The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1918-11-16

llelHlS IN movement, IN movement
backward. BY the last week in Sep
TENDER the German is back where he
started from six months before. 1t has
taken two months to put him back,
starting from ground gained by him
in four months.
But there is no pause, like that of
LudendOrff. on Sept. 10 Pershing wins
st. Mihiel. Two weeks later he strikes
again, this time to the north, and Gou-
raud follows suit on the other side of the
Argonne. Then King Albert and Plumel
in Belgium strike on Sept. 27 and 2S.
On the latter day Horne and Byng join
in. Then Berthelot and Mangin, then
him. Then Debeney. Then King AL
bert, PlumeT and Deguotte's French
army in Flanders. Then, as the month
ends, Pershing and Gouraud again.
In Three Months.
Now bear in mind the dates. Luden-
dorff struck on March 81; he was finally
checked only on July IS and 10. Four
months of effort precede the failure.
Foch opened his offensive or Aug. 6,
and in the last days of September Lu-
dendorff advises his government to
make peace proposals; the government
waits a few days more, until the defeat
of Oct. s; then 1t appeals TO President
Wilson. Events in other fields have in
fluenced the decision, but two months
after the opening of the Foch offensive
it's success is no longer doubtful. AS
the third month closes France is all
but free. the Belgian coast is free.
Look at it from the side OF the ohsta-
! cles: The four ines of defense; the in
Vulnerable switch lines, the rivers and
the canals; an opposing army which
fights well even in defeat, still provided
with all the modern weapons OF war.
| a. - ~. ~ n,Afo, .Af thiC Yr.np loo "a,
he fact that German methods have been
so d~espicable; that German courage, en-
| durance, military skill are forgotten In
the horror and contempt at German
crimes. But this great army, these un-
paralleled defenses, are all mastered in
less than four months; the war Is won,
for even had there been no defeats in
the east the long succession of German
reverses would have brought Bulgaria
and Turkey to the point Of surrender
and Austria to the verge of revolution.
What Napoleonic campaign be
hereafter reckoned to surpass that of
Foch as a merely military achievement !
British, French, American, Italian, Bel
gian troops, all perfectly controlled by a
single hand, all used with exact 90
dination, all made to contribute to the
uttermost OF their possibilities, and--in
less than four months-supreme victory,
the smashing of the German machine,
the German army plucked bodily from
its vast defenseS and flung out OF
France. On the military side, had any
drama ever so fine a fifth act as this
fifth campaign Of the world war?
And as the struggle ends, we ii
America have a just right to recall with
pride that our own young army has been
the final reserve Of civilization flung on
the decisive battlefield, still unready,
but rising to supreme heights, to unbe-
lievable achievement, TO final success in
the face of obstacles which can not
even yet be understood,
Before the achievements OF French
and British soldiers on the same fields
we shall forever stand in awe and ad-
miration, The long agony tha, preceded
the dawn of victory was borne by them
with a steady courage and an unfailinr
devotion which make all praise seen
5. feeble and foolish.
} But If We came late, We came IA time
II our contribution was small by com
parison with that OF France or Britain,