The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1918-12-30

team Theirry. where the Germsns
| crossed the river and wrere still gain
| ing ground, but only at great cost and
slowly. In this situation Foch sud
denly struck back upon the extended
and open flank OF the Germans he
| tween the Marne and the Aisne, using
American as vel as Fench troops. in
MGngin's spearhead' thrust
The result was immediate and de-
cisive. 1t was a repetition Of the
strategy OF the first Marne and it had
the same outcome. Ludendorn was
compelled to draw his beaten troopa
out OF the Marine salient, pursued nv
Americans and French. He suffered:
great losses in material. evacuated
scissors and the territory south Of the
Aisne, but what was more important,
by his retreat he confessed the failure.
not of his immediate effort but OF Ills
whole campaign. Germany had shot
her bolt She had lost the offensive
and it now remained to be seen wheth-
er she could hold out on the defensive
until the end of the campaign.
On August 8. Foch began his cam
paign. He threw Rawlinson's Fourth
British army against the Germans
holding a great salient from Arras.
round to the outskirts of scissors,
broke in the side OF this salient, tax
ing thousands Of prisoners and guns,
and then deliberately widened the
area of dislocation by throwing Frerch
armies against the salient all the way
round to the heights north of the
Aisne. Under pressure and losing
heavily in men and material, l. L.
dorff staggered back to the old lies
of the Somme fighting Of 1916 and at
tempted to make a stand.
Americans Win Victory.
But while he was seeking to do this,
Ludendorff WAS suddenly assaiied
north of the ySomme by Byng, who
turned his flank retook Bapaume and
forced a retiremS,t upon the old Hin
denburg line from which the Germans
had emerged on March 81. And when
Byng's blow had exhausted it's posi-
bilities. Horne, with the First British
army struck astride the Scarpe and
actually broke through a portion OF
the Hindenburg line, approaching both
Cambria and Douai. BY the first days
OF September Ludendorff was not only
back in the Hindenburg line, but the
chance of his holding the line was de-
batable.
Meantime away out at the other end
of the front Foch threw Pershing, with
the First American Army against the
German salient at ST Mihiel, south
of Verdun, and the Americans won a
swift and considerable victory, taxi
ing many guns and prisoners ap-
preaching Metz and giving Ludendorff
new cause for anxiety, since at last
the American contribution was becom-
ing important in numbers and was
now destined to increase by several
hundreds Of thousands each month.
Hard on the heels Of the American
victory at ST. Mihiel ca me two decis-
i've battles in the East. Allenby, in
Palestine destroyed two Turkish arm
les north of Jerusalem and not merely
broke Turkish resistance In Palestine.
Syria and Mesopotamia, but, as the
event proved, eliminated Turkey from
the war No victory In all history was
more complete and all German hopes
in Turkey fell instantly to dust and
ashes.
euIgars' Power Destroyed
In the same hour D'Esperey, in
Macedonia, attacked the Bulgars and
in a struggle almost as brief. destroyed
the Bulgarian power Of resistance and
thereafter promptly received the un-
conditional surrender of Bulgaria.
which disappeared from the war. thus
isolating Germany from Turkey, open
ing the way to the Allied liberation OF
Serbia and Rumania and the eventual
invasion of Hungary from the Danube.
Taken together with Allenby's victory,
that OF D'Esperey closed the fighting
in the Near East and ended all Ger
man dreams of Mitteleuropa.
While the news of these two vic
tories was filling the world, Foch
moved to a general attack destined to
turn the Germans out of their great
system of defenses from the sea to
the Mouse. On September rs he
threw the First American Army
against the Germans north Of Verdun.
Gouraud's army against them north
of Chalons in Champagne and in the
following days he loosed one army
after another all the way to the sea.
In the Argonne the Americans broke
the first system of German defense.
and streamed north toward the final
line covering Sedan and the Metz
Maubeuge railway. In Flanders the
Belgians and British retook all the
lost ground about Ypres. pressed over
the hills and descended to the plain
driving a wedge between the Ger
mans and the Belgian seacoast and
threatening eventual isolation.
Blow Against Line.
But it was to the south and against
the main wall Of the Hindenburg line
that the main blow fell. Beginning
about September % the main mass Of
British troops, with several American
divisions in line, pounded their way
through the whole twelve miles of de-