New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-08-12

Nf1E lOuTIll Gay Oh llle great Anglo
French offensive, which will I'M
questionably be known hereafter
as the Third Battle of the Somme, re-
veals with some measure or clarity the
purpose of Ludendorff and the method
he is following in endeavorng to meet
and check Foch. He has abandoned the
old Montdidier salient and all notion of
holding any portion Of his position west
of the line held by the Germans at the
beginning of the First Battle Of the
Somme, in July, 1918. He is now at
tempting to restore his front somewhere
between the Somme and the Disc west of
the line Peronne- Ham Chauny, to which
he must eventually retire.
To accomplish this Ludendorff is rap
idly increasing the tenacity of the re-
sistance on the flanks of the break in his
line. He is standing firm on the high
ground north of the Somme which saw
the famous fighting of 1915 and on the
high ground north and west of the Disc,
between Noyon and Lassigny. If he can
hold these TANKS for the next day or two
the Anglo-French drive will have to slow
down and stop, because our allies will
presently find themselves thrusting into
a salient as awkward as the one from
which the German has Just been evicted
AS it now stands there is no salient,
or practically none; the Allied front
runs fairly straight from the Disc below
Ribecourt to the Ancre at Albert, with
the Germans still holding Roye and the
British in Chaulnes. At the northern
end of this front the German resistance
has so far been obstinate, and on the
whole, successful, the Allied advance
having been inconsiderable although it
is approaching Bray. At the southern
end about Ribecourt and Lassigny there
has peen practically no progress so far.
we are seeing once more reproduced
the normal history of a successful often
slve IN the present form of warfare. OF
the four stages two, preparation of the
attack and the attack itself, are over.
Inc third phase, that of pursuit. is still
gong forward, but the successful resist
ance OF the TANKS suggests that we are
almost at the point where the pursuit
Will merge into the fourth and 1,st
stage, which is the march of approach to
the new position. All now depends unon
the success of the Germans in maintain
ing their TANKS in the next twentv-four
hours
10 illustrate by example: When
Hutler broke Coughs front twenty miles
eastward of the present battlefield an
March Il of this year, he put some four
Teen British corps practically out of the
battle and opened a gap between the
British and French armies, Just as Raw
lnson now has opened a gan betweon.
the armies of the two crown princes.
which met between the Disc and the
oomme. Following this break throuoh
Hutier's forces rushed in pursuit all
the way to the Avre and the Ancre.
But the French south of the Disc and
byng's Third Army north of the Ancre
were not shaken by the German often
slVe and stood firm, stretching out bv
their TANKS toward each other wb;lo
Fayolle rushed French reserves I'm ~
ehe actual gap. The break was thus
limited to the front of the Fifth British
army and was eventually closed. after
. I, mad been gradual narrowing of
the German wedge. There was then LOTT
the present salient-that is. the salient
when existed before the recent offensive
began. 1t was impossible for the Ger
mans after March % to advance fnr-
Their, because they were being subjected
to flank and cross fire from the unbroken
TANKS of the two Allied armies.
To-day everything is reverseds The