Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-08-22
.FOCH'S STRAT ATtGY SHOWN
BY ALLIED VICTORIES
Keeps Shifting Points of Attack !;
Follows Blow With Blow,
Expert Says.

/ ~'S
Washington. Aug. PA noted war
critic writes. as follows, of the present
| situation on the battlefronts:
"The allied strategy is now showing
| forth in full bloom The Germans are
| getting no peace Just as soon rs IT
| appears that they have one centre
| guarded against attack, the offensive
| breaks out against another. But all OF
! the offensive moves. be II noted, have n
| central scheme which recent develop
mcnts have only now made apparent.
The allied strategy III this IS following
! closely the lines of that behind the Ger
man scheme Of attacks which began
on March 2I First was the offensive
in Picardv. which drew up and halted
after the Montdidia ar salient was formed.
Then came the offensive in Flanders
with the idea OF linking up the line in
the north 10 that in the south by break
ing down the defenccs of Arras This
feature. however, was, as we know, a
complete failure Then came the OIL
fcnsivc along the Chcmin des Danes.
widely separated from the Picardy
battlefield and generally, but erroneous
lv. interpreted as an Independent dis
connected move
The next move was an attempt 10
couple these two OffcnsIvcs by Il drive
down the valley Of the Matz River
which would break down the bridge he
teen Plea Nrdv and the Marine. This
also failed, but its purpose WIS none
the lcss obvious
SHIFTED FONT or ATTACK.
Now General Foch is working on very
much the same lines His scheme was
WORKED ont long before the offensive
was launched near Scissors. The varl-
ou~ attacks were anticipated and most
thoroughly prepared for. After the
Marnc offensive. the Allies were held up
along the NCslc River After fighting
Of varying degrees Of intensity, the
scene of activity suddenly shifted west
ward 10 Nortdldcr, whore the attack
was launched This attack was also
successful, but finally came to practl-
cal halt along the Chaulncs-Roye-laS-
Siguy line
-Foch then tried "a do exactly what
The Germans had attempted he began
an effort to break down the fridge be-
tween IaSsignv and the Alenc-N oslo
front. He has however, been much
more successful In tins attempt than
the Germans have been and has made
very excellent progress on both sides
Of the Oise Ilc has but little dis
tancc 70 20 before his object Is achieved
and rs the iay Of the ground IS IN his
good chance Of his getting there
Noyoxs rooms OBJECTIVE.
There is ono decided difference in the
ideas behind the offensive rs whole
The Germans have directed their ef-
forts toward no particular point They
were simply trying to break through
In every case we arc ahle 10 say with
almost certainty that Foch's efforts have
had a poSitiv" objective IN tho case
of the Marine it was first scissors then
Ferc en- Tardcnols In the present Of
fensive in the south il is Noyons. In
the British offensive which was launched
Yesterday morning il is Bapaume These
are the man German bases and dis
trjbutinC points in the various regions,
and their capture will greatly handicap
the Germans in subsequent operations.
SERIOUS LOSSES on GERMANY
Incidentally in making his various
moves, Toch IS infiicting very serious
losses on the Germans both in men and
material Since July /, at feWest 100000
men have been captured alone How
many the Allies have lost IS, OF course,
unknown as vet But one thing Is dis
tinctlv noticeable in the allied methods
Just as soon as the fighting at a
given point has stiffened so that the
defence is in a position. by reason of
the reserves who have been fed up TO
the front to infict losses upon the Of
fense as heavily as, or heavier than, II
sustains itself, the fighting Is for the
moment broken off Then 1t has sud
denly switched to the right or left of
the reinforced front and what could
have been taken by frontal attack only
with heavy loss Is taken by thanking
movement with much reduced losses
The difference in method Is character
istic Of the two belligerents On the one
side is a power which regards man as
having been created for no other pur-
pose than 10 wage war He IS either
food for powder or ls not worth con-
sidering On the other IS a power which
regards human life as sacred and which
will take il only when forced by des-
pcrate emergency BY these methods
the allied commander is saving his men,
but at the same time is accomplishing
his object
TO FORCE Hun RETIREMENT.
We have had numerous instances of
this il recent fighting. From Roye to
Bray the German line had been stiff
fened to the point where an advance
against it would be made only after
the severest kind Of fighting and with
heavy casualties Suddenly the fighting
here was broken off and during the ten
days which have elapsed, it has not been
renewed But in an altogether new
quarter fresh attack has broken out
which, if successful, will force the re-
trement Of the German line to new
positions east Of the Somme and the
Canal du Nord, giving up the places
which had been so stubbornly defended
This attack was the British attack of
Yesterday between BOisleux and Beau
mont The attack has been extremely
successful in its preliminary stages The
net result must be that Germany will
be hard put TO it to defend any Of the