The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1918-10-24
By Frank H.. Simonds.

a. -
Copyright, 1912, New York Tribune.)
When this article was written
Foch's offensive had reached its W.
preme crisis. Within a relatively prieI
time will be answered the question or
utmost interest and importance--Can
Ludendorff regain the offensive? IL he
can even briefly, the lines VIII
stabilize themselves on the front Ia
miliar throughout the campaign OF
1917, and the Il OF the fighting sea-
son will arrive before the
can be pushed TO the Belgian from
tier.
On the other hand, IL the cost OF the
retreat has been so great that Luden-
dorff has consumed his reserves, then
he cannot wrest the initiative from
Foch and he will have TO continue to
conform to the strategical movements
of his great enemy as he has had TO
conform to them for the last two
months, ever since July Is, when the
thrust of Mangin toward scissors
definitively deprived the OF
their advantage gained at the battle
of Picardy on March Il and retained
up to the transformation OF the sec
ond battle of the Marine from a Ger
man TO a French operation.
The Initiative Counts.
Now the essential thing TO recognize
ct the outset Is that it will be i'm
possible for Ludendorff merely to re-
tire to the Hindenburg line and there
onduc q passive or even an acllve
defense. This would only be possible
IL Foch's armies had been used up by
-their offensive of the last week, a
thing which may be regarded as Ut
terly unlikely. The change in the
methods of combat In the last summer
has brought back something OF the
old fashioned tactical conditions or
the period which temporarily ended at
the first Marine.
Looking back at that campaign
of 1914 we can derive valuable infor-
nation as to the campaign now in
progress. In the opening phase OF the
wal Joffre took the offensive, just as
LIdendorff seized it in March OF this
year. In the latter half of August
Joffre pushed armies into Alsace,
Lorraine, Belgium, Luxembourg and up
10 Charleroi. But toward the end or
August all these armies were heavily
beaten, all of them compelled to re-
treat, and the initiative passed from
the French to the Germans.
In this situation Joffrc had two
courses open to him.. He might nave
sought to regroup his armies and con-
duct an operation Of n purely defensive
nature from the Somme to the Moselle,
covering Amiens, Rheims and Nancy.
But such an operation would condemn
him to n permanent defensive, and in
the view Of all modern strategy, which
has returned TO the Napoleonic con-
ceptiOn, the defensive spells defeat.
You may possibly hold your enemy for
q certain period of time, but you can
never destroy him, you will have al
ways TO conform to his viii; ana the
whole purpose Of war, OF all war be-
yond all other wars, Is TO destroy the
armies of our foe.
Accordingly Joffre adopted the prin-
ciple of n wide swinging retreat, q
Gghting retreat behind which ne under
took to regroup his armies with the de-
liberate intent to regain the offensive
when this reorganization was complete.
While the defeated armies slowly re-
tired from the Belgian frontier into
France he created two new armies,
those Of Foch and Maunoury, anu when
those armies were at last created he
was ready, while the enemy had by this
time advanced into q perilous position.
Joffre accordingly retooklhe offensive,
defeated the Germans and compelled
them to retire to the Aisne. More than
this, once the Germans were at the
Aisne and preparing 10 renew their adj
vance upon Paris, Joffre opened n
turning movement asst of Amiens
which compelled the Germans to aban-
don their own plans 10 meet the new
danger. The result was that h cam
paigE of 1914 ended before Ypres, with
the initiative still escaping h Ger.
mans. And they never fully recovered
this initiative on the western front un-
til the present year.
On the other hand, owing to the SUI
perior preparations Of the Germans,
their greater numbers and the unreadi-
ness Of the British-an unreadiness
wholly comparable with our own last
year-Joffre was e able to exploit
his various successes. He had broken
A. CA.-oo - .Enafnrxy hid hfa nxr,,, xrync
not to be carried to it's logical conclu-
sion because he lacked men, munitions
and guns. Not until the recent fighting
In July was the mechanical equipment
of the French and British equal TO the
German, although numerically allied
superiority in the west was fairly
steady from May, 1915, up to the be-
ginning Of the present year.
Now, when L~udendorff was beaten
at the second Marine his position was
similar TO that Of Jeffre after the
failure of the French offensive in 1914.
Ills own strategy was temporarily
~, .rked. He recognized that he must
,s:!,s out of untenable positions taken
CAY as a detail in his own effort to
bring the French and British forces
under ~unfavorable conditions and des-
troy them. He realized that retreat
was necessary in order that, while
pnrrying the blows OF the enemy de-
llNeTeu ulueT Advantageous tOlulliOUS,
as n result OF their Marine victory, he
might regroup his forces and, at the
appropriate moment. following Joffre's
example. take the offensive again and
accomplish what Joffre had accom-
plished at the Marine.
Map Tells Little.
It Is in this light We must view ali
that has happened since July Is. Tbs
retreat OF the Germans, important for
the French and British, as if released
valuable M necessary lines of com
munication and greatly improved the
general physical Situation of the allies,
was of relatively n inor Importance in
the larger sense, unless its conse
ruence should be tie decentralization OF
the German army and the elimination
Of all chance that when 1t had effected
a retirement ii co,Ild BASS to the Of
fensive and not merely regain the in
itiative, but force its pursuers to con-
form to it's will for the balance of the
year.
The essential thing in all war Is not
the occupation of territory, save as the
occupation Of that territory forces
your enemy TO fight under unfavor-
able conditions, and. hus fighting. to
meet utter defeat. We all of us look
Mt the map and see there, as II iaa$
happen, causes for hope or for fear
Yet IL Is not on the map that Foch Oh
Ludendorff seek the answer to their
questions. Tie whole object of both
strategies, for both German and
Erapcb ctoffS ara wbollv tod