New-York tribune., 1918-10-03
The Old Line Goes
BY Frank Fl. Simonds

Copyright, 1918. Nc2c lorh Tribune Inc.
Tic advance of the Belgians and the
Second British Army continues to be the
most interesting single circumstance in
the Battle of France. 1t is interesting
both in its present Importance and the
light it casts upon the strategy Of ex-
actly four years ago. Plumer and King
Albert are now doing what French and
Foch strovc to do in October, 1914.
1t will be recalled that four years ago,
when Kluck had made good his ground at
the Aisne and the front had stabilized
itself from the Disc to the Swiss frontier,
Sir John French asked and obtained per-
mission to take the British army to the
north. The army was moved up to a
front from St Omer to Bethune and be-
gan a turning movement around Lille
designed to drive the Germans out of
that great city
In the course of this operation Sir
Douglas Haig reached Ypres and there
joined up with Sir Henry Rawlinson's
Seventh Corps At the close of the third
week OF October French attempted to
push east out of Ypres down the Menin
road and seize the crossings of the Lys
River While he was engaged in this
operation he encountered the first waves
OF the Germans coming south from Ant
werP, which had fallen.
Herr was the beginning of. the First
Battla Of YpreE- In the next few days
the Allied offensive became an almost
desyHalrIng defensive, and the British eX-
penItlonary army stood and died holding
the road to Calais, while the Belgians
and the French to the westward held the
Ysar Canal linz FROM October p to
November u the great struggle ragged
and was Won by OUT allies by only the
na1TNwzesi oi margins
NGw 1hae The tide has turned the
Bn:ahiizlEh and Belgians are doing what
Frarasn attempted in 1914 and Haig
agaMn IN 1917~ They are driving for
wa1@ behind the German positions on the
Belgian coast; they are pushing wedge
6sew Iui0 the German front in Belgium,
2na the evacuation of Lille on the south
and OF 0stend on the north has already
begun This means that the Germans
Ghsgat to Valenciennes; that after four
yeaas Oh Wat Ypres has at last become
a quiet sector
Aina what is happening in Belgium is
happening To France The German line,
which with minor notifications has en-
duled thIuug.h four long years, is becom~
ing q thing of the past Cambria and
ST. Qrksn11slrn have fallen; Lille will
pacanaa33y be evacuated; Rheims, >llke
Tprsss and Verdun. will before many
days be far behind the front.
We mary not see any swift and general
aet1eats ne may see prolonged struggle
fruua one trench system to another, be-
AdiaaGl 'swltlsh Lanes" and subordinate lines.
a, Eegrssatctst6hoN On an enormous scale Of
tiae r Ia.sa Battle of the Sonrne. On the
euiEer' hand, it seems assured that the
Gssu1tans between the Meuse and the
Osss. and particularly about Laon and in
the St. Gobain region, must retire with
little delay and over considerable dis
taGce.
SO far we have had three acts in
Fochs Stupendous drama. On July 1S
ne broke the German offensive and
seized the initiative. On August he en-
ploysd this initiative to open the great
orsse atien which threw the Germans back
tD the Hlndesnourg line For the past
two weeks We have had colossal strug-
gle to drive the Germans out of the Hin
denburg line. and this third act has been
for Foch quite as successful as the two
which preceded it.
We are now to see the pursuit of the
Germans retiring from the Hindenburg
POSITIONS On the character of the Ger
man retirement depends the ultimate out
come of the campaign Of 1918. If the
Germans retreat as they did from the