Evening star., 1918-04-08

were fighting with scratch army.
Now both the British and the French
have veteran armies in front of the
German. The advantage of ground be-
tween the Somme and the Avre and
Just west OF the Avre. where the main
thrust Is being made. is all with the
British and the French. They have the
high ground and the better communities
equal, II not superior, artillery.
In addition to the direct thrust at
Amiens the German is also endeavoring
to reach the main Boulogne-Amiens-
small towns whose capture was an
nounced on Friday lie at the foot of the
ridge which now separates the Ger
mans from this important but not vital
raliroad. RAJ This would seem to be new
manifestation of the familiar German
strategy of encircling an objective diff
fcult to get by direct attack.
If the German cannot succeed in
breaking through Amiens in the next
two or three days 1t will be safe to
great offensive has been permanently
checked. If the French and British do
not Immediately counter attack, should
the German make any material ad-
vance toward Amiens, we shall be
bound to conclude that the British and
French reserves have been consumed
in checking the first dash. But there
now seems reasonable ground for ex-
pecting counter offensive provided
the Germans are compelled to pay a
heavy price for small advances in the
next few days
In any event. the new phase of the
German offensive, as 1t begins, does not
drive of two weeks ago. So far, it is
a local offensive for the fixed objective.
that objective is Amiens. the great bat
tie which was to be a Sedan or Water
loo seems to be over. The battle for
Amiens, with its great but only local
values. has begun and there can be no
mtstaking the fact that Amiens is in
danger. and will remain SO until the
end of the present phase. The German
is thus gambling for Amiens at the
risk, it would seem, of dangerous flank
attacks. both from the south and the
north. His communication has not been
restored as yet and the fact that he
has begun new attack SO soon, before
his heavy artillery can get up, would
suggest that he is anxious as to his
TANKS and eager to exploit his original
gains as far as possible before the
counter blows come.
The Retirement Of Gen. Cough.
Now a word as to the retirement of
Gen. Cough. A year ago Cough was re-
garded as the coming man in the Brit
ish army. His failure two weeksago. is
only dimly grasped as yet, but it would
seem that the old weakness of the Brit
ish army in staff work has been glar-
ingly disclosed once more. 1t would
seem that after the original British
forced and Coughs fifth army com
PEELED to retreat. that the retreating
divisions did not preserve a solid front
to the enemy. but permitted gaps to
open north of the Somme between
themselves and the third British army
and the south Of the somme T betweey y
themselves and the French. Through
one of these gaps the Germans pene-
trated almost to Albert. Through the
other they got to Montdidier and tenn
porar1iy separated the French and Brit
tsh armies
Not only was the defeats of Coughs
army more complete than that of any
army on the west front since the open-
ing French defeats in August, 1914,
pat pa Tor "a 2 time me, its collapse opened
which misunderstanding of orders
created in the Union Army at Chicka-
mauga. battle almost fatal to north
ern prospect in the civil war.
Rawltnson, who succeeds Cough. has
had a varied career: As commander
of the Immortal" 7th Division in the
Ypres campaign he gained imperisha-
Die Iaureis. Later. at Loos, bad star
work under his command was responsi-
BILE for something approximatinE a
disaster. and he was saved from re-
moval only by the Intervention Of Sir
Douglas Haig. The next year, at the
Somme. Rawlinson rendered distin-
gui.hed services and wa. highly
R3wiinson's star has been on the wane |
again. He returns now to the COM
mand o1sa dAfeafed army on the scene |
of his own victory IN the nrst battle |