Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-09-14
GEN. PERSH|NG AIMS
At BIGGER GAME
THAN ST. M|H|EL
In One Sweep Americans Cap
tured Key to German Frontier'
Washington Awaits the
Next Stroke.

Washington sept. Ii Elimination
nf tho - Nihiel salient by General
Pershiuu's army. many army officials
here believe. is only the entering wedge
of operations Of far greater scope
Until definite word comes as 10 the
limo across the mouth of the salient
which tb, americans now hold, o'iiceFS
hrr,7 will be unable to form opinions rs
IN tho most probable course OF future
,,,orations There Is Il strong bchet,
bn,,ever. that the quick reduction of the
:, lf;b,el salient will he made the cor
,crstonr of great cncircling move
mont aimed al iSolating the German
,rtre-s of Metz. the centre buttrcSs ot
h whole German front from the North
So 10 the Swiss border.
nc strategic importance OF General
pcrShlng smashing victory can hardly
be- uvcrcStImatcd, IN the oplnlon ol
many observers. II Is out Of all proper
f+o1 la the extent ui the territory re-
a.nrd or the force employed, IT Is sald.
fur the removal oi this menace IN the
rear ot the French citadel Of Ncrdun has
released the French armies from that
point to Rheims tor active offensive
operationS II also has liberated the
railway hnc from Ncrdun 10 tommercv,
Toul aud Nancy, which viii be ot thc
utmost value fo General perShIng and
"a the French armies on his left IN sup
nnrt,np f,Itlrc operations along this front
Early reports fixed tho number OF
,r,soncrs taken bv the americans at
l.. 900 and these probably represent the
vrcckapc at al least three enemy di-
visions No estimate Of the war booty
rapturcd has been received
~ ,,,,X limo across tho mont n
nf The old pocket IS far shorter than the
old front. French and American troops
hcrctofnre held fast 80 tho defense ot
the salient arc now available for other
duty
Il tho hines were reported last night
there was nothing tu indicate that the
American advance had stopped
The German nficIal statement was
that = new Inc had been prepared. but
thc nature of tho country wherc the
american troops stood late Yesterday Indi-
Gated that the German defense position
must hf farther back toward Netz.
where better natural obstacles arc avail
ahlc II Is expected here that Amcr'-
can patrols will push forward to iool out
ms line before new advance = un-
iertaken.
The German statement that inc salient
had been evacuated without serious IN
reference caused much amusement among
officer, in view Of tho number of prisoners
,antured It has been estimated that
seven divisions Of the enemy were IN the
salient Including those standing guard at
it~ tanks Probably not more than tour
divisions have AZ any timo been ~ the
derth of the pocket and of these more
than onc-fourth have been captured. OF
6ccrs say that q retreat effected At such
a cost hardly can be considered as a
successful evacuation and they are IN
clined to accept the German statement
as promulgated for homo consumption
/, Was SAID that for the high command
10 acknowledge that the first American
blow had plotted out IN les than two
dayx salient that had been held Tor
fo,,r wears and also cost the Germans
more than 1900 prisoner, IN addition
10 their dead might further aR'tate the
German civil population
81 the same time Il Is not doubted
that the German leaders expected The
stroke and made such preparation as they
could toward getting their main iorces o,I'
of the salient Tho SwlttnesS oi tho
american advance on the tianks. however
seems To nave upset their plans and 1t y
believed here that tho figures OF war ma
tcrial captured Will bear out this theory