New-York tribune., 1918-09-18
Metz
(Copyright, 1918, Ne1O Yorh; Tribune
Inc.)
By Frank II. Simonds
& Jerry naturally as result Of Gen
" eral Pershing's victory in the st.
Mihicl Gnlient the cyes of nll his

/ lotus arc now Wltnln range or our ncaVy
artillery as they have been within range
of French heavy guns on the hills above
Pont-a- a-Mousson, on the east bank of the
Mosele since the autumn of 1914. From
some of the latter hills Metz itself Is
visible on clear day. From our pres
ent front north of Thiaucourt we arc
distant little more than five miles from
the battlefield of Marsha Tour, where
Bazaine threw away one Of the great
chances Of military history and lost not
merely Metz and his army, but also AL
SAGE Lorraine, to France.
And as a result of ST. Mihicl it is not
too much to say that the determination
has been aroused in all Americans, SOL
dlers and civilians alike, to make one
part of Americas work in this war the
return of Metz, ard with it Alsacc-L Lor-
raine, to France. The work is not to
be undertaken lightly We are bound
now rs we look at a campaign just be-
ginning 10 recognize how great arc the
obstacles in our pathway, but the very
greatness Of these obstacles adds to the
splcndor of the achievement toward
which we have taken the first STEP
A direct attack upon Metz is unthink-
able, not merely because Of the forts,
which are far more modern and infinite
ly stronger than those Of Verdun, but
because of the lines Of defence which
the Germans have newly constructed
upon the circle of hills surrounding the
old French city since the war BEGAN.
We must recognize that Metz is the
foundation of the German defence, not
merely of the old frontier, but of all
the country between the Rhine and the
Belgian and French frontiers. If Metz
should fall, permanent stay of the Ger
man armies west of the Belgian frontier
would be impossible, a defence of AL
saoe-Lorraine could not long be main
tanned and the Germans would have at
no distant date to retire to the line of
the Rhine, the Lauter and the Saar. at
the very least
More than this, Metz defends all that
great iron district from Longwv. in
France, on the Luxembourg frontier.
s0uthWard to the point where the pres
ent front crosses the Mosele near Nor
roy TO lose this iron district would be
to lose the main source of indispensable
war materaI it would be tantamount
to the loss of the war itself When Bis
marck took Metz he obeyed the urgings
of the elder Moltke and the military
men; he took it because thev advised
b1t H., IL.
key to France. No claim Of German
population, Of German tradition, could
be advanced for Metz: it was as French
in It's population as Tours or Orleans.
But with the development of the iron
industry in Lorraine Metz became not
only the key to France, but the bulwarl
to Germany.
AS military problem it is we'll to
dismiss the idea that the taking Of Metz
can be by direct assault There have
been too many operations like the
Somme and Flanders last year to make
such an operation tempting now Metz
Will have to be taken by the now famil-
lar method of the pincers. Unquestion-
ably we shall see next year--we NAV
see the beginning this year-a double
thrust from Verdun straight out toward
the Moselle east of Briey and below
Metz and another thrust northeastward
from the front beyond Nancy into the
gap between Metz and Strassburg, which
was the scene of the French often
slve of August, 1914, which ended so
disastrously at Morhange These two
thrusts Will together envelop Metz. as
the St. Mihel salient was enveloped the
other day, and compel the Germans to
choose between evacuating the whole
Metz position and risking an army in
a besieged fortress, as Ba4ane risked
his army and the French cause in 1870
1t IS proper calculation henceforth
to count on the ultimate capture of Metz
by Pershng, probably materially aided
by French troops; but it is an Incorrect
calculation to measure the task bv the
smallness Of the distance which now
separates us from the forts of Metz
The Germans got within four miles of
the citadel of Verdun, but it took them
more than five months TO make the ad
vance, Which did not amount to seven
miles at the extreme point of penetra-
ton. Their failure was an admirable
illustration Of the folly Of trying to hack
ones way into an enemy stronghold, and
Foch has shown in his operations this
year his contempt for such tactics.
We are, then, likely to see a long and
slow campaign for Metz We are bound
to see the main thrusts delivered not
at the forts and the immediate circle Of
defences which now face our troops, but
north and south of these defences,
fhrnSts dncimnnA "a op,.oln.> AZ