The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1918-07-06
Military Observers In
Washington Comment on
Hard Local Blows
GREAT BATTLE
MAY BE RESULT
Increasing ManpoWer And
Air Forces Making
Themselves Felt
(Rv Associated Press.l

washington, July 6.-1ncreaslng
man power and rapidly extending
control Of the air, have permitted the
adoption Of a new policy by Cen
eral Foch, supreme commander of
the allied armies on the western
front, in the opinion Of many OBJ
servers here. They believe the Sc
quence of hard local blows struck
recently by French, American, Brit
ish and Italian troops is that a new
phase Of the great battle Is develop
ing which might expand into a major
operation on any part of the front
where the situation Is found favor
able.
Reports Of the recent highly sue
cessful strokes at the German lines
are taken here to indicate General
Foch no longer feels under urgent
necessity of keeping rigidly on the
defensive. The fact that the Ger
mans have been completely sur
prised and overwhelmed by several
Of the local counter operations Is be-
lieved due to the work Of the allied
airmen,
In both cases, American aid has
already served to change the tide Of
the fighting. The arrival of Ameri-
can troops by hundreds Of thousands
has enabled General Foch to begin
harassing the enemy all along the
line, while the increasing number Of
American pilots makes possible cen
centrations Of air forces that sweep
enemy scouts out Of the sky in the
sectors selected for limited drives.
Watch for Weak Spots.
The American attacks around
Chateau Thierry, the French opera
tions on the scissors front of the
Compiegne salient, and the British
operations on both sides Of the
Somme and in Flanders probably
were prompted by the fact that the
weakness of the enemy at those par
ticular points had been revealed by
airplane observations or as a result
of raids at other points. Quick Gd-
vantage was taken, undoubtedly for
surprise blows where German re-
serves were on the move.
It is assumed here that General
TFoch now plans to give the enemy
no rest. Points Of vantage held by
him, which would be OF value as the
starting place for a new major
thrust are being recaptured all along
the line. The effect is to embarrass
here believe that the fact that any
Of these local operations by the al
lies may suddenly develop into
more important movement, to keep
the German reserves scattered along
the whole line.
The activity Of the allied forces is
believed by observers here to put a
wholly new aspect on the problem Of
meeting the forthcoming German eff
fort TO renew his movement either
toward the channel ports or Paris.
The possibilities Of feints at remote
parts of the line to cover the de-
velopment Of the real attack until it
was well under way, are believed to
be less promising as 1t is the allies
who are now creating diversions and
not the Germans.
One advantage Of the increasing
man power of the allied armies that
observers believe is certain to be ap-
parent in the next German rush,
will be the possibility OF allied
thrusts at other points along the
line, thus compelling the shifting of
German reserves to meet these at
tacks. It Is believed General Foch
now is in q position to take this
means OF slowing up the enemy
without impairing his own reserves.