interest was caused
here by brief dispatch which stated
that negro troops" delivered bril-
liant counter attack along the line Of
the railroad between Montdidier and
Estees-St. Denis. There was a possi-
bility that this might refer to colored
American troops, since the references
to French colored troops usually
were made by their colony rather
than by their color.
But later dispatches showed that the
troops were French colonials. Army
officers do not believe 1t will be long
before colored troops from the United
States have chance to distinguish
themselves. It Is believed that there
is complete infantry brigade of col
ored troops of the National Army in
France. OF course, there have been
many labor battalions sent over
100000 Negroes in Army.
These troops have their own COM
pany officers. but battalion, regimentarI
and higher officers are white. A re-
cent statement of the War Department
said:
are in the National Army. OF these
1000 are line officers holding commits
sions of captain, first and second lieu
tenants.
1t is not known whether the French
troops referred to are those of NADIA
gascar, the Singhalese. or other Afri-
can colonials, all of whom have done
brilliant work with the French forces. |
Especially have the Singhalese been
good fighters. There also are Moroc-
can troops. though these are not class
ed as negroes.
The British experience with troops
from India was not so good as far as |
fghting went. but their services have |
been valuable back of the line, But |
the American colored troops, in vari-
Gus ways, already have convinced |
Army officers that they will give a |
good account of themselves in France. |
The American negro has shown his
value in other wars, most recently in |
Cuba, during the Spanish h-American
war. He has taken to training ad-
and has shown a spirit which
has been commended highly on many
occasions. I