Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-09-13
j. S. BLOW MAY FREE
FRANCE OF GERMANS
The Fall of Metz Would be Dis
astrous to Kaiser; Germany
Has Few Reserves Left.

| Washington. Sept 13.-The war srtua-
I tlon IS thus summed up by prominent
military expert and critic.
| Apparently the AIneucanS have at
tackled IN the Toul SECTOR on the south
ern leg nf the St NhIcl salient. and the
| French, moving down from the heights
of the Wocvrc, where they retired IN
the early days Of the battle Of Ncrdun.
| advanced eastward from the western
| leg of the salient.
This salient has ceased long ago 10 be
| Of any Importance either to the Germans
or 70 the French II was originally
| created BY the Crown Prince army IN his
| first unsuccessful attempt 10 take YER
| dun, and was maintained IN the hope that
| p; some future date It could be used rs .
means of enveloplng the Nerdun area.
The point of such a sharp salient Is, of
course. a poor Jumplng-Otf place from
which to launch IN attack. but II a suc-
cesSful attack were made southwark
from the Argonne country, the point of
the salient might be pushed northward
and thus the strap made 10 meet the
buckle. Such a hope, however. Is long
since dead, so that from the German stand
point the salient IS worse than useless
The only reason for persistmg In MAINTAIN
ing II Is the sentimental one OF It's pr0Xim-
Ity to Metz As matter Of fact. however.
the American forces are Just as close 70
Metz at Pont-a MousSon. If not closer,
than they would be If they snuffcd out
the st. Mihlel salient
SHOWS STRENGTH OF AMERICANS.
The Importance IN this attack how
ever, hes not IN the fact that 1t may be
directed toward the w1plng out Of tins
!
Ii out. There are several other consId-
eratlons Of much greater weight We
can realize now that the American forces
on tins front are rapidly approaching
the tune when as an independent force
they can shoulder some Of the burdens
which our allies have been carrying for
so long and can fight fight of their
own They have Deen III action here
before. Of course At Xivray and at
Seicheprey they received their baptism
Of FIRE But the actions were local and
small as such things are measured. Now
they are IN action on a large front and
in considerable numbers. carrying on a
major offensive In view of the hard
fighting of the last eight weeks il is
reasonable TO suppose that consider
able part of the Immediate reserves have
been exhausted But here We have the
proof tnat our men are ready, that a
new and large army Of ireemen are at
hand 10 throw into the fighting at the
vital point
FIGHT or FIRST MAGNI TUDE
1T is too early at present to Judge Just
how serious this attack IS The front
over winch 1t took place however. gives
reason 10 believe that the allied com
mander has meant it to be an engage
ment Of the first magnitude The work
OF the British and the French on the Pi-
cardy and Artois fronts has been so per
sistent and unrelenting that it has
pinned down to that front the great
mass Of the German Army There are
very few free reserves Practically
everything that can be spared has been
sent west 10 prevent a catastrophe about
Douai and Cambria Not only that. but
wherever men could be removed with
relative safety from other parts of the
line this has been done.
The result is that there cannot be
considerable concentration on the Ameri-
can front, and reliance must to large ex-
tent be placed upon mechanical defense
that is, on construction works. This may
indeed have been the object of the allied
commander-to force Germany to con.
centrate against the British and the
French and then to strike with force, using
the Americans as the shock troops
This is of course the great weakness
of the German position.
MAY OPEN WHOLE VALLEY
''Their flank in Lorraine, if successfully
attacked, will endanger the entire posi-
tion in France and Belgium. Metz is an
important, vitally necessary base TO
considerable part in their line, and with
Metz out of the way the valley OF the
Moselle is wide open This latest move,
therefore, may mean but the snuffing out
Of the st. Mihiel salient, in which case it
is unimportant. or it may mean the begin
ing of the battle which is to free France
and BSgium Of the invader and carry
the war direct to German soil"