Evening star., 1918-11-17
WARS DECISIVE BATTLE
AND HOW ALLIES WON
Detailed Description Of the Hindenburg
Defense Systen-Methods of Ludendorff
and Foch Contrasted by Mr.. Simonds.

a
| rier. limiting the peril from tanks.
This deep zone extended to the Disc
| south of St Quentin and thence to
the the Aisne AIS e. abevs scissors; the sns
/ obstacles which were impregnable to
direct attack.
Behind this first line the second ran
| at distance SO small in many in
| stances as to make 1t indistinguish-
able from the first 1t stretched from
Lille behind La Bassee and Lens. be-
! fore Douai and behind Cambria and
| ST. Quentin. burrowed the Disc tract
as far as La, Fere. but then ran east
north of Laon, behind the Serre and
the Sissone canal, reaching the Afspe
| at Chateau Porcien and following its
| north bank around to Vouzieis.
whence it cut across the upper end of
the Argonne to the Meuse above Dun;
| east of the Meuse 1t rejoined the Metz
defenses. passing by Etain and Con-
| fans.
The third line also rested upon Lille.
| followed the Douai canal southwark
through Douai and thence followed
the Scarpe to the Scheldt Between
| the ocheldt and the Sambrc 1t rested
| upon the Ecaillon river and the Nor
| NAL forest. From the Sambre near
Landrecies it crossed via Hirson to
the Meuse at Mezieres. followed the
east bank of that stream to Sedan.
| which was covered by defenseS on the
| west bank. and then ran along the
| valley of the Chiers, through Mont
| medy, to the Metz system near Con-
| fans. But this third line rested upon
| the Scheldt river south of Valen-
| ciennes and was thus serviceable from
( the Scheldt to Metz even if Lille were
taken.
| The fourth system ran due east from
Valenciennes, through Maubeuge to
the Meuse at Givet; thence behind the
Meuse to a point of juncture with the
third line at Mezieres; thence east
ward it coipcided with the third line.
Like the thifd line. it was serviceabie
| after the fall of Lille. Thus in the
case of both the third and fourth
covered by the water barriers OF tho
Scheldt and the Meuse rivers.
So much for the four lines. They
were divided into compartments by
| TENS: From Lille line followed the
east bank of the Lys and the Lys
canal to the Dutch frontier. This
| made it possible to hold all four OF (
eastward, even if the British and Bel
| Eians should break through between
| the Lys and the sea in the Ypres
area A second line followed the east
! same purpose. if after forcing the
front between the sea and the Lys
the enemy should cross the Lys.
A third switch line followed the east
canal and the Sambre river. thus en-
abling the central sectors of the Ger
man front in France to hold on even
if the enemy should break through
west of the Sambre, provided only
that the fourth line between the
Sambre and the Scheldt held. A fifth
switch line extended from the second
east-and-west line at Marie, on the
Serre, back to the third line at Htrson.
thus supplying another barrier to the
allied flood, even il it should pene-
| trate in the center north of Laon.
| ba
plex when described, simple to under
stand when explained by events. The
value of the various parallel and per
pendicular lines is fully disclosed by
| the progress of the offensive. Tho
best figure is always that of the
| watertight compartments of ship In
this case the compartments did not
serve to keep the ship afioat finally.
but. they did serve the highly uselul
purpose of delaying the thrush of the
enemy flood; they prevented local
break from developing into general
disaster. All through this fight the
war was one of positions, not OF
movement; such movement as there
was amounted merely to the opera
tions between positions; there was
nothing to suggest the old-fashfoned
war, dear to the soldiers Of all ages,
the war of full and free maneuver.
How Foch Solved Problem.
Turning now to the fashion in which
Foch solved his problem. we see that
on September Is he threw Pershing
and Gouraud against that portion OF
the first German lines between the
Suippe and the Meuse-that is, be-
| tween the Champagne plain east OF
Rheims and Verdun. This operation.
! Immediately successful to marked
degree. resulted in the eventual eX-
pulsion of the Germans from their
! first line from the Meuse to the Afsne.
west Of the Argonne: But atter ms
| first success Foch did not insist In
| this region; he avoided great casual
! ties nv methodical rather than pre-
cipitate exploitation of his hrst sue
| cess.
! One day after he had launched his
attack on the eastern end or the op-
erative front that north OF Nerdun.
Foch threw the Belgians and Plumers
| I'd British Army against the Germans
at the other end, and broke through
their first-line defenses between the
Lys and the sea- Again he did not tni-
mediately insist after his first success.
Iand the lines momentarily stabilized
themselves on a front between Cour-
| trai and Nieuport, the Germans stand
ling on a rather sketchy second line.
On the same day Foch threw Horne's
list British Army against the Germans
lin Cambria and Byng's Sd British
Army against the Germans on the
stretch of the ScheIdt canal, on either
| side of LIE Catelet Here the progress
was much slower, as the British had
to fight their way through twelve
lmile defensive zone. But material
gains were scored at once. Next, on
September 30, Foch launched Berthe
llots French army against the Ger
mans still lingering between the Vesle
and the Aisne, in the ground familiar
to Americans as the scene of the fight
ing of many of our troops in July and
August.
The result of these attacks was to
set the whole German line from
| the sea to the Meuse rocking. At ell
ther end the first line was completely
broken through and the enemy were
,compelled to retire to the second.
Elsewhere the pressure was less dis
lastrous at the moment, but the enemy
( found himself unable to concentrate
against SO many wide attacks; tho
iHindenburg line had fallen at both
ends and was seriously threatened by .
| the growing pressure of the British
frontal attack nearer the center.
October 8, Decisive Day.
| On October 8. which was the deci-
silva day Foch threw three British
armies against the stretch OF tho
Hinhenburg line between Cambria and
st. Quentin. In the next three days
thew drove right through this line. cut
the second line behind it. between the
Oise and the Scheldt, and advanced.
until they had reached the third line
between the Scheldt and tho Sambre.
1ust south of ValencienneS.
| While this great drive was gong