New-York tribune., 1918-09-20
The Great War-15O6th Day
Military Comment
By William l.. Mcpherson
Copyright 1918. New York Tribune Inc)

IL " IL IN AIN " " IL " ~ Il IL
II E P l N G I 0 N, for many
years the military critic Of
The Times, of London, and now mill
tary critic of The Mo,mimg Post,
Fas come around to the view that
this war has developed into test of
infantry. He said, in cable dis
patch printed yesterday in The New
F.. York World:
After reviewing the incidents Of
our recent battles and hearing the
opinions Of those in a position to
Judge, | have come to the conclusion
that. Notwithstanding big guns, air
planes, tanks. and the other contrv-
ances of modern warfare, the infan-
try remains the most potent force in
battles, and nothing can replace it
or make UP for it's absence"
This is the idea which has been
enlarged on for many months past
Ill this comment. AS was said here
away back in the early days of the
German offensive, the infantry is
again, and more than ever, "thc
Queen OF Battles" Positions, how
ever elaborate and powerful, are
made valuable in the larger sense
clly by the men who defend them.
The Ludendorff offensive demon
strated this theory. The Foch Of
fcnsive has been continuing the
demonstration. And there are no
signs yet of a counter demonstra-
ton.
Thus, when the British Third and
Fourth armies swept on Wednesday
across the fringes of what is left of
the Hlndenburg line before St.
Quentin and CAmbrai, the Germans
dld not retire into the depths of the
oe1ence zone to await further at
tacks. They were obliged to 90 out
and counter attack in order to keep
the mid-sections of the zone from
becoming in turn the outpost sec
tons.
/ Wednesday afternoon and night
consequently saw succession of
litter German assaults on the posi-
tlcns which Byng's army and
Rawllnson's army had conquered
German reserves were rushed to the
foremost positions Of the Hinden-
burg line and fought there to keep
the line itself intact. They failed,
With heavy losses, adding 1000 to
the 5000 prisoners captured earlier
- the day by the British. Battling
on their own chosen ground, the
Germans also lost sixty guns with
III twenty-four hours.
The successful counter attack is a
stopper to any method of offence.
Fut the unsuccessful counter attack
IS one Of the costliest of military
operations. Nothing can be more
damaging to an army's morale than
to lose ground and then to fail in
desperate attempts to recover it.
Ludendorff has produced no evi
derce so far that he can hold the
old Hindenburg line. Foch had pro-
Cuced ample evidence that he can
smash it whenever he wants to. And
Els ability to do so rests on the fact
tnat the Allied infantry is to-day
more than match in quantity and
quality for the German infantry.
st. Quentin is now enveloped to a
csngerous extent. The British have
approached to within two miles and
half of it Oh the northwest. The
French yesterday cut in to the south
OF 1t as far as Benay, village a
mile north of Haucourt, the furthest
point reached last week in the
French drive toward the Disc River
above La Fere. Benay is only two
and a half miles west of the Disc. It
is five and half miles south-south-
east of st. Quentin. Practically all
dlrect connections between st. Ouen-
TN and La Fere, on the west side of
the Olse, have now been severed
Evidently the Hindenburg line can
DC saved now only by a series of
violent and successful German reac-
ticns.
On the Macedonian front the AL
lied advance continues unchecked
The Bulgarian line has been shat
tered to depth of twenty miles.
The Bulgarian army has been thor
oughly beaten. A retreat up the
Vardar Valley and a retirement out
OF the whole Monastir-Prilep region
Is, therefore, not improbable. The
Bulgarian military establishment is
getting to be more or less of a shell
The nation is war-weary. And little
German, Austrian or Turkish as
slstance is available. 1t looks as if
the turn Of the tide had come in the
Balkans, for four years the scene of
traglcally misdirected Allied efforts
and grave of Allied hopes.
Residents of Rhine