New-York tribune., 1918-08-22
Bwg and Mang:n
By Frank II. Simonds
tCopyrch, 1918. BY New York Tribune Inc

ish Army of General Byng and in the
most recent operation Of the Tenth
French Army, under General Mangin,
| there seems to be indicated fairly clear
ly an interesting offensive method which
contrasts strikingly with that employed
by the Germans. In their great often
sives of this year the Germans have
followed the plan of other years, attack
ing on a very wide front after an enor-
nous preparation, and, having exhausted
their resources in the attack, spending
a long time in preparation for another
attack.
We had thus an attack on March 81
extended to Flanders on April 9 and
terminated only on April 29. 1t was not
until May q that the Germans again
attacked, this time at the Aisne. A brief
effort in June along the Disc was fol-
lowed by another pause lasting until
the 18th Of July. These pauses were
perhaps fatal to German offensive plans,
because in each instance they gave the
enemy defeated by the first heavy blow,
time to recover, and they gave American
reserves time to arrive
Now Foch seems to be striking a
series Of rapid blows, by comparison with
the German efforts small, relying upon
local effect produced now near Arras,
now near the Disc, now between the
Disc and the Somme, to produce in the
aggregate a general dislocation of the
German line. In each of these blows
he uses comparatively few men, and the
victorious troops are ready for a thrust
after short interval The German gets
no rest, no time to reorganze or re-
group his forces; the blows which are
rained upon him are none of them knock
out blows, but each of them adds to his
confusion and inf1cts serious local in
juries.
AS to the latest British blow now
going forward between Arras and the
Ancre, it is plain that if it continues for
any distance it will uncover the flank of
all the Germans south Of the Ancre and
between Bapaume and the Somme. 1t
is III effect turning movement designed
to compel the Germans to retire out Of
those positions north of the Somme
River which they have held ever since
the attack Of August and have used
for their anchorage south of the Somme
In this sense it is the last stage in the
series of blows intended to compel the
Germans to go back to the Hindenburg
line before they can settle down after
their original defeats in Picardy and on
the Marne.
The ground between the Ancre and
Arras has been selected for the attack
because it is best suited for the ma
neuvre of the small tanks, so important
IN the present infantry movement. Up
to the present moment the British ad-
vance has not been very considerable
but it's effect must already have made it.
self felt south of the Ancre, and it NAV
be the final straw that breaks the back
OF German resistance west of the line
of Arras, Bapaume, PGronne, Noyon.
Turning now to the operation of Man
gin, which has already resulted in the
capture Of 10000 prisoners and the
clearing of most of the country between
the Alsne and the Oise there is this to be
said: There are two historic pathways to
Paris for the invader. The one comes from
the east from the valleys of the Meuse
and the Moselle to the Marne and by the
Marne to the French capital. The other
descends the Oise from Belgium. In 1914
the German borrowed both the Disc Val
ley and the Meuse; he approached Paris
from the north and his armies also
reached the Marne from the northeast
but at the last moment these armies
veered away from Paris and found defeat
in the Marne Valley.
Once the tide had turned and the Cor
mans had been driven out of the Marine
salient and were being pushed out Of
Little Switzerland" it was logical for
Foch to seek to restore the old front be-
tween the Disc and the Aisne. the more
because any advance in that region
would have Immediate consequences for
the Garmans fighting west Of the Disc
and south of the Aisne In word. the
advance OF the centre would compel an
eventual If not an immediate withdrawal
OF the Germans flanks between Rheims
and Solssons and also between Rove and
Noyon. Such a retirement would be in
duced by the artillery pressure, which
could be directed from the Aisne- Disc
triangle.
From the newly captured positions
Mangln's artillery sweeps the little val
ley OF the Verse, behind the Lassigny-
Roye sector of the German front. and
makes retirement to the Noyon- Peronne
line Immediately inevitable In the same
FASHION has guns sweep the roads north
scissors and the valley of the Aisne
above that town and behind the Ger