South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1918-04-02
BY FRANK III. STMONDS.
News-Times and Associated
Newspapers Military Expert.

Newspapers Military Expert.
N EW YORK, April ..
N The second battle of the
4 SOmmc has at least tenn
pOrarHy halted on approximate
~ the same ground on which the
first began. seeking a Sedan or
a Waterloo. The Germans have
won colossal malpIaquet,
battlefield triumph, which IA il
stands. Is a brilliant local sue
cess, but utterly lacking i'm ali
decisive consequences. The mosi
gigantic blow of the whole war
has been parricd and at least mo-
mcntarily blocked within dis
lance OF % miles from the start
ing place and without the loss TO
the allies of any vital point i'm
their system OF defence or "A de-
struction of. any OF their armies.
In the greatest battle of hui
man history the Germans have
50 far succeeded i'm winning back
from the British and the French
"A little less than "A thousand
square miles Of blood soaked and
utterly devastated country. which
they held when the first battle
of the SOmme began i'm July, 1915.
Between the SOmme and the
Ayrc they have extended their
advance for some 10 miles beyond
their old lines. but TO balance
this gain. the allies have held all
that portion Of the important
ground evacuated by the Ger
mans after the Sommc or lost i'm
the battle OF the Aisnc and of
Arras, which lies directly cast of
Arras or south OF the Disc. And
this ground constitutes the two
anchorages of the allies front ut
the danger point.
For this territory the Germans
have sacrificed at least third of
ali that great reserve which they
had concentrated and trained for
this offensive in the conviction
that by the sacrifice of this last
host decisive victory could he
won with the British army thor
oughly beaten and the French
compelled to make separate
ana Illuminating peace.
Even If the German losses are
not greater than the allies, which
is not the case. the margin be-
tween the total numbers of the
two contestants was too slight TO
permit either to sacrifice so many
for anything less than a decision.
he able to exploit further their
unmistakable gains, by employ
ing the remaining divisions and
bringing up their heavy artillery.
They may reach Amiens. bat
even this doubtful i'm the ex-
treme. The whole history OF
western offensives. of all major
offensivcs i'm this war of positions,
has been that if there has not
been a decisive rupture of the
enemy front i'm the first week.
the chance to produce such
rupture has passed. In all of
Germany's great successes
against Russia at the Dunajac,
and against Italy at the IsOnzo.
the first blow was Enthusiastically
successful and the disaster was
immediate. On the contrary all
OF the allied Offensives I'm the
west and the unsuccessful Ger
man attack upon Verdun were
never able TO move at any dan
gerOus pace, after they had
spent the force and fury of their
rush.
Ii is far from unlikely that in
stopping the great drive the al
lies may have spent their re-
serves too, and they will be for
the moment incapable of any
counter offensive save that made
by the slender American force. 1t
ia more than probable that the
Somme contest will now drop to
the old level of trench warfare
and that the Germans will be able
To dig i'm "a they were able to dig
i'm and hold on unchallenged for
many months after their
drive toward Calais had
ben stopped at Ypres and
along the User. It would be n
grave error to underestimate
the tax put upon allied resources
/ or the strain which has been en-
dured by French and British
military establishments.
The truth il that for the first
five days of the battle there was
an ever present possibility of
/ complete disaster on both banks
of the SOmme and that not until
after the first week had ended
was the peril of complete sep
aratiOn of British and French
armies beginning to lessen. The
French have had to extend their
I lines for over 80 miles. drawing
upon local and strategic reserves
alike for this great task. The
British have had to replace most
of the forces OF one army. which
was terribly beaten. il not actual
/ " routed. and to do almost as
much for a second. and at no
time have the allies had a SUI
perior strategic reserve.