Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-04-18
WHY FOCH WATTS

SOMEWHERE behind the swaying bat
- tie lines Of the Allies Gencralissimo
Foch sits and serenely smokes his
pipe amid the thunders and the lightnings
Of a world being remade 1t is plain
now that he has steady fingers on the
pulse of the raging enemy, that he is
waiting through this matchless interval
without a tremor His fresh legions are
about him, ready for the instant when
the fever and fury Of the Germans have
worn them down. This much is plain in
the news from France.
Everybody in England. in America
and, w at is more important in Ger
many expected the great counter-otfen-
sive before this-everybody not in the
secrets Of the Allied command. For the
master strategst Of the Allies the vic
tory in the stupendous action has been
one Of patience--a triumph of the rarest
of virtues which the gods reserve as the
ultimate gift to troubled men. Patience
greater than Jobs Foch needs and he
seems to have it,
Ever hour, despite the occasional iso-
lated advances and victories, the general
German attack has grown weaker and
consequently more desperate. Not unit!
yesterday have the German armies ap
rroached within striking distance of
major objective Their victory at Mes
sines Ridge is as yet but a partial vic
tory. They aim to capture or destroy
the important junction points Of Gpres
and Ilazebrouck, less important objCc-
tives than Amiens, but part of the same
system Of supply. And it is conceivable
that until these places are actually taken
Foch will still delay his counter-bow.
He may even wait longer if the Allies
have already established extensive aux
iliary lines, as they appear to have done
with the assistance of Americans.
Meanwhile horror mounts upon horror
in Germany as the endless torrent of
lying and mutilated mer flows backward
over every line of communication into
that stricken land. Three times the
Germans have revised their plan of cam
pagn. The later attacks at the north
were eloquent of something like panic.
This may be what Foch has waited for
through all the peril of a month of un-
eXampled fighting. 1t may be why he
resisted all pressure Of the fears and
Dp''''''i' 'NNl~NciN anu INluNGh w 'S
crowded or stampeded into an attack.
Thus Foch held his patience at the Marine
until Paris was almost taken.
The Hindenburg campaign as it has
develop was plainly devised as a series
of stupendous rushes at important juno
tion lines. Amiens, the key to the Allied
positions, was attacked vainly. The effort
there obviously was to cut the lines of
communications from the ports of Bou-
logne and Calais to the Allied fighting
front. The attack was abandoned after
successive defeats and after about
100000 German troops had been sacri-
feed. 'ow, in the north, the eliminating
effort of the German armies is appar-
emily directed at Hazebrouck and Ypres.
less important details in the system of
transportation from the two great French
ports. A dominant position at Messines
Ridge would actually imperil Ypres. In
more remote way it would imperil
Calais itself. What changes have been
made in lines of railway communication
to lessen the importance of these two
functions no one outside of the Allied
command can tell
Here, however, is a developing situa-
tion that may yet explain the feverish
energy with which immense forces of
railway men and engineers were organ
lied and sent to France months ago.
Locomotives from American roads, hun
dreds Of miles of railway tracks and vast
quantities of equipment were sent over
with the men. Ties and rails were torn
up in America to build new lines in
France. 1t may be, after all, that the
functions being so feverishly attacked by
the Germans are far less important than
they seem when studied on a map.
Terrible as the fighting has been, it
has not yet reached its eliminating point.
The crisis will come not with any retire
ment of the British or French. It will
come when the counter-offensive begins.
And so long as Foch waits so long can
the world wait in the assurance that the
decisive hour is still in the future.