Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-09-13
THE NEW OFFENSIVE

1t was anticipated that as soon as the Aimed ad-
vance on the long front where the recent battles have
been fought had materially slackened, another blow
would be struck in a new quarter, and the logic of the
situation pointed to the district southeast from yerdun
as the most likely to receive the impact Of the Allied
armies. This expectation has been verified in the attack
just launched by the French and Americans against the
st. Mihiel salient which has stuck out like a sore thumb
for these four years.
Marshal Foch Is continuing the strategy which has
won him such signal success thus far. At just the
moment when the Germans had exposed themselves to
that method he used the pincer process to effect the re-
auction OF the Marine. salient. He was successful in
forcing the enemy back, and in administering tre-
mendous punishment. The Germans were crowded back
to the north bank of the vesle. There they presented a
resistance which. while it could have been overcome by
hard fighting, was nevertheless stubborn. For many
days he caused his forces in that territory to make time
while he struck the enemy in a new place, and for a time
the British carried the burden of the fighting on the
northern end Of the line. Then came the smashing blow
against the Montdidier salient, and presently the enemy.
%outfanked on the vesle, was compelled to hasten his re-
treat to the Aisne with little more than a show Of resist
ance. p.
The Germans have now reached the HindenburE line
along a considerable part of its frontage. At no point
are they distant from it, and on the north they have ac-
tually been forced across it. The positions to which they
have retreated are Of great natural>strength, and they
have been fortified by immense labor and many in
genious devices. If these positions can be rendered un-
tenable by Allied advances in another quarter Foch will
have accomplished his purpose Of keeping the enemy on
the run without the expenditure Of men which would be
required for the forcing Of the Hindenburg line by di-
rect frontal attack.
1t is the belief of many military men that the
Strengthening out of the st. Mihiel salient is intended to
be preparatory to a movement greater than any that has
yet been undertaken, and that it will be followed by a
vast thanking operation from Champagne which will
turn the whole northern German line and compel a
monster retreat, or by an advance against the Lorraine
front, threatening a march to the Rhine.
AL, of this is familiar to those who have studied the
well aware Of the possibilities as their opponents are,
and without question they have taken steps to provide
against them. But what neither the books nor the maps
show, and what the Germans would give a good deal to
know, is just where the main blow Of this new offensive
will come, and the direction which it will take. The
ing the past few weeks. and it will be no easy matter for
Ludendorf to spare from Picardy or Flanders the d.
visions which will be necessary to meet this new attack.
In this new offensive, as in the second battle of the
Marine, American troops are playing their proper part.
To them was entrusted the attack on the southern SIDE
of the salient, and in the first days fighting they were
able to report satisfactory advances and the capture OF
several important positions. Our men are giving a good
account Of themselves wherever they are placed.