Evening star., 1918-06-16
PARIS, AIM OF GERMANS FOR 1918:
PRESENT DRIVE MAKES PLAN CLEAR

| Chemin des Danes and the high ground
| Just west of the Disc about Noyon. In
1915. In the Somme campaign. the Brit
ish and French endeavored to clear this
tarrier to Paris by an attack on the side
of the Disc salient. They did compel a
retirement which cleared the Noyon
heights and much of the high ground
| east of the river. but the Germans still
clung to Laon and the st. Gobain pla-
| teau east Of the Disc and north of the
In 1917 the French. under Nivere,
made a desperate effort to drive the
Germans out of Lson. seeking to take
| the town and thus force an evacuation
! Of the St. Gobain plateau, from which
the supergun is now shelling Paris. At
the same time a French attack east of
Rheims sought to clear the Germans out
OF the forts to the north of the town. of
which Brimont was the most famous.
But this offensive failed: Nivelle was re-
| tired. and the Germans were left still
securely lodged in the second line of
defenses of the French capital. defenses
| which. in the main, We're supplied by
the nature of the country, not by arti-
| fetal forts.
At Beginning of Campaign.
Such was the situation at the be-
ginning Of the present campaign.
4hiCC yCdiS III ~HlCiA thcy Hdu poS-
sessed the offensive had not been
! enough to enable the French and
British to clear the second line Of de-
fenses. But they did hold sub
stantial portion Of this line: they did
hold enough of the high ground be-
| tween the Oise and the Aisne to make
1t impossible for the German center
facing Paris to advance. while on the
east they occupied the Chemin des
Danes and the high ground immedi-
ately north of the Aisne and south of
the Aillette. West of the Disc their
line faced La Fere, and seemed to rest
securely on high ground all the way
north to the Scarpe. east of Arras
But on March 81, in their first and
| greatest operation. the Germans
| cleared the Disc valley as far south
as Noyon. Retaking this town, they
which descend from st. Quentin and
| Amiens to the Disc, which cross at
Creil and Pont Ste. Maxence. These
were the roads that Kluck followed
They lead over fairly Level country
right to Paris. On these roads the
about April 1. Thereafter they shift
ed the weight Of their blow and
| sought to cut between the British
and the French. but were checked be-
fore Amiens.
AS it stood at the close of this first
sion of the four or five main high
ways leading south to Paris from
Belgium. west of the Disc, and only
! relatively insignificant foothills of the
central highland lay between them
and the plains of Ilede-France. In
west of the Disc, compelled the French
to fall back from the southern edge
OF the st. Gobain plateau to a new
position much nearer the Aisne.
Long Step Toward Paris.
If it were the intention of the Germans
to open the way to Paris west of the
Oise they had taken long step forward.
But east of the Oise, between Scissors
and Rheims. the French still held ad-
| mirable positions. while between Sois-
sons and the Disc they continued to hold
the high ground. which precluded the
German thrust through the center. At
this stage In the campaign the Germans
shifted their attack to the north, and
the allies were left in the dark as to
| whether Paris or Calais was the true
German objective.
The attack Of May 81 went a long way
toward clarifying the situation. This
time the Germans struck between Sois-
sons and Rheims, that is. along the rail-
ways and roads which descend from the
north to Paris. east of the high ground
between the Disc and the Aisne. In one
terrific blow the Germans thrust the
French and British Off the Chemin des
Danes, across the Aisne and the Vesle
| and pushed south to the Marne. But
the Marne was not their objective; their
re al purpose was to open the northea St
ern roads to Paris, as they had opened
the northwestern in March. Accord
ingly. after two days of advance south
ward, the main German thrust was
changed to southwestward direction:
in word, toward Paris. In its turn this
advance was checked westward of line
between scissors and Chateau Thierry
in the first days of June.
The Germans were thus. after June 4.
In possession Of the roads leading to
Paris, both east and west of the Disc;
west Of the Disc they held the line Mont
cider Noyon, east of the river they held
the front Soissons-Chateau Thierry, but
the two wings were still separated by
the French center. which retained pos
session of the high ground in the angle
between the Disc and the Aisne. Not
pushed south to the crossings of the
Disc and occupied Compiegne could the
whole front be joined and become active
For the moment no advance was
possible on the Soissons- Chateau
Thierry front. because the French
sessed admirable interior communica-
tions. while the Germans had moved
into a country whose communication
had been destroyed and had outrun
their reserves and supplies. Thus,
while 1t was possible that the Ger
many might first indulge in some side
show, comparable with his Flanders
venture after his March push in Pic
ardy. it was reasonably plain that
when he resumed his drive for Paris
he would attack upon the west bank
Of the Disc and on the front between
Montdidier and Noyon, and this is
exactly what he did last Sunday. BY
this time he had two months to re-
pair his communications west of the
Disc and collect the munitions and
supplies for new attack.
Opening of Sundays Attack.
Now. roughly speaking. the situa-
ton as 1t existed when the German
attacked last Sunday was this. His
immediate objective was the high
ground just in front of him. south
of Noyon and Lasigny. the last con-
siderable elevation between himself
and Paris. But his ultimate objective
was the bank Of the Disc, where the
northern roads cross that stream
north and south Of Compiegne. If he
could force a crossing of the Disc be-
tween Compiegne and Creil then the
French center would have to retire
~ KIne,EcMk q