Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-05-29
French Reserves
Reach Battle Front

Continued from Pase One
numbered nine divisions. In the sec.
tor Of General Fritz Won Below. ex.
tending across the Rheims front to
Suippe. near Auberive, there were
eight divisions. The whole twenty.
Ave miles attacked yesterday had
therefore been held till the eve Of
battle by only seven or eight divisions.
The exact number Of divisions en-.
gagged yesterday Is not yet known. but
It seems to have been about twenty.
Ave, or more than a quarter Of O mil.
lion combatants.
There is here curious difference
and likeness as compared with the
first phase of the offensive on March
81. To the seventeen divisions already
holding the sector Of attack there
were added another seventeen. This
time the same number has been added
where there were only eight. Two
months ago the front Of attack was
about forty miles long. This time a
rather dense force was employed. per.
haps because the Aisne height con-
stituted a formidable position and 1t
was intended to carry 1t at single
rush.
While the front keeps its present shat pc
the German stan has necessarily a great
advantage over that Of the Allies, in
that It ia acting from the center OF a
crescent. and they are around and out
side Of H. have described the elaborate
measures taken by the enemy to secure
complete secrecy and the utmost speed
in bringing up the army Of shock to Its
starting points
n enough time can he given TO
reparations--and. as my last MESA ge
! showed. the pause had been abnormal
| they must gain a certain benefit of sur
prise. and with this benefit such mass
of shock must win certain depth of
ground II is out Of the question at the
present for the Allies to hold all pos
sible sectors of attack strongly enough
TO make them perfectly secure. and in
deed IL they had men enough this ts not
the way In which they would be used.
Nothing is more difficult for laymen
| to seize, and yet nothing Is more GER
tain. than the change of values the
war evolves. Our only notions Of the
Chemin -des- Danes were obtained in a
time very different from the present
emergency, the time Of fixed fronts and
Of methods defensive and offensive that
are already old-fashioned to those OF
us who have watched these blood-soaked
hills and gullies for nearly four years
through heartrending vicissitudes. who
remember Haig's and Smith-Dorrien's
first attempts to scale what seemed an
! impregnable fortress, who saw the
French bluecoats rush forward last sum.
mer till at length they stood firm on the
cliffs Of Craonne and Heutrebise. who
explored the dragons cave at Malmaison
fort and the vast Mont Parnasse quarry
when they still stunk from rotting flesh
1t is no light thing that ground sc
full of tragic memories should he lost
1t seems only the other day that was
adventuring along the Ailette by Anizy'
Le-Chateau, sleeping In dugout tr
| Pinon forest. and examining the out
posts that then held the northern edge
OF the hills.
War pays little regard to sentiment
and II is not any spectacular stroke Of
sentimental score that will restore the
falling fortunes of the Hohenzollerns
No doubt the French command found II
grievous yesterday to order retreat
to the Aisne. Feebler men might hav'
temporized and lost In doing so many
good lives which are after all more
sacred than the most sacred earth.
The attack could not be anticipated
1t was far beyond the powers of the de
Tending force to ward 1t of. With sount
tecticai sense the heaviest assault wa
directed toward the eastern end of tn
Aisne hills at Craonne as soon as 1t be
came evident that this corner could no
be held. and that from here the Who'll
line was in danger.
. The German forces include some OF III
specially trained units that fought
Won Hutier's army In the March attac