Evening star., 1918-08-25

~ Impossible to undertake an
offensive from Nancy when the Ger
man will be able TO undertake with
superior numbers an offensive from
Noyon, barely fifty miles from Para.
When America is ready the German
ace. because he will himself be
threatened In his home territory. But
ior the present year the threat viii
hardly be grave He can. II he
the old Hindenburg line. from which
ne can maneuyer. not with his troops
but with his statesmen, seeking not
q German peace, but peace which
Germany. with a chance to claim that
the present war of aggression has
added provinces as has each Prussian
war with few exceptions since Fred
erick the Great tore up that other
scrap of paper. the Pragmatic Sanc-
tion. and stole Silesia from Maria
Theresa century and half ago.
The present is perhaps a good time
to pass in review the history of Of
fensive warfare in the current strug-
gle All the great nations were sur
prised IN measure-and IN very
large measure-by the sudden arrival
of stagnation and trenches in 1914.
Certain observers in each of the va
rious armies had foreseen something
of what would happen, but none had
made his voice heard and no general
stan had prepared to meet tho sit
| uation.
-Four Styles in Warfare.
Between the close of the campaign
of 1914, with the termination of the
first battle of Ypres. and the battle
Of Cambria. three years later. Of
fensive warfare was never able to
pass beyond the second OF what may
be called the four stages in warfare
Of positions: Those of preparation,
attack. pursuit and march OF ap-
preach.
The object lessons which might have
served in each instance were not rec
| oghized. All through this period
growing tendency was manifest
toward concentration of artillery and
. of material upon the preparation, at
| the sacrifice of the element of sur
prise, which alone could make pos
sible a considerable victory, bringing
with it a pursuit and for the mo.
ment. and for the moment only. and
within very restricted limits. a re-
turn to the old continued war Of
movement.
All through this period there con-
% tinued to ,t be ,oia belief that 1T one sue, sus
break through would lead to a return
| of the war of movement of the Ma
| poleonic sort and the end of the war
Of positions Looking backward. we
Many Chances Missed.
Three times on the allied side in
| three campaigns the German was sur
prised. and there was a penetration
of his lines which might have been
followed by pursuit had the oPper-
tunity been grasped. AZ Neuve Cha
pelle. in February, 1915. the road to
Lille was open for hours. In Artois.-
| three months later, the French open
ed a gap in the German lines which
might have been used to necessitate
camHlete
, man front between the Disc and the
sea- A year later at the Somme q
similar success attended the frst
French attack of July 1.
On the German side the gas attack
of 1915 temporarily laid the road open
| to Ypres. but in all four cases the
chance was missed BY contrast in
Champagne in September. 1915. and
Verdun. February, 1916, at the Somme
| in the British operation of July and In
| the French campaign on the Aisne In
1917 the surprise was not sufficient to
diseFganize the whole system of defense
before reserves could intervene, and an
effort on the part Of the assailant to in
stitute a pursuit after only a partial
!! reduction Of the enemy's lire led to
colossal casualties and ultimate failure.
Surprise Element First Used.
1t was not until the tank attack at
Cambria. 1917, that the element Of sur
prise was even temporarily made use
of. Up to this time both sides had bean
multiplying their artillery preparations,
with ever-lengthening periods Of bonn
bardment, which served as an adver-
! tisement to the enemy of the direction
in which the attack was coming and
gave him the opportunity to prepare
line after line behind his front. But at
Cambria there was only brief artillery
preparation; the tanks went in and
cleared the wire entanglements, and the
British troops had before them seven
mile gap through which, had reserves
been available. they might have ad-
The chance was lost But the les
sen remained. The Germans were
the first to apply it: Tried first on
the Russian front above Riga, with
intensive bembardment. it brought
very wide front in Picardy en-
March 81, it produced the greatest
single success in line breaking on
the western front. The British line
was broken on front of forty miles.
The defending army was SO disorgan-
ized that it was incapable of defend
ing supported positions until reserves
could intervene and the German ad-
vance became a true pursuit over
more than thirty miles of undefend-
ed country.
Here at last. and for the first time
on the west front, there seemed to be
warfare. to the warfare of movement
of the older days. Evidently the Ger
mans expected it. Obviously the al
lies feared it. And yet within Pc
riod of a week the German wave was
halted before new positions The
old war movement was over ana
trench warfare was on again.
The reason was obvious. German
pursuit had outruH heavy arillefy
and even light artillery 1t had cut cut,
commander were able to provide re-
serves and artillery in a new position.
and against this position, hastily I'M
pYevised as 1T was, the German IN.
fantry. unsupported by artiiiery. ceuio
not make progress;
Here, then, it would seem, was hnal
answer to the theory that the war OF
positions was a temporary stage. TheIe
had been preparation and attack, ane,
end there had been resumption OF the
earlier situation, new positions. rev
stagnation, and the attempts OF the
Germans to break down the new pe-
sitions were SO costly they had soon
The same thing happened on q smaller
scale in the Flanders offensive In Aprfi.
II happened again on larger scale on
the Aisne in the German attack on MAY
%. In all three the element OF surprise
en-, completely broken. on q censideraefe
front There was a pursuit, but the
pursuit presently hurled itself agatnef
new positions and had to be abardoned.
TurninE new 70 the hssesy se ts o. AZ, sns
ther examples OF an enemy taken ~
surprise, Of immediate and rapid pursuit.
after successful attack and a termina-
ticn OF this pursuit setore neI poslllon.