El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1918-10-10
HUN DIVISIONS ARE SKELETONS;
SOME HAVE WHOLLY DISAPPEARED
Some German Divisions Show Only About 1000 Fight
ing Men as Against a Normal 5000; Germany Can
Only Hope to Retreat to Shorter Lines In Order to
Thicker Defensive Forces In Best Way Possible.
CContInned Ion % ID

rom page Ii
. TO the belief that an orderly and
lengthy retirement on the whole front,
carried out If possible while the rain
and mud of winter makes effective
pursuit impossible, viii be attempted
and a continuous line maintained.
To shorten Front 40 Miles.
To what positions viii the Germans
retire2 Certain indications observed
from the air, and by our friends in
the zone Of the German armies but
still more the nature Of the ground
and knowledge Of the strategicaI prob
lem which LudendOrff has to face,
make it probable that the first great
German retreat will take place to a
line ranging from the sea by way Of
Ipres and Lille, before Valenciennes,
Landrecies, Hirson and NIezieres, to
Verdun. and so through the mountains
to Switzerland.
This retreat would shorten the front
by 40 miles, and this in itself is a
great advantage to an army with in
ferl0r numbers which must fight on
the defensive The line suggested is
also much stronger than any taken
up by either side during the war, for
the positions hitherto occupied have
resulted from the ebb and flow of the
war movement and have not been
chosen for their natural strength
line lies between the River Scheldt in
the west. resting on Condo and Va
Tenderness, and the river Sambre in
the east, where II is supported by the
natural bastfon Of Landrecies. The
western extremity of this central sec
ton is joined to Lille by the Scarpe,
its eastern flank connected with Yer
dun by the 1Ieuse and Hirson. Over
this battle-ground Of the ages have
been fought most Of the famous cam
paigns Of northern France in past
centuries
a retreat TO this front would in
volve the abandonment of five-sixths
of that part Of France now held by
the enemy, but. Belgium would remain
in the grip Of the invader. The brutal
logic OF ml1tarisns II this retreat IS
carried out viii almost certainly lay
waste the country over which the
Germans pass. with the object Of not
only terrorism but Of greatly imped-
ing the allied pursuit When roads,
bridges and railways have TO be re-
built, portable huts transplanted into
regions where not a wall is left IN
dyuamited, and water piDed or car
ried in tank cars into regions where
no wei is left imprisoned; the task
Of an army passing through artificial
deserts after an enemy who has be-
hind his own back as he retreats,
roads, railways. intact buildings for
biIlets. and good water, becomes in
creasingIy difficult the further back
the enemy goes
II is, OF course. possible, and
civilization viii hope to the last.
that fear Of vengeance viii pre-
vent the Germans from carrying
out this most terrible crime. But
military men have little hope that
the great general staff viii seru-
PIE to destroy 1000 towns and
many fair cities before the can
non begin in earnest for the final
campaign OF the war.
And II the Germans fail to hold the
line suggested, an even more terrible
probability looms up. The next line
upon which they would presumably
retreat involves the session Of the
richest and most densely populated
part Of Belgium It would base its
right flank upon the fortified circle
Of Antwerp, extend to cover Brussels
and thence pass along the railway to
the river Meuse at Namur, down the
8Ieuse to Verdun. and so probably be-
fore Metz and Strassburg TO the
Rhine, yielding most Of Alsace-Lor-
raine.
The Germans believe that their line
could safely be brought back TO Metz
and StrassburE without opening the
ID LAAEL 4aAAA 10 SCI AAa AAeAA- "a IN
vasion over the upper Rhine. because
the allied army attempting this feat
would find itself in the wilds Of the
Black Forest, and Germany knows we
will not violate Swiss soil. though we
could not feel so ronfident were the
conditions reversed.
II the Germans retreat to the
second line according to plan7
and burn BruEeS. Client, Brussels.
Lille and half n dozen other great
cities, probably 80 times the mn
teriaI and artistic damage VIII he
done in the closing phase of the
war than has resulted from four
years Of fighting Here again the
world can only hold its breath and
wait. trusting that there are poll
ffcfanE in Germany with enough
intelligence. II not enough human-
fty. to restrain their army leaders
from perpefratinE crimes besides
which anything Germany has done
would pale.
fhe line sketched last represents the
final defensive positions Ludencorft
OF his successor could take up before
the war was carried on German soil,
and in military opinion, when this
Antwerp-Met line is once broken, the
end viii be in sight, for there are no
further natural defences until the
heart Of the great industrial country
Of Westphalia is overruns and II IS
unthinkable that a German army
which could not hold the Antwerp
Metz line would be able to oppose a
allied advance TO Berlin
The vulnerable part OF the last
and strongest defensive position
the enemy may assume before the
end lies between Namur and Sedan
Along the Meuse. Once broken
here, the whole defenees Of i'm
perfaI Germany would collapse
and Il is within the range Of pos
sfhiIfty that 4his collapse may
come near the very battlefield on
which the last Napoleon rendered
m his sword to old king William
near the little village of Sedan in
September. 1870. Where the Ger
man army won its greatest vieto-
rfes. the French, with the assist
nnce of their old allies of York
town. and our common foes Of the
revolution. may win final revenge
for that humiliation from which
resulted the present war.-Copy-
light. 1913. by the Mcclure News
paper Syndicate