Evening star., 1918-04-14
Further Delay in Dealing Effective Blow
Will Be Fatal to Hindenburg's Effort
to Force Decision.
AMERICAN RESERVES AS NEW
FACTOR PROMISE TIDES TURN

TIDES IUkN
through the British on front Of ffty
Frencb apH aTiys ,,s wedge tas
pack upon Calais and Boulogne-that
is, north of the Somme-contain the
whole British force on the now re-
strfcted front with a relatively small
traction OF his troops. who would dig
In. and then concentrate all his re-
sources, and not improbably a material
traction OF the resources Of his allies.
upon dnal blow against the French.
burg expected to break through the
allied line, throw the French back be-
hind the Seine and the Disc, contain the
routed British behind the Somme. or
even to Canche. and then. with his
hands free for the moment, deal the
death blow to the French. And 1t is
essential to recognize that II the Brit
ish had been thrown back behind the
Somme or the Canche and penned up In
the peril to France would have been
tremendous. It was the old Napoleonic
conception Of the Waterloo campaign
to divide the British and the Prussians,
then smash Wellington. The failure
was the failure of Grouchy to contain
the Russians. who got back into ef-
routed the French
NOW let US follow the working out
OF the strategy as far as it had gone
on April 3, which is just sho.t Of three
weeks: % First Of all. there was an i'm
coughs 9TH army was beaten as no
great British army has ever been beat
en-: Not only was 1t beaten. but in its
tsa feereat G IT was SO badly handled that
tween 1t and the main British armies
TO the north and similarly between it
ana the French armies to the south.
lied chain of armies from Switzerland
to the sea, and this link was effectual-
ly broken by Friday, March %. Thus
IN two days Hindenburg had accom-
achieve at Verdun, he had broken a
hole between the allied armies.
Victory Prevented by French.
The ultimate German victory, after
the immediate and enormous local sue
cess west of st. Quentin, was prevented
by the French; they saved the British
saved Wellington at Waterloo. Had
the French not been able to intervene.
the Germans would have realized in the
first week the main purpose Of their
British in something approaching a
| complete rout. SO far as the 5th army
was concerned, north of the SOmme and
out of touch with the French.
The French saved the British and the
situation by the rapidity with which
they moved their reserves northward.
They had two things to do. The COL
lapse of the 5th British army had not
and French fronts; it had also uncov-
cred the main roads to Paris. Thus
the French had to rush troops north to
cover Paris; they had also to rush
trO0nS
man push westward, which was rapid
ly getting to the point where all pos
sible restoration of contact between the
allies would be impossible.
The threat to Paris was stopped short
and never became grave at any time
| during the critical period. But it was
not until March 26 that French troops
had gotten round the corner and in front
this time this extreme point had passed
, Montdidier and had begun to climb the
narrow plateau between the Avre and the
Noye valleys. And in the Noye valley
north. 1t was a breathless finish to one
Of the most exciting races in all military
history.
Continued Assaults in Vain.
The Germans did not Immediately ac-
cept the fact of defeat. For several days
they continued to assail this necessarily
| armies, since it bound the British and
the French together. But the French SOL
der of blood and bravery held. By April
l the German was forced to abandon his
immediate efforts to break the new con-
nectton. He had. temporarily, come to the
end of his strength on this front, where
he was thirty-five miles from his starting
point and the hopeless roads behind him
were rendered even moro hopeless by the
rainstorm that now intervened. Perhaps
I,n1 otynd he {yhf how sypf-
ten through, Just as Victor Hugo and
other French writer's insist that Napoleon
would have won at Waterloo. II 1t had
not rained the night before and delayed
the French attack the next morning.
But the German was not through. To
the north, in front OF Arras, his ad-
vance had been slight and he was still
in touch with his old, good communica-
tions. Accordingly he launched a new
thrust at Arras. The purpose was SIM
pie. He had broken the gate between
the French and British hinges at La
Fere and Arras at the La Fere hinge,
it had swung back but the French had
come up and stopped the swing. He
might now wrench it of the northern
hinge: II he did. his purpose would
still be accomplished because he would
open a new gap between the allies and
there were no more French reserves
available.
Forced to Abandon Attack.
Unfortunately for him, however. the
third British army succeeded where
the fifth had failed. 1t retired a little.
but in perfect order and upon stronger
positions, which 1t held. exacting so
terrible price from the Germans that
they stopped short in the attack upon
the northern hinge. and they have not
resumed their attack up to the present
moment. The rush was over by Marcn
81, by April l there was general lull
all over the front, and the Germans
were digging in on their fianks and
getting up their heavy guns. while the
allies also were digging in and getting
up reserves and artillery.
Still the allied situation was exceed
ingly awkward and remains so, in one
important respect. AS at Verdun, the
first German rush had carried the as
sailant over most of the good gun po-
sitions and naturally defensive lines. on
which the French could make stand
IL the most important local objective
were to be saved. Verdun city was this
local objective in the earlier campaign;
Amiens occupies similar role in the
later offensive. When the rush stop
ped the Germans were within a dozen
miles of the old capital of Picardy, an
important industrial town, but, above
all, the neck of the bottle through
which pass all the main north and
south railroads Of this region, the rail-
roads which connect Paris with Calais
and the British and French front and.
what was more important the rail-
roads from Rouen and Havre. which
connect the British in Picardy, Artois