Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1918-04-11
BY FRANK Il. SIMONDS

l DptD HANKS Lnp ItIiidIlS are bNN '''
! ing "A desperate effort to break through
in the allied center in the direction oi
| Alniens. Two weeks g they attacked
on a front of so miles. To-day they are
attacking on a front OF less than ~.
To these narrower limits the great
drive to destroy British military power
| has been restricted. The battle or FL
cardy has thus diminished TO q battle OF
,tmiens.
The parallel of the Marine will nave
occurred to every one at the present
moment. In September 1914. the Ger
mans checked o their left flank ABOUT
Nerdun and thrown backwards on thelf
right flank towards Paris. assailed the
French center at LAHORE
With full fury and drove Genera Foch
! southwark for many miles. 1t Is IN
seresting to recall now Foch's
at that critical ome OF the Marine.
Things must be going very baaiy
somewhere else" he said. they are at
lacking 50 heavily here"
Seek to Upset British.
SO far as one can Judge by the open
in moves of the renewed German Of
fenSive the entire operation consists IN
an effort to drive west upon AInlens
oy the old Roman road from st. Quen-
Tin. overcoming the British resistance
and northwest on either bank OF the
AVre and along the Amiens-Roye road
against the French covering Amiens.
Two things would be accomplished by
he successful advance on this front.
First Amiens would fall. second there
would be a general dislocation OF i'm
portant British transport lines, 1T is
Unlikely now, however, that there
would be any separation between the
British and the French forces.
This was only possible il a very WIDE
a were opened, and the are
not at the moment attempting TO open a
wide gap.
1t seems fair to conclude that the
present operation then is a tremendous
localized effort to get Amiens and thus
be able to point to some DEFINITE
achievement as n reward for the great
expense of the latest German effort to
win the war in Il single battle. AmlenS
taken, the Germans might base many
claims upon their achievement. A fail
ure to get Amiens, on the contrary,
would leave them with little TO show
for their great casualties beyond the
possession of the blood soaked and de-
vastated battle ground of the Somme.
Allied Strategy Uncertain.
now squarely raised. Any further con-
siderable advance of the Germans
toward Amiens will put that city i'll
greatest peril, If there be German ad-
vances of Il few miles, the allies will
have to choose between counter attack
/ dtlu Tue evacuation pl llC CITY. oIi eii'
other hand, it may easily be seen that
Foch is waiting until the Germans have
made the greatest possible sacrifice in
trying to get Alniens before the coun-
ter attacks.
The German position now is one call
ing either for advance or for retreat.
Both flanks are exposed over wide dis
tances and counter blows directed at
Baupaume and Roye which We're ever
moderately successful would imperil
the safety of the troops on the point
Of their wedge facing Amiens.
1t seems probable that the allies have,
for the moment exhausted their immed-
late reserves IL stopping the first Ger
man RUSH and manning the greatly eX-
tended lines of the new front. But the
American troops who are coming up,
the French troops relieved by the other
American troops, who have gone into
the trenches south Of Verdun, and the
British troops who probably have been
brought Owe from England, must con-
stitute an eventual reserve, capable of
delivering heavy blows at no distant
time.
Threat Not Serious.
The new phase of the German often
sive which has opened, carries no such
threat to the allies as did the first. The
. Germans seem to have their
effort to destroy British military estab-
lishment by a. single blow just as they
had to Jul the attempt to take
Verdun by one terrific push. At Nardun
they made very considerable gains
which took them within four miles and
a half of the city itself, but once their
frsh rush was over they did not succeed
in going forward another mile and a
half in six months of desperate fighting
This has been the history of the great
offensives OF the past in the west
Once the element of surprise and the
advantage Of superior number and
artillery had been overcome, the de-
fender has been able to hold his ground
and confne his losses to yards and rods
that is to say, to the ordinary details
Of trench conflict during a heavy Of
fensive.
The German has still some 10 miles
to go to get Amiens. Just now he is
fighting at Villers Vr%ettonneuX, exactly
where he fought in the Franco-Prussiar
war in his successful advance tC
Amiens. His victory at this place
nearly half a century ago determined
the fall of Amiens but then the French
were fighting with a scratch army Now
both the British and the French have
veteran armie in front of the German
The advantage of ground between the
Somme and the Avre and just west OF
the Avre where the main thrust is be-
ing made. is all with the British anC
the French. Tney Ia the high grount
and the better communications and they
should nave at least equal and if moi
superior artillery.
An Encircling Move.
In addition to the direct thrust al
Amiens the German is also endeavor-
ing to reach the main ~Boulougne-
Amiens-Paris railroad west of Moreui
and the small towns whose capture was
announced on Friday lie at the foot Of
: the ridge which now separates the
Germans from this important but no,
vital railroad. This would seem TO be
a new manifestation Of the familiar
German strategy of encircling an OBJ.
jective difficult to get by direct attack
If the German cannot succeed il
breaking through to Amiens in the mex
two or three days it will be safe t.
conclude that the second phase of hi.
great offensive has been permanently
! checked. II the French and British d.
not Immediately counter attack, SHOULD
the German make any material ad'
vance toward Amiens, we shall b
bound to conclude that the British ant
French reserves have been consumed il
checking the first dash, but there nov
seems reasonable ground for expecting
a ounter offensive provided the~Ger,
mans are compelled to pay a heav.
price for small advances in the mex