Evening star., 1918-07-28
America Had Arrived.

America had at last arrived. the de-
spairing call of March had been an
swered in July. when more than 200.-
900 American troops participated in
troops in France numbered above
100000.
Talleyrand once said. when asked to
give an account of his adventures
during the time of the terror. II
lived" Foch might make similar an
swer. looking back over the difficult
and critical days from March 81 70
July 19. But by this latter date he
was able to face his foe slith com
paratively equal numbers and with
the assurance that at no distant date
and thenceforth throughout the war
he would have the decisive advantage
The collapse of the fifth German Of
fensive, the success of the Franco
upon the German right. as Joffre
threw Maunoury against Kluck in the
Marne time. as Lee threw Jackson
against Hooker at Chancellorsville. in
stantly supplied allied capitals with
the basis for optimism long denied.
1t seemed. it seems now. as I write
these lines on Sunday, July 81. just
four months after Ludendorffs first
blow in. Picardy, that the worst is
over. the consequences Of the Russian
collapse have been liquidated. II we
may not Yet wisely fix the time when
victory will in the larger sense be
won we have come to the hour when
the danger Of defeat is passing, prob
ably has passed. The second battle
of the Marne has already had Sonse-
quences recalling the first, as did the
French strategy; after four months
and at the close of tremendous exer-
tions the Germans are retiring on a
broad front from the Marne; the Paris
heels American as well as French
soldiers are pressing. while the flood
Of American troops continues to flow
toward France.
Forced to Turn East.
The German problem in 1918 was
his problem in 1914. Four years ago
British unreadiness and Russian slow
ness in mobilization gave him six
weeks in which to dispose of France,
employing the full weighe-of his milf
tary establishment against France.
He used the six weeks, he won many
battles and drew near to Paris, but
the close of the period saw him in. re-
treat, his time exhausted, his blow
parried; the Russian menace in the
east, no longer to be neglected en-
tirely. destined to make ever-growing
demands upon him until he was forced
to go east and seek what he found
victory and the destruction of Russia.
In March. 1918, the kaiser's new
commander could count not upon six
weeks. but on something like six
months in which to bring home the
victory. Russia's collapse gave him
back the advantages of the first weeks
of the war. But again he had to win
in the time fixed. for by the end of six
months Americas aid would begin to
become effective, and il he failed in
the campaign of 1918 to put one of his
great foes out he would automatically
lose the initiative, the offensive. the
g. ,s1A
paign. when the American hosts had
arrived.
Germans Again in Retreat.
And now. in late July, we see Ger
man armies again retiring from the
Marne after a severe defeat. the ex-
tent of which is still unrevealed. No
disaster may come now, as none came
in 1914. The German may presently
against the British. as he struck in
October. 1914. Defeated at the Marine.
he may, for a second time, seek COM
pensation in new effort to open the
road to Calais But the road to Calais
ends at the channel. and it was not by
taking Calais. but by beating down
French or British armies. one at least,
both. If possible. that the kaiser. in
his grandiose campaign of the present
year. was to achieve a victorious
peace.
It seems to me, then. that the fourth
anniversary of tho outbreak of the
war will see the substantial failure of
the Germans campaign of 1918. He
has used up the time and the re-
sources he derived from the Russian
collapse. and he has won only terri
tory, booty and prisoners: early sue
| cesses have been followed by. at least,
one smashing defeat. America, like
BIucher. has come. And so a long and
bitter year is having glorious end
ing.