Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-10-22
Three M0meHt0aS Months.

wars crisis and turning point Mid-July
II found the sturdiesI or Allied optlmlsts hola-
ing their breath for fear Hindenburg would smash
10 Paris Mid-October finds the rankest German
braggarts praying for speedy peace as the sole
hope of keeping FOch from Berlin. In these merry
months the course of centuries has been SNAPPED
and new faith forged bright and ringing LOT man
kind
Turn to the war map and mark the deadly
trend of the German line July the fiji
teenth at the crest of the sweeping offensive begun
the preceding March. Amiens, so essential TO the
communication and teamwork of the French and
the British forces was in imminent peril; as were
also the strategic highways 10 the ChanneI ports
and to Paris itself For both sides the moment was
critical For the Allies it was question of holding
defenses which involved, If not the entire outcome
of the war certainly its duration and its human as
well as material cost. For the Germans 1t was a
question OF turning to conclusive account the sue
cesses for which they had paid dearly and on the
further development of which depended all their
hopes of winning peace before American man-power
came decisively into the field. At this pinnacle
moment Of suspense the Germans launched upon the
fifth phase OF their. supreme offensive, striking
along front Of sixty-five miles between Chateau
Thierry and Massiges. BY shutdown OF the same day
their advance checked along virtually the en-
tire line their gains amounting at the maximum
depth TO barely four miles More than that, in the
cruciaIIy important angle of Chateau Thierry the
Americans after hating the enemy's most desper-
ate onsets. delivered cOunterstToke which sent
him Keeling back beyond his starting point of the
day and prepared the stage for the great Allied
offensive of the morrow.
Such was the situation when, in the red glim-
mer OF the morning of July the eighteenth, just
three months ago, the French and Americans
launched their prophetic offensive from the Aisne
to the Marne-the first of q series of Allied blows
that continued almost necessarily, growing in scope
and power until now they are overwhelming the
Hun from the TO Alps. Springing to the at
tack without single gun of artillery preparation,
the FrancO-American forces took the enemy, who
still intent upon plans for his own offensive,
completely by surprise AT 445 o'clock, precise
" the minute scheduled wrote an eyewitness,
''the French and Americans along nearly thirty
to .T@sw "a
German onslaught not many hours before. the
Americans were vital points Of this drive
scissors and Chateau TheTry-and elsewhere as
well. Just as the whistle was blown Tor the dough-
BOYS to GO gUnneTs started barrages with their
seventy-fives. Our troops swept down the hill
north of the Bots de Belleau toward TOrcy, shout
ing as they went. At precisely $50 the commander
reported that they had captured the town. a little
to the south other Americans swept around Belleau
and closed up. Belleau captured at 20, and
by that time German prisoners began coming back.
Captured officers admitted that the coming OF the
Americans had been a sheer surprise This &C
count is noteworthy not only as testifying to the
Americans thOrOughness and skill, a well vaIor
in their first great drive. but also showing the
tremOrs OF establishment which their presence sent
shivering through the enemy's veins. From that
moment the Hun realized that the Americans faced
him in formidable numbers and that they were
there for battle. Despairfully it dawned upon him
that and a half million of these flaming
fighters from across the had reached the front
before he could win decision, and that their
ranks were swelling al the rate OF some three
the fact told well-nigh as heavily upon his morale
the fact itself did upon developments in the
field.
From July the eighteenth to the middle OF Au-
gust, the Allied offensive rolled uninteTruptedly on
gaining in momentum. i'm range and in weight OF
results II swept the Germans entirely out OF the
Chateau Thierry salient. thereby ending the threat
OF an advance upon Paris. Il forced them from
Montdider thus freeing Amiens from peril. 1T
drove them from control of the Paris-ChalOns and
Peris-Amiens railways. and removed grave
menace TO Allied communications. IL took enOr-
some seventy-ive thousand unwOUnded prisoners
and perhaps two three times that number in
total casualties; approximately two thousand pieces
OF heavy artillery and ten thousand machine guns
Most important of ALL il wrested the intiati.e from
Hindenburg completely that he never regained
Il for day. Thus fought and won the
Second Battle OF the Marne-a victory as momen-
tous for civilization when Attila's hOrdes were
hurled back from that immortal stream four
teen hundred years before.
It remained. however for the ensuing months
of the Allied offensive to develop scene by scene the
vast drama whose catastrophe behold
Events up TO mid-AUgust showed beyond peradyen-
ture that the Germans could rot win. But how
completely and how could they he beaten2
Would they succeed in making a well-ordeTed
treat to the Hindenburg line TO other stout de-
lenses, conserving their resources as they retired