Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-10-16
INVASION OF GERMAN SOIL
FORECAST BY LATEST DRIVE
Foch's Turning Movement Is Last Stage In
Liberating France" Sedan or Surrender
Among Possibilities of Near Future

J British and French after the first
! Marine because of the fashion in which
the Germans had fortified it. Thus,
for four years the enemy have held
the Intermediate position between
! Paris and the frontier. and from it
have launched their offensiNes.
Huns to 60 Behind Scheldt.
The surrender of all these important
positions closes the German adven-
ture in France. All that remains is
the task of cleaning up the German
support lines south of the Belgian
frontier, and these are being cleaned
up with very great rapidity. At no
distant time we may expect to see
the German standing behind the
Scheldt as far south as Condo and
then along the frontier to the Mouse
below Mezieres. Back of this is the
line covering Antwerp and Brussels,
crossing the Sambre at Charleroi and
reaching the Mouse south of Namur.
| In this line Namur will play the part
of St. Gobain and Laon in the oldline
just broken and Antwerp will replace
Lille
Along the whole of this line the
Germans Will have water barrier,
; river or canal, Il thing absolutely eS-
sential now that the tank has become
such an important factor in the con-
f1ct This line will, too. be at least
seventy-five miles shorter than the
Hindenburg line, and on it we may
now expect to see the Germans make
their final stand for the year. Driven
out of this. they can hardly fail to fall
back behind the Meuse, covering their
own frontier. with Liegc as the an
chorage and Namur as the keystone.
But if the latest Foch stroke fails
to precipitate general German rout
and it, may bring this to pass-it
seems to me that the further stages
of the great offensive will come, not
in the north, but in the east, in AL
sace-Lorraine. and not in Belgium. 1t
was a matter Of life and death to
drive the enemy from his Paris front
and break his hold upon the North sea
littoral facing Britain. Not until
these things were accomplished could
Foch safely turn his attention to the
old Franco-German frontier. where
the first fighting of the war took
place.
If Germany Is Invaded.
But at all times it has been plain
that if the menace to Paris and to the
channel ports were abolished the next
step would be to carry the war into
Germany. This is possible, because
from Metz to Belfort the allies are
either on the frontier or inside it
Once Germany is threatened along
the Rhine she will have to recall her
troops from Belgium, and Belgium
will escape the horrors recently re-
sulting from a forced evacuation of
France.
Germany may in the next two
weeks suffer Sedan. The new stroke
above Lille carries with it obvious
possibilities. After four months of
uninterrupted defeat and retreat, the
German army may collapse at any
new strain. But if the Sedan does not
come, if an unconditional surrender
does not come, then within ten days
we may look for a new offensive;
probably an American offensive-in
Alsace-Lorraine.
In sum. France is freed: the liberia
tion of Belgium comes next; but it
may be accomplished as a detail of
what is of much more value now
the invasion of .Germany-and this is
at hand.
Copyright. 1918. New York Tribune, Inc)