Evening star., 1918-02-17

near Parroy. Luneville was less fortu-
nate than Nancy. The Germans took 1t
in August, 1914. and held 1t for more
than ten days. AS you enter the town
from the east, along the road which
will be followed by many of our SOL
diers. unquestionably. you see many
ruined houses, although the town has
by comparison with many occupied
cities suffered little and its people are
all back at their homes.
Looking down the Meurthe from
Luneville you may see the forest of
Vitrimont. and. 1 believe, the towers of
the cathedral at st. Nicholas du Port,
another town Americans will know
we'll In the forest of vitrimont the
German avalanche was stopped. West
ward from these woods they came
under the massed fire of French guns
on the plateau of Saffais. above and
west of the Meurthe, and were slaugh-
tered by the thousands as they sought
to cross the river. Near the forest,
too. is the little town of yitrimont
which is being rebuilt by an American
woman. a sort of outpost of America,
we'll within sound of German guns. And
north and south of Vitrimont are a
score of other little towns. murdered
in the terrible days of August and
September, before the Germans were
checked. North of Lunevillc, in the
destroyed town of Crevic, is the ruined
horne of Gen. Lyautey, who saved
Morocco for France, who sent out of
the latest of French acquisitions thou
sa nds of troops to fight the Germans.
And in sheer spite the Germans burned
bis home, as they did that of President
Poincare in another Lorraine village.
Now for Military Circumstances.
SO much for the character Of the
country in which oyr<American troops
are beginning to fight; now for the
military circumstances. Between the
Moselie and the Vosges and between
the forts of Toul. which reach almost
to the environs of Nancy, and the sim
liar forts of Epinal, is an open gap in
the defenses erected by the French
after the loss of Alsace- Lorraine and
the German annexation of Strassburg
and Metz. their ancient bulwarks, to
cover their new frontier. This gap, the
Gap of Charmes, and also the Gap of
Nirecourt. in military geography, were
in all ante-bellum calculations believed
to be destined to become the battle
ground of the next war with Germany.
for only through this gap, if they re-
spected the neutrality of Belgium
could the Germans reach Paris
promptly.
Accordingly every hil1. every bridge.
every detail of the country has been
studied, and I have before me a book of
the present war, outlining the positions
which the French would take to defend
this gateway. They did take these po-
sitions and they did hold the gateway,
comman nded by the great Castelnau.
after the first defeats in German ter
ritory, but the main German effort was
made elsewhere, and the Lorraine
struggle, the battle of Nancy as it j.
called, did not obtain the attention it
deserved. Yet the German effort here
was great. and from the Grand Cou-
rome you may see. on clear day, the
bill on which the kaiser sat, watching
the final assault of his troops which
were to open the way for his triumphal
entry into Nancy. But at Eply. as
later at Montfaucon before verdun, he
waited in vain.
And now our American troops are
taking over all this front, little by lit
tie. I do not believe they will hold
more than fifty miles at the end of the
year. the fifty miles from Ponta-Mous-
son to the foothills of the Vosges. Their
front runs from southeast to northwest
and it crosses number of little val
leys which run nearly east and west
Westward along these valleys, or east
ward. as the war is offensive or de-
fensiye, will move the masses of troops.
Each of the valleys is traversed by an
important highway. several by rail-
ways; the main Paris-Strassburgr rail-
to Lunevilie and then turns eastward
to cross the frontier only couple of
miles from the place where our first
American soldiers were killed or cap
tured. Between this railway and the
Rhine-Marne canal. which crosses the
firing line three miles or 50 to the
north, is the forest of Parroy. and this,
to judge from the German official re-
ports. was the first American sector.
Ro11owc pronodanf of pr;$;eI Erorf
Little by little. If the events here fol-
low the precedent of the British front
TO the west, American troops will take
Conceivably the first real stretch will
be from the Settle river. due east of
Nancy, where the Nancy-Chateau Salins
railroad crosses the firing line to the
information and if 1 had any 1 should
not discuss the thing. 1t is merely
matter of speculation. but it seems an
obvious thing. given what we are per-
mitted to know of the situation.
Near the old frontier of France then,
the frontier to which France retreated
after 1871, our armies are now en-
camped, and in some small number our
troops are already OH the line facing
Metz. Behind them are the cities of
Toul. Nancy and Lunevile. Across the
front which they first occupied and will
doubtless take over again run the roads
which the Germans took on the way
TO Paris in 1870. and sought to take
once more in 1874. We are holding
little and we shall probably before
too long hold all of what was once
reckoned the real gateway to France.
while scraps of paper still had
binding power. in theory, at least
III we make an offensive. an offensive
which succeeds in any measure, it will
mean restoring something of Alsace-
Lorraine to France. If the Germans
attack. it will be to crush our Con
temptible little army as they sought
to erush the first forces of Britain at
Ypres, with the hope of taking Nancy
aud raVaging the important mineral
district Of Lorraine: the fraction left
10 France now. 1t is a post of danger,
then. and OF honor, which our troops
are taking over-which they have just
begun 70 take over. for we must not
eNdggerate
Inner Requirements.
From the Boston Transcript.
Mister. have yer got any OIL duds yer
don't wauto'