Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1918-09-27
BLOW AIMED AT
KEY OF HUN DEFENSE

Continued From Page One.)
to settle back to tactical operations
and defensive measures.
May Split German Army.
Since then then the line between
Rheims and Verdun has been rel
atively unchanged, the last often
sive effort of the enemy against
Rheims in July having failed to
break it. On that occasion, Ameri-
can troops aided in repelling the
eastern jaw of the enemy pincer at
tack on the Cathedral city, the AID
(Rainbow) division having been bril-
gaded with French troops on this
front where it won high commenda-
ton from the French leaders.
As the French plan of 1915 has
been discussed, it contemplated the
driving of a great wedge through
to the line of the Meuse, where it
skirts the forest of Ardennes near
the Belgian border. Resting on a
wide base and supported by the
fortress of Verdun on the east. such
wedge would in effect divide the
German army and in addition men
ace the whole communication sys-
tenn of the enemy forces in north
ern France and Belgium. 1t would
have threatened the Belgian gate
way into France and it seems GER
tain that hasty retirement by the
enemy to the Mouse line must have
resulted.
The battle lines today are rela-
lively as they were in 1915 and the
same strategic factors hold good.
For this reason alone many Off
GERS have believed that Marshal
Foch, sooner or later, would strike
at the enemy from the Cham
payne front, and when word of the
new attack today was received their
first impression was that the hour
for the great allied effort had come.
Grand Detectives Unknown
Later advices, however, indicated
that the new battle zone was east of
the more level region around
Rheims, where it had been antici-
pated the road to the Belgian Dor
der would more probably be sought.
Apparently Marshal Foch has
struck first in the region imme-
diately west of Verdun and until
the scope and direction of his at
tack develops officials withhold
judgment as to the grand objec-
tives at which the new drive may
be aimed.
Several facts of utmost signifi-
canoe and of particular interest to
the people of the United States are
sharply disclosed by the new often
sive. For one thing the power and
will of the allied forces to continue
hammering at the enemy without
rest is apparent. With the smoke
of the battle in the ST. Mihiel salient
hardly cleared away and with a So
mile stretch of the line to the north
and south of St. Quentin in a con-
tinual fame of attack, it was posi-.
Bile to organize and deliver a new
blow on a 40-mile front and drive it
forward many miles with its initial
thrust. Moreover, the indicated Ger
man withdrawal is added proof of
the enen1y's waning man-power.
There is now no doubt that he will
not be allowed to rest a moment
and that the fighting will be carried
into the winter on scale never be-
fore possible.
Of direct national interest here is
the evident fact that clearing up of
St. Mihiel salient by General Per-
shing's first army in its first indie
pendent venture was the necessary
forerunner of this new blow. Not
only did that swift victory free the
French armies around Verdun from
the menace of the salient in their
rear, but it liberated rail lines to
supply the new battle front and set
free thousands of soldiers of both
armies for attack purposes by short
ening the lines.
Again it is American aid that
makes possible the new attack. The
announcement of this drive is the
first indication that American troops
were on the front Immediately west
of the Meuse, with the possible ex-
ception of unit of negro troops
known to have been recently some
where in the center of the front be-
tween Rheims and Verdun. Whether
that unit is engaged in the present
fighting is not known, but it is evil
dent that very large force of Amer
leans has been shifted west
ward along the line to take part in
the present blow. Apparently they
hold more than one-half of the ad-
vancing line.
The extreme left of the American
force forming the western jaw OF
Pershing's nut cracker which re-
duced the St. Mihiel salient rested
in the hills east of the Mouse. 1t
is indicated now that the whole line
from the Moselle, where they stand
before the outer defenses of Metz,
to a point we'll to the west of Yer
dun may be held by Americans in
which case the French have paid
Pershing's men the high compliment
of intrusting to them completely the
defense of that vital fortress.