The Mt. Sterling advocate. (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) 1890-current, 1918-10-08
MARCH TO BERLIN HAS BEGUN
The old line goes.

uhV hOSJ interesting SnBle ClrCuhn-
stances in the battle of France. II
is interesting both in its present inn
portance the light it casts upon the
strategy of exactly four years ago.
Plummmer and King Albert are now
doing what French and Foch strovO
to do in October, 1914.
Now that the tide has turned the
British and Belgians are doing what
the French attempted in 1914 and
Haig again in 1917. They are driving
forward behind the German positions
on the Belgian coast; they are push
ing wedge deep into the German
front in Belgium, and the evacua-
ton of Lille on the South and Of
Ostend on the North has already be-
gun. This means that the Germans
are going back behind the Scheldt
from Client to Valenciennes, tnat
after four years of war Ypres has at
last become quiet sector.
And what is happening in Belgium
is happening in France. The German
line, which with minor notifications
having endured through four long
years, is becoming a thing of the
past.
Cambria and st. Quentin have
fallen; Lille will promptly be evac-
uated; Rheims, like Ypres and Yer
dun, will before many days be far
behind the front.
We may not see any swift and
general retreat; we may see pro-
longed struggle from one trench sys-
TEN to another, behind "switch lines"
and subordinate lines, a reproduc-
ton to an enormous scale Of the
first battle of the Somme. On the
other hand, it seems assured that
the Germans between the Mouse and
the Disc and particularly about LaOn
and in the st. Gobain region must re-
tire with little delay and over a con-
siderable distance.
So far we have had three acts in
Foch's stupendous drama. On July
Is, he broke the German offensive
and seized the initiative. On August
he employed this initiative to open
he great operation which threw the
Germans back to the Hindenburg
line For the past two weeks we have
had a colossal struggle to drive the
Germans out of the Hindenburg line,
and this third act has been for Foch
quite as successful as the two which
preceded it,
We are now to see the pursuit Of
the Germans retiring from the Hin
denburg positions. On the chara cter
of the German retirement depends
the ultimate outcome of the cam
, paign of 1918.
If the Germans retreat as they did
from the Marine in July and from
the old Somme front in August, the
r campaign will end by the time they
, reach the next defense system behind
9 the Scheldt and the Mouse and the
liberation of most of Belgium will
, have to be postponed until next year.
/ But if the German morale breaks
; down, if there is crumbhng of the
: resistance at any vital sector, then
we may see a supreme disaster, the
} rout of the German army and mill
tary decision had this year. Of this
last event there seems only the
remotest chance. 1t is certain now
, that the Germans must go to the
frontier, but it is probable that they
will be able to rally there, and bad
weather will interrupt operations for
the year.
But even if the liberation of Nor
thern France be the maximum profit
, of this campaign it will endure as
one of the most wonderful in human
history. The German offensive has
, been broken. Germany's conquered
provinces and cities. are slipping
rapidly from her grasp. Allied
"a n 4