Trench and camp. [volume] (Augusta, Ga.) 1917-1919, 1918-04-10
TEUTON PLAN
FAILS AT SOMME
SCHEME TO DIVIDE ALLIES
REBUFFED
French and British Lines
Closed After Germans Reach
Mont Didier. Strategy Re-
vealed.
No. 27.
EXTRACTS from report Of Frank FL.
SjmnndSl


The first phase, of the second battle of
the Somme came to an unmiStakable
pause in the night of Wednesday, March
9th. The extreme points of German ad-
vance there were Albert on the north and
Montdidier on the south. Such fighting as
followed through the nexc few days was
purely local The first German blow had
spent it's force and pending the delivery
Of a second, there was necessary pc
riod of rest and reorganization to the as
sailant who had moved thirty five miles
in seven days over torn and devastated
country and in the presence OF a nara
fighting foe.
1t viii be matter of months and of
expert analysis to disclose all the Vari-
Gus circumstances and details Of the Ger
man method in their opening attack,
which succeeded on March 81, and g. but
in the large, it is to be recognized as the
application Of all the lessons Of all the
other offenSiveS. None of the miscalcu-
ations which wrecked all other such un-
dertakings of the western front, both al
lied and German, preparation was COM
plete and perfect, the front attacked was
sufficiently wide. Nowhere did the Brit
ish defense persist and hold up the whole
front The thing that all commanders
and general staffs have dreamed of ac-
complishing in trench warfare since the
beginning, was accomplished by Hinden-
, burg and Ludendorff in the first two days
of the second Somme.
But, In addition to breaking through,
the Germans had carefully thought out
quired, once the penetration had been ac-
complished They had chosen to attack
upon the front where the British and
French lines met. The Disc was the point
of contact Thus when the British line
collapsed for some thirty miles between
Scarpe and the Disc, the Germans We're
ready with huge forces to push straight
into the gap and effect a permanent sep
aration of the two armies.
In word German strategy, looking to
the time when they should break the
Britain trench lines was strangely remin-
iscent of Napoleonic strategy in the
Waterloo campaign. not in detail but in
conception. Napoleon's plan had been to
interpose between the British and Prus-
sian armies, defeat either the British or
the Prussian, before the army attacked
could be aided by its ally. He did inter-
pose between Wellington and Bluecher
and he did defeat Bluecher at Ligny But
Bluecher subsequently succeeded In COM
ing to Wellingtons aid at the crucial mo-
ment at Waterloo and Napoleon was
routed.
mense forces right into the gap that had
opened between British and French
armies widen the gap as they advanced,
take Amiens and then roll the British
army back to the north upon the coast
and a way from the French armies and
also away from their own bases at Havro
and Rouen And from Friday March o.
to the following Wednesday night, when
the French halted the thrust outside and
west of Montdidier, the Germans were be-
tween the British and the French.
IN exactly the same way, although this
Is minor detail by comparison, the Ger
mans sought to separate sections of the
British armies. isolating and overwhem-
ing them, by interposing between these
and the main forces and General Maurice
director OF military operations. has re-
ported that on Saturday, March %, and
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