Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1918-08-27
GERMANS ON DEFENSIVE
Compared to Awkward Bull With
Foeh an Agile Matador.

exercise the initiative which he wrest-
ed from the enemy In the second bat
tie Of the Marne, says a Paris dis
patch. Every expert here pays
tribute to the skill Of the leader to
whom the Allies have intrusted the
command of their united armies, and
every day sees that tribute increase
In volume.
In the manner in which Foch Is
now making the Germans dance to his
piping every Frenchman sees solid
reasons for disputing more than ever
the right of the Boches to the self
conferred title Of the first military
nation in Europe.
The statement of the Frankfurter
Zeitung that Ludendorff is continually
giving ground to enable him TO re-
group his forces is laughed at here.
The tactics of Foch are exactly those
which render any regrouping of the
enemy forces impossible. Foch's meth
cd of keeping the enemy busy all the
time on one part Of the front or an
other aims precisely at preventing this
very thing.
Keeps Reserves Jumping.
Hardly had the enemy had
breathing space on the Vesle than
another heavy Allied blow was struck
at him on the Somme and the Avre.
A substantial portion OF the reserves
whom he had sent with tremendous
difficulty to the Vesle front had to be
hurried of TO meet the new attack
further west. Then came Sundays
bound forward on a fifteen mile front
east of the Oise and another heavy
Journey for some of the tired Ger
man reserves. These attacks In quick
succession are forcing the Germans
to maintain at least 140 divisions in
their first lines or nearly a million
and a half bayonets. Another million
and q half must be constantly avail
able to relieve and replace the tired
divisions, while an additional strain
is being put upon the enemy by the
fact that any moment he may find
it necessary to increase Immediately
the destiny Of the troops he has In
certain sector where he often. without
reason, believes an attack to be i'm
minent.
An example Of this occurred last
Thursday, when Won Ebens army.
which is holding the line between
Carlepont and Missy sur Aisne, east
OF Scissors, found itself with only
dozen divisions in line and had to
appeal to Won Boehn for reinforce
ments in view Of the pending French
attack.
These wearing down tactics, giving
the enemy neither time to-. organize
an attack himself nor a respite from
being attacked, must be telling now
only on the Germans morale, but also
on their organization. The German
military machine, good though 1t be,
was never built with view to a de-
fensive campaign OF long duration,
such as Foch is now serving out to
the enemy.
Foeh Brilliant Matador.
The position Of the German war ma
chine at the present moment. under
the biting whip of Foch. may be
likened somewhat to a first class
main line railway engine with eight
foot driving wheels which Is called on
to take part In a mad automobile
race along country highways. Foch's
tactics in the nature of things are
the worst possible for the ponderous,
slow.going. over-organized German
machine and its sluggish directing
brain. Other things being equal. the
bull henceforward stands no chance
against so brilliantly agile a mata-
dor as Foch.
AS Paris sees It. the Allies are now
marching more surely toward final
victory every day.
And what giant strides we shall
take" cries one favorite critic. IF
only we give to our fifth arm (avia-
tion) all that extension. almost to in
finity. which our resources, thanks to
American help nov render possible"
Every German killed now. 1t Is rec
ognized here, Is worth at least two as
compared with the earlier years of the
war from the fact that the enemy Is
now finding 1t more .and more diff
cult to replace his losses in conse-
quence Of Foch's tactics giving him
no rest.
Delay Fatal to Germany.
The French tactics are now entirely
IN agreement with the doctrine that
q fatal mistake was made by the
Germans in allowing the Allies time
to recover their breath after each
Of their recent offensives.
"The military historians who will
later tell the story Of this war;" says
one writer. will be unanimous in
proclaiming that the German general
staff lost the war on the western
through not striking It's blows quickly
enough one after another notwith-
standing that the pending advent of
the American army. made such a poll
cy an imperative necessity"
"If." trumpets Gustav Herve in Vic
toire, "Foch, thanks to the arrival OF
the Americans In mass. can continue
his great effort without a halt, we
shall not have to wait till next spring
for O German debacle."
Henry Ford has authorized the