Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-10-16
SQUEEZING our THE HUN


ings of reluctant respect as were occa-
stoned when the significance of the Hin
denburg line was realized one year and
half ago.
The strength Of that bulwark, now
happily obsolete, was obvious. 1t ran
from stronghold to stronghold. 1t was
elaborately planned during months Of
comparative quiet on the front. 1t was
designed to foster Hindenburg's plans
for an enervating stalemate in 1917 and,
save for Byng's Unsupported rupture
last November, the original design was
effectively carried out until the Hun him
self decided to play for higher stakes
than a deadlock.
The substitution of open fighting for
trench warfare was concurrent with this
determination. Germany deliberately
set the new style and employed it with
| snowy success until the memorable mid
| summer Of this year, when Foch. with
! characteristic French taste, contributed
| pertinent finishing touches and made it
la mode for period which will prob
war. The present fighting fashions are
not favorable to defensive lines erected
! by an army in retreat.
The destruction of the Hindenburg
barrier, reputed the most powerful him
drance ever raised by an army gives a
clear verdict in favor of incessant
offensive pressure eXerted without inter-
mission on all parts of the obstruction.
! The obliteration of the great wall from
Nerdun to the sea provides a standard
example of the impotence Of such
structure under hammer blows.
1t is perfectly obvious that the Ger
mans cannot withdraw behind anything
as carefully constructed as the Hinden-
burg line anywhere this side of the
eastern boundary of France. Further
more, it becomes increasingly evident
that their announcement of battle
front running from Lille to Nalenciennes,
to Hirson, to Mezieres, to Metz was
frantcally premature.
Two points on this hypothetical bar
rier are likely to be in Allied hands
| before many days have passed. They
are Lille and Mezieres. The line will
then have no logical terminus and it
will be preached in the center. If Ger
many seeks to stake her chances on
prospects so insubstantial as they appear
at this moment Foch's ambition to crush
| his foes military power before it has an
opportunity to escape across the Rhine
may be achieved.
Undoubtedly that is what the general
issimo is playing for. 1t would be un-
reasonably optimistic to forecast def
| nitely such triumph. This much, how
ever, may be safely predicted. Given
the present rate of the Teuton retreat,
the enemy will either be trapped or
thrust virtually out of France before the
| close of 1918.
Up to now his skill in withdrawal has
had conspicuous merit. The bagging of
large numbers of prisoners has lately
ceased, if exception be made of the
goodly haul in the Anglo Belgian drive
on Rouers. But the possibility Of Ger
man blunders grows apace as his retreat
becomes more and more crowded.
The German General Staff today must
reckon with three perilous situations.
The most critical is in the north, where
his hold on the U-boat bases of Ostend
and Zeebrugge grows momentarily more
insecure and where the fall of Lille and
Doua seems only a matter of a few
days. The extinction of the Lille salient
would totally wreck the alleged German
schemes for the extension of formid-
able barrier extending northwest from
Valenciennes. Any slip-up in this region
would be terribly costly.
The second peril is slightly less immi-
nent and is dependent on the progress
of the British and Americans east of lie
Cateau and of the French toward Guise.
Further pressure in these directions
would render the Hirson bastion unten-
able. To the southeast the new situa-
ton created by the almost simultaneous
| fall of La Fere and Laon, strongholds
which had resisted the armies of liberty.
since 1914, is fast becoming one of potent
| interest.
Three armies, Mangin's, Gourauds and
| the American, are advancing rap
idly to regain the deepest strip of
French territory still in Hun possession,
and Rethel-an important railroad juno
ton at the crest of the bend of the Aisne
is on the verge of capture. The larger
objective is Mezieres, key to the German
transport system of this part of the front
and close enough to Sedan to make an
tcipatory thrills of recompense exquis-
itely sweet.
The Franco American forces are still
considerably more than twenty miles
from this goal. The magnitude of their