Arizona republican., 1918-06-16

ginning March 21, the next April 9, the third May 27, and the present one | June 9, are all part of the common scheme of offensive. Considering as a whole the succession of attacks, the first penetrated the allied lines some 36 miles into Picardy, the second some 15 miles into Flanders. and the third a distance of 3S miles further along the Marne. Under the present drive the line has been penetrated an aver age distance of from five and one-halr to six miles.
 Line Stretches 66 Miles
 "One very striking feature in con- nection with this whole advance is the extension of front which the allies have had to cover as a result. The total stretching of the line from Rems to the sea was 66 miles.
 In order to hold that extra line, the allies have had to have more troops than they had at the start.
 Obviously the objective of the Ger man advance is, first, the channel ports, which would make it necessary for England in shipping troops to France to go farther out to sea and a longer distance, making the turn around longer and slowing up the movement, and making it more dan gerous; second, Paris, which, of course, is great strategic objective because | Of its importance sentimentally and | practically to the people of France.
 The Present Drive
 All of these drives have been l stopped. The present advance is more 10 straighten out the German line than it is q military movement with def mite and important objective-likc Paris for instance.
 Taking the general location of the advance along the Disc, you will see that between the Picardy and Marne advance, we have been holding a re- entrant angle which furnishes the dis tance from which a dangerous attack could be. made on the flank of the Marne advance, and the most desir- able thing which Germany could have aV this stage would be a strengthening out of the line. That is apparently what she had in mind in beginning her advance on June 9. She succeeded in that. moving forward for a distance of six miles, and the last information we have indicates that west of Soissons she still is attacking with the idea of finally strengthening out her line along the general front.
 Parts Most Important
 The activities of the Germans arc now toward Paris, but as for the i'm portance of the objective from a mil ltary standpoint, the capture of the channel ports would have a more i'm mediate effect upon the prosecution o1 u war than movement on Paris" In connection with the advance to. ward Paris, however. General Marcl pointed out that the farthest point they had thus far reached this year wa. 2OR miles farther away from Pari. : than the point of their nearest ap- proach to that city in 1914.
 One More Preliminary While General March did not say so it was evident that he anticipated fur. ther efforts to complete the reduction of the Compiegne salient before tn. major movement toward the channel il resumed. Other officers feel that tn, renewal of the assault on the Britisl Hines will definitely mark the begin ming of the final stage of the battle but they also believe that the German strategists may not be willing to leav the allies in possession of strong point like Compiegne and its surroundinj e forests which would be in the rear o and on the flank of the thrust towar, the coast.