The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-10-06

gravated, apparently, by the new factor | of the submarine and the time it would take before a purely civilian population could be organized into great army.
 ALL IN HIS FAVOR The enemy in the winter of 1917 had | all the cards in his hands and everything l in his favor It would admittedly be the best part of the year before a consid- erable American force could appear in the European field, and it was doubtful whether the force could be transported at all in face of the submarine factor-a doubt which was publicly and loudly ex- pressed by the most competent authori- ties of Germany and accepted by all the l German public.
 The enemy not only had superiority l in numbers, but also a superiority Tn tactical instrument He had used the opportunity the Russian collapse afforded l to withdraw great numbers of men ano give them special training for a new form of shock army. When he launched 1 the novel and formidable instrument, on ] March 2f of the present year, the odds
 were very heavy in favor of his suc- l cess. There was only one grave draw 1 back to his position.
 WOULD TURN SCALE l If he failed, if the allies managed to maintain the struggle, unequal as it had lnow become, for even few months the growth of the American army. which it was now apparent his submarine cam paign could not interrupt, would turn the scale. Again we know what hap pened. He failed.
 | On April f it was discovered that the French and British forces,
 though almost bereft of the power
 of maneuver. had pressed right
 back against the valley of the SOmme, and with Paris itself un-
 der long range fire had kept the l line itact. Then came the period ! which history will, I think, regard as the most curious example of had strategy in the hands of competent,
 even great, generals which was l ever known.
 1 The Germans in the west having lost very heavily in the delivery of this great blow, which should have been de- cisive, began to strike at random. There l is no other word for it. At that time each blow was so heavy-for there was still great superiority in num- bers and stiu superiority in the tact ical instrumant--it affected the opinion of the military as well as the civil | The British commander in chief talked of the army as having been pushed back to the wall'' during the l blow up to the north in Flanders on April 9. Paris wa sappalled when the Chemin -des-Dames gave way far off to the north and--tre enemy came right into the heart of France at Chateau Thierry. At last on July 15, came the end. with series of tremendous con verging attacks east and west of Rheims upon front~of 50 miles, the last effort of the German armies It failed and was counter ed
 WHEN TIDE TURNED
 Three days later on July 1S just at a moment when the tide in numbers was turning. when the French and American forces launched an unexpect- ed counter offensive between Soissons
 and Chateau Thierry, the enemy still
 had the advantage in numbers But it
 was like tide wNch, laving raced
 up at flood, is brimming to slack water,
 and in a very few weeks the ebb must
 begin. That was the supreme i'm -
 portance of the date and was the mean ing of July 1S
 The American power of Organixa- tiOn and the astonishing elasticity I of the American military system in sending quite unexpected num- 1 bers tD Europe. nnd doing so ever l since. caused the disaster in March. l Meanwhile another element entered the neld---the new tanks, which owed their origin to the mechanical genius of the British. Finally came I the united command, the fruit of I Ciemenceau's pegsistent efforts, l In the hands of the French masters ! of strategy.
 l The initiative being recovered the numbers being about to turn, with a new and invaluable tactical instrument being now in allied hands, there ap- peared a certain plan which from that 1 day to this has been consistently fol- lowed. The huge battle at which we are now assisting is but It's latest develop ment
 l Let us appreciate that battle. The en- l emy stood in a great salient running 1 from the north to it's apex at the for est of St. Gobain and the neighborhood l of Laon and then around past Rheims through the Argonne forest to Verdun. He had massed his troops. as was wise. l for the purposes of attack within that 1 great salient. The counter-attack caught
 him now congested within the bulge and therefore in had posture for defense
 KEEP ENEMY CONGESTED | The problem was how to keep the 1 enemy congested within the angle of Arr ras. St. Quentin and St. Gobain. Rheims and Argonne; how to prevent him from reinforcing the now dangerously thin