South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1918-09-22

world war Sept u and g. 1918 will have a very real
significance. these days we begun our actual par
ticipation in the European struggle full grown
ally The date corresponds July l. 1915 in the his
tory OF the British army, the date which Haig
began the battle the beginning
made out at the other end Of the line and
objective S1ihiel salient. which for four
had faced the allies and in that time had be-
OF the really permanent landmarks in the
whole from the Switzerland.
The battle OF ST. Mihiel for thus IL Is bound TO be
tion larger strategy Foch. thus
tail in the main campaign against Ludendorf. compar-
able with the various thrusts OF Rawlinson' Horne
Byng Mangln, In the other sectors; view it
whole in itself. far the local field OF
lions concerned; and, lastly examine il
the expression in fighting OF the meaning Of
new American army. now graduated from neces
sary but not less rksome leading strings and making
its bow upon the platform OF the world struggle.
the relation OF the struggle Lorraine
main battle to the battle OF northern France since it
essential the campaign progress as
"a single conflict, the explanation is simple Foch
bound to retain the initiative the whole western
Held. lie had temporarily exhausted the possbili-
ties OF attack in the sectors between Rheims
and Ypres. The enemy had, in some distress
and great expense in and material.
retired behind the Hindenburg line. and effort to
get o either by maneuver direct
attack required time for organization. Meanwhile it
was essential that the enemy should not have time to
his situation, from his disorganiza
ton. The strain must be kept upon him.
CALLS ON PERSHING
TO ARMY.
Whereupon Foch called upon Pershing the
first American army the first in every sense 10 make
more of the familiar local ofensives with
strictly limited objective, geographically. but having
its larger adding to the growing bur
den OF difficulty the Germans by exacting loss
at a fresh front making him bleed from yet another
wound. when his need his desire
cuperate from old wounds making him worry for
the saIety OF new sector when his necessity was TO
concentrate all his energies existing perils.
So far Pershing's any objective.
this was It, He not starting for the Rhine or UNI
dertaking to capture Metz Berlin the would
have been inaccessible a the e
was not even, IN the larger sense, seeking geo
graphical objective He contributing Foch's
general scheme which is to destroy the armies of
Ludendorf by exactly the strategy which Grant
poyed ultimate against south,
ly pressure everywhere pressure all the time blow at
erb army is al las brok was
the capture of Richmond which the Civil war;
the Generalization OF the Confederate army
Richmond decentralization the consequence OF which
that when retired from the lines he had held
long and so CALAMITY and his army rachel the
country It melted away.
beaten that they their organization,
their conference, TO be armies, and either
render disntegrate Until this time deci-
sion VIII be had in the war. Until it comes no geo
graphical detectives have than limited value. and
entirely comprehended in the relation
these geographical objecetyes have to the main pur
pose in the which they make easier for
Fooh to destroy the German armies and harder for
Ludendorf to keep his armies in being.
MUST WEAR ENEMY
TO EXHAUSTION.
And in the main operation the big game" as it
may perhaps be described. St Mihiel obviously
only "a detail We in the bull fight when
the worrying and weakening of the bull is still in
progress the time and the opportunity TO kill have
u arrived We have got 10 wear the enemy out; ne
has been weakened by losses of material and in
half dozen partial conflicts, partial because they
were and could be decisive St Mhie o
he more AS such Il to be splendid success,
but be mistaken for something
SderIte II bore the same relation to the whole bat
Tie of northern France the activity a regiment
bears that of a division a in maneuver.
10 part and it had separate and individual
value.
In the second place we examine the history
cud geography of the St Mihel salient Between the
Aeuse and the Iosele rivers in the old French prov
uce of Lorraine and north of the city of Toul lies
broad plain the plain of the Woevre. relatively fiat.
uarshy with forests and with small ponds
lakes Going westward from the Moselle valley.
from Metz Nerdun. for example this plain
and arrive half dozen miles east of the Meuse at the
foot of escarpment ridge wholly like the sand
dunes arising along the seashore. The rise abrupt
500 feet i'm places-and standing this escarpment
and looking out upon the plain at sunrise have
the impression OF looking out upon the
This ridge is known the maps the Heights OF
the Neuse tthe Coes de Meuse of French geography
10 is obviously OF real military value because IL the
natural obstacle invader coming of
Metz and intending for the plains northern
The French military books describe il as the Dixie O
the forts of Verdun those Along this
dixie the French had constructed various forts
the crossing Of the Meuse and the entrance to the
little valleys by which passage from the Woevre to the
Neuse valley easiest vaux and Douaumont. the
famous Verdun forts, are among those commanding
the routes from the Woevre the Meuse.
Dixie NOT ATTACKED
~ MARINE BATTLE
In the Marine campaign the Germans did not attack
this dixie. because they south o Belgium
and Luxemburg and thus got behind IT, almost envel-
oping all the French troops Verdun right down
Toul who stood the dixie facing both ways with
enemy troops east and west Of them after the
behind The dixie 90 the line OF Ver6un- Rheims
the bulWark resained its old military value II
cred the flank Of all the French armies lighting
OF the Meuse the foundation the whole west
ern stretch OF The French defense system.