Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-06-19
.udcndorff Strategy
Faulty, Revealed by Col.
lapse of Compiegne
Effort
ALLIES TURN BALANCE
French Easily Straighten Lines
Germans Sought to
Break Down
Bv G.. II. PERRIS

BY G. H. PERRlS
Special Cable TO Euening Public Ledger
safs CopDrto,t 1915 BIZ Ne,c York Times co.
Y bs itll the French Armies, June 10.
Fetween the Disc and the Asne the
M battle front runs from Moulins-sous-
Touvent southeastward to Fonenoy,
by way Of the village of Hautebraye
lying in the valley north of Nic.sur-
Aisne. of which the bridsehesd is of
some Importance to the French.
BY way of Strengthening the llaLte'
,braye sector, local attack was made
by the French on a front of rather
more than mile with full success
nearly 400 prisoners being taken. with
many machine guns and trench NOR
tars. This and several other small
soperations carried out by the French
sssifice the end of last week are sug-
eestive of their vigor and confidence,
contrasting curiously with the abrupt
Sness of the arrest of the German of
Sfensive.
.NsS That arrest is most significant
First.class battles are not stopped on
the fifth day without an imperative
teIedSOil, anu IL IL llOt oliIy Tie tiil uot
sstcward Compiegne that is stopped-the
sspearest and most open road to Paris.
and for the French by far the most
s1angerous-but the covering attacks
nbetween the Aisne and the Marne
while the whole of Won Hutier's and
10 Won Boehm's armies are held up. The
3 pause is wholly in favor of the Allies,
T. unless it should give occasion for an
sS6ther surprise, and this has become
less likely with the compression of
j the Allies front.
Iudendorf's Great Error
That Ludendorff is a great strategist
sS1ill not be danied either. However. his
I plan OF campaign for this summer was
changed after the first failures in the
north In April, which would indicate
funda mental error in his calculations. or
II was marked from the first by inord-
nate ambition and an impossible multi
\ b1ication of Objectives lie has now be-
Y fore him fatal variety of choice. but
4 he only directions of vital attack lie in
khA sectors from the sea 10 Rheims that
IRE filled with the graves of previous
Il AIlures.
q The French army waits. more than
8Ifver confident from its splendid success
Mast week. The British army has hac
<need e TO repair its ranks and IL doubtless
& A spsonfident The BeIgians are always
>ssneied 7. The Americans are swarming in.
& Jul; Italians and Portuguese have their
lnlare of honor. The first Polish division
; gS1n the western field was yesterday re-
ffewed by a French general
K HI WHAT can I.udendorff do To stay this
NAteady swing of the balance against
Hhim? Can the Austrian experiment of
Z URn offensive over the whole front, so un-
X5aappily begun, be copied here with more
Hhope? .t..'.
III Foch's day is coming. We have solid
HSeasons for patience. While the German
= bread ration is being reduced, the gen.
&erAl staff anxiously counts up and
Rpafches its shattered forces.
HIt would be wearisome TO reCte the
Ubetails that lie before me of the losses
Hbf particular German units in the last
bsttle. The story Of a single German
N xHirisicn in the last three weeks since
4 the Aisne offensive was launched gives a
kfearer picture of the enemy's problem
One Divisions Hard Fighting
e SaThe Twenty-cghth Division was COM
q. Rpsed of the Forteth Regiment of Fu-
5 14iicrs and the f09th and l20th Baden
~ X&hfantry. counted as shock troops 1t
~ Was engaged, besides the Fifth Division
IA bfsthe Guard. at the east end of the
1hemin -des-Dames, and. after suffering
efious casualties at the hands of the
M ySiFed British troops holding the Cali
kSrnie plateau. reached the Aisne on the
Il kAeniur of Nav 81 The Kaiser thanked
4 a for it's success. and promised that 1t
mould be relieved in three or four days,
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Il ~, .n,Si,i5r, of thn Era - 80