Evening star., 1918-05-19
HUNS CHECKED, NOT DEFEA TED:
CAN HIT WEST FRONT AGAIN

French. before the French reserves
came up. Again. when they struck In
the north. the Germans once more hit
at point far away from French re-
serves and were able to make very
great progress before French reserves
could arrive. II was this necessary
heartbreaking delay in the coming OF
the French reserves which tempted
Gen. Maurice into his fatal query.
where is Blucher?" in the last mo-
ments of the crisis of the second Ger
man attack
As II now stands. IL seems inevitable
that. provided the German perseveres
in his attacks upon the British. we
shall see several times repeated the
events of the Somme and the Lys
Back of their own front the British
have some local reserves. but they
have not an army of reserves of their
own. as have the French. Thus. when
their line is attacked 1t must be ths
mission of the British to hold back
the flood until the French reserves
when the British have fought them
selves out and broken the first fury
and the greater weight OF the German
blow fresh French troops will arrive
and finish the job. as they did around
KENNEL and Bailleul recently.
This means that there will be a
general notion that the French are
really doing more than their share
and saving the British over and over
again. whereas the truth will be that
British and French are performing
exactly the missions allotted to them
by the high command. And. it must
be patent, the higher costs Will be
paid by the British. who last year lost
four to one. as compared with the
French and so far this year have lost
some 250.000. against $4,000 for Pc
tain's forces. - -
Must Be Just to British.
The point which I am striving to
emphasize is that 1t is essential not to
be unjust to our British allies, whose
losses are terrific now and whose
services are equally great. while the
French, having done their share ana
more than their share in past years,
are now acting as reserve, march
ing to the threatened point but ar
riving only when the nrst snock 10
over and both contestants are grow
ing weary. Realizing the praise due
the French, there remains reason for
paying proper tribute to the British
share in the common struggle.
This is a war of attrition beyond All
else. and the French nave taken eneis
turn. The British took over the 1oo
after verdun and have been carrying
on for nearly two years. with the re.
suit that British and French-and OF
course German-man power is now
positively declining. But while the
German is still able to bring new d.
visions from the east, his immediate
local strength will still increase while
that of his foe diminishes. unless we
and the Italians can meet the situa- :
tion by putting in enough fresh dtvi-
sions of our own to balance the Ger
man divisions drawn from the east.
We may say this with approximate
accuracy: that the whole British
strength in France is now occupied in
holding the line, that such reserves
as the British have-that Is. organized
reserves-are purely local reserves
and, apart from the possible presence
of a few British divisions in the Ia
nous army of maneuver. and thev
may not be there now. the British VIII
have to depend upon the French for
general reserves. That the French
have not less than forty. and possibly
as many as fifty, reserve divisions the
Germans have asserted. Add to these
not less than twenty American divi-
| sions-that is. a number Of American
! troops equal to twenty German divi-
sions, with the chance that 1T may be
! thirty before long, and such Italian
/ troops as may come, and the wnole
/ hand of the allies is disclosed.
When Americans realize that al
most a million and a half of British
! have been killed, wounded and cap
/ tured-proper credit for the colonies
| in this total being conceded-in little
more than twelve months. the great
| ness of British contribution to the
common cause must be appreciated.