The review. [volume] (High Point, N.C.) 1908-19??, 1918-09-12
NOTHING TOO STRONG FOR
YOUR UNCLE SANS BOYS
4iNDENBuRG LINE PIERCED
ON A WIDE FRONT

l. ~N - VVtOG nun
Are.Now Standing on Ground Which
/ iney Had Not Occupied Since 1914,
SMarshal Fochs' succession of ham
mnters Intar blows along the German lines
Irpm Rheims to Arras since July 18
nave now well nigh completely fat
teneq out the great bulges created by
the Gefman offensives of the sDrine
afdsearly summer
:Fnrther still, the well-co-ordiuated
progress Of his attack. has brought
nimsto a point where he may well be
an1e,s to strike a still more disastrous
/ DlpW to the German defensive system
in3 the west
from Laon to Cambria the Hinden-
Durg line stood all last year in the
way of the allied armies seeking to
drive back the enemy from northern
france and Flanders. Little impress
sion was made in that line except tenn
porarlly in General Byng's drive be-
low Gambrai last fall. Already in
TINS summers campaign, however, the
line has been pierced on a wide front
along It's northerly stretches by the
British, and within the past few hours
1t has been penetrated in it's souther-
ly reaches by the French.
FCCHS Present PIan.
It appears that Marshal Foch's plan
may prove to involve the, turning of
the line on both it's flanks-at Cam
>Dral and Laon. In the north the Brit
1sh nave been for several days in
position to deliver> what might easily
prove vital stroke to the west of
Cambrai, where they have halted at
the canal Du Nord and made no move
toward ri f1o4
the logic Of the situation points to as
inevitable.
fss Inathe south the armies of General
SPefain have. now fought their way to
1e&ldons where the left flank of the
Ire is under their guns and the edges
81 their defensive positions are be-
ginning to fe:l the effect of the pouIidzH
ing.
On the westrn outskirts Of the
Bastion of st. Gobain, defending
Laon, the French already at. Barisis
are IN advance of the line they occu-
pied in 1917 and further south below
the main bastiOn are standing on
ground which had not been in allied
hands since 1914. Further north they
are before La Ferre, whence an east
ward drive would carry them north of
the st. Gobain massif
- Aiming at St. Gohain.
The French drive seems clearly
aimed at this massif, which appar-
emily safe from capture by a frontal
attack. seems not unlikely to prove the
objective OF an encircling movement.
Such a retirement is regarded as
inevitable because of the allied posi-
tion on the German left flank, from
the Aisne at Conde to Vauavillon and
there are not wanting military critics
who argue thai the Germans here will
not be permitted to halt even at the
Chemin des Danes position but that
the enemy will be forced to retreat
still further north, this additionally
exposing LaOn on the east.
The allied unified command makes
it certain that the expected drives at
the vital points on both the north, in
around the Laon positions, will be so
co-oTdinated as to insure the mexi-
mum result.
Closing in Rapidly.
The process of closing in toward the
line at the points where |
it had not yet been reached was con-
tinued rapidly yesterday by both the
French and the British. The British
moved forward at an accelerated pace
below the Cambrai-Peronne front and
on that front itself. they already are
close to the line. South Of the Somme
the French pressed on beyond Terg-
neir and moved up speedily along all
the line opposite the front between
La Fere and st. Quentin.
On the Aisne there was little change
towards the western part of the front,
on the river, facing the German en-
trenched along the canal which para1-
Iels the stream. Further east the Ger
mans are giving up grudgingly the
angle formed by the line trending off
southeastward towards Rheims, offer
ing particularly stiff opposition to the
Franco-American forces, near Roman,
between Eevillen~ and Mortigny-sur-
Vesle.
In Flanders the British made some
further headway but found the Ger
man resistance stiffening around La
Bassee. The Germans apparently do
act intend to give up Armeltieres, in
this sector, but are reported hurriedly
fortifvinu tho roriOn dofondinr If