South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1918-07-23
BY FRANk II. SIMONDs.

191f-fefS. over the ground that
saw the retreat of the armies of
hluck and BuclOW from the bat
tlcHcld OF the Marine i'm the Sec
ond week OF September. 1914. and
under conditions reproducing those
OF the earlier period. a beaten
German army l. retiring from the
Marine. The objective of BOehm
H. the objective of kIuck four
years ago. He i seeking TO cs-
cape the deadly embrace of Two
victorious allied armies and To es-
tablish his front behind the Neslc
or the Aisnc. where lac can make
new stand.
GERMAN OFFENSIVE
BROKEN BY THRUST.
The German offensive was de-
fcated on Thursday OF last week:
It was broken by the counter
thrust OF FOch on Friday. The
events since Friday have COM
PEELED German retreat. which
has already brought about the
evacuation OF the south bank of a
the Marine and i now becoming
"A general Withdrawal from the
whole Marine front and the aban-
dOnmeDt of the gains made in the
May offensive. The problem of
the Germans since last Friday has
been throughout the problem of
kluck four years ago-tO pro-
tect their right flank while their
center was drawn out of difficult
and dangerous position. And To do
this the German has been violent
~ and frequently COuntcr-attack-
ING on all the fronts between SOis-
SONS and Chateau Thicrry. He
lost Chateau Thicrry on sunday,
and this sealed the fate of his
positions on the north bank of
the Marine. He has 80 far failed
To retakc the heights above SOis-
sons and unless me succeeds i'm
the immediate future he will have
TO cyacuatc the city and all the
territory south of line follow
ing the Aisne and the road TO
Rheims.
What this retreat means on the
military side il clear. The enc
my mas been deprived of that front
from which lac hoped To make a
wide swinging attack upon Paris
between the Disc and the Marine.
lie j. losing his control of the
Paris Nancy railroad. which he
cut i'm the first days of June, the
most important line of French
communication between the cap
a 10
NAV. and probably will. escape
as ne did four years ago with
out the loss of any cOnsiderab bic
organized portion of his army.
but lac bas already lost several
times rs many prisoners and sew
craI times as many guns a. hc did
at the drSt battle of the Marine and
bis forces are rctrcating i'm far
greater disorder.
STAND ON OURCQ
DEEMED UNLIKELY.
II i conceivable that the Ger
mans will be able TO rally on the
line of the Ourcq river half way
between the Marine and the Nesle.
and the first natural obstacle TO
allied advantage. This j. exceed
msIy unlikely. because the flank
OF the American troops il advanc-
inc ON both banks Of this river.
Failing here hc must 90 back To
the NcSlC. and this means the total
extinction of the Rhcims-SOis-
sous salient Nor - il certain that
ne can stand ut the Neslc. and
tire logical and natural cXpeCta-
ton now would be for a retreat
between the AiSnc 10 the grounds
where kluck stood on september
~. 1911.
In this situation what viii the
cncmy's next move be? 1, II
highly improbable that me will
undertake an attack toward Paris
aguinSt the difficult country be-
tween the Disc and the Aisne. He
has been defeated on the east side
OF the present operative front i'm
his attack upon Gen. GOurad be-
tween Rheims and Argonne; de-
fcatCd 80 completely az TO make
renewal OF the offensive unlike
Is. His choice would now seem
60 be between accepting the de-
rCu~iNC WHICH II a confession OF
defeat for the whole campaign
and launching an attack upon the
British between the SOmme and
the sea. la word. having lost
the road Go Paris. there remains
NOW "a i'm 1911, the opportunity
To seek shc channel ports and re-
opcn the contest which hc lost de-
ci~iNcly To Gen. FOCh i'm the bat
tIcs of the User and Nprcs i'm
October and November. 1911.
What l. going on now in the
quadrilatcraI between the Marine.
the Ai~nc. the Rheims salient and
tine Soi~~on-- Chateau Thierry
front i'm a series Of violent rear
guard attacks IN the Germans.
designed Co hold back pursuit
while the territory j. being CVac-
uatcd of heavy artillery. muni-
lions aud troops. The German
seems to have abandoned all hope
OF rcgaining lost ground or of
holding impcriled positions per-
manently What we are seeing
Il. II .as.. of