The sun., 1918-08-29
SEES FOE BAFFLED
BY SURPRISE MOVES
Sideb0tham Says Allied Ex-
penditures Have Paid High
Rate Of Interest.
DEFENCE PLANS SPOILED
Questions Whether High Wood
Attack Was Not Made
Prematurely.
DEFENCE PLANS SPOILED
ny II. sIDEBOTHAM.
One OF the Foremost Military Critics
in Europe.

| One OF the Foremost Military Critics
in Europe.
Special Cable Despatch 10 TEE srS from the
| London Times Service.
! Copyright 1918; alt rights reserrcd.
| LONDON. Aug. 2s.--It has been n long
| time since we had as interesting news Of
British progress as that which came on
| Tuesday, but encouraging as the news is
| il raises one or two difficulties which
can be discussed In general terms with
out harm.
/ The upheaval Of the last few days has
produced a curious. irregular etr9tifica-
ton of the British front Beginning with
| the Somme battle the French line ran
| from Mariecourt to the Somme at Frise.
! We are approaching this line south of
| the Somme and are just n little behind
where We were July l, 1916. Immedi-
ately north OF the somme we are in
| touch with the old lire at Mariecourt.
| That brings US to the first distinction
between the present battle and the one
Of 1916 namely, that the French were
| then compa ratively much further for
! ward than We, and whereas then the gem
eral direction of the battle was north
| and northeast il Is now east and south
| east.
| High Wood was the scene OF some
ma gnificent fighting in the Somme bat
! tie. but OF some very unsound tactics.
The wood was attacked from the south
! side. making II very pronounced sa-
lent. In consequence We had to abandon
| it, as we had to abandon it again Tues
| day. though only temporarily. and IL Is
surprising that we should again overrun
| High Wood without frst making certain
OF Longueval, in the direction from
! which German counter attacks came
| Tuesday, and even more two years age.
| The question arises then of whethsr
the hard fighting at High Wood yester-
| day Tuesday, was not little pre-
mature whether it would not have been
wiser TO restrain the impetuosity Of our
advance until our line was thrown fur
Their forward.
| An ideal advance now would have
| been one not close to the old Somme
battlefield at all. but around it, thus
forcing back the enemy by threatening
his TANKS This threat is becoming acute
| in the north but I'm the south We should
be in the neishborhood Of Ham 10 re-
produce this situation there. Chaulnes
and Noyon are still held by the enemy.
, and are not being held for nothing
! (Chaulnes was reported taken In yester-
days official reports) There the coun-
try is difficult and favorable to defence.
forming the under features of the great
Laon massif which il the hinge to the
1 herman POSITIONS IN
In the north We are already in touch
with the Hindenburg line and at one
point We have actually pushed further
east than we were before. This is a
most promising movement and one that
vindicates the element Of surprise. for
this advance was the last to begin and
began suddenly, without warning.
The first Hindenburg line ran to Vimy
Ridge, but just before that fell the en-
4
switch line frpm Droucourt to Queant.
II is this switch line that we are now in
} touch with. and with the most important
part OF II. Last year Il looked as though
we might have done better by concentra-
ting on Bullecourt
The Uindenhurg line that we are now
IN touch with derived it's strength not so
much from fixed Notifications as from
the elaborate tactical organization Kept
in concealment from the real defensive
positions. That Is why we are justified
In Pointing 10 good results we are pre-
venting the Germans from reestablish-
ing this defensive organization.
The enemy IS seeking to retire, not so
much TO his trenches or defensive po-
sitions, but to n new system of defensive
tactics. You may hurry construction of
trenches but you cannot hurry the train
ing necessary to organized defensive tao
ucs we nave. therefore, every motive
for making the best use of time. We
must be careful not TO Let ME battle de-
velop into an old style sluggng match.
The feature OF our recent successes,
and one that makes a big difference in
the wars outlook, is the very high rate
OF military interest paid on our capital
expenditure. This was due to a system
OF tactics marked by extreme ingenuity
in successive developments of surprises
directly the military plan was OWNED
By the enemy.