Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-12-29
other upon the Aisne below SCISSORS.
which they, had retaken.
Deadly Crisis Hnsues.


Deadly Crisis Rnsues.
A new and deadly crisis ensued.
French numbers were failing. Ameri-
can numbers were still small. but In
this emergency the marines and two
regular infantry regiments immedi-
ately available were put In about
Chateau Thierry and along the roads
north of the Marine leading to Paris.
They were for the moment the sole
on the German road to Paris,
with their efforts and in the first days
Of June the lines again stabilized
themselves with scissors and Chateau
in German hands.
Meantime to the westward the Ger
mans in the first days of June strove
the Disc toward Paris. with Com
peigne as their immediate objective.
In this effort they. for the first time.
severe check, indeed,
toward the close of the engagement
Mangin made a counter offensive on
This was. in my judgment, the turn
ing point in the campaign. it was the
first measurable failure of Ludendorf
and the initial return to the offensive
of Foch, inconsiderable, to be sure.
Another month passed while the
HeFindHS TeneWeu their strength ior
what, it was now clear. must be the
final blow. since American troops
were arriving in great numbers. the
season was passing and the German
public was becoming FESTIVE. In this
time Austria was thrown against
Italy on the Piave and suffered dis
astrous defeat, which had a great
moral effect on both sides of the fir
ing line. AS it turned out this was
the beginning of the long series of
allied successes never again to be
interrupted. but at the moment, it
was the first CLEAN of sunlight after
three months of agony.
Ludendorff filings Reserves.
Finally. on July Is. Ludendorff flung
his remaining reserves against the
French and Americans holding the
line from Chateau Thierry to the Ar
gonne. His purpose was to break
through east and west of Rheims, en-
velop and take that town and it's de-
fensive positions behind. clear both
banks of the Marine and begin a wide
swinging advance upon Paris. 1t was
the final effort to win the campaign
and the war by a Napoleonic victory,
the peace storm following the
kaiser battle" to use the German
phrases of that boast.
But by July is the supreme effort
had failed on both sides of the city
of Rheims, completely failed between
Rheims and the Argonne. where Gou-
rand won a notable victory; measur-
ably failed between Rheims and Cha
teau Thierry, where the Germans had
crossed the river and were still gain
ing ground, but only at great cost
and slowly. In this situation Foch
suddenly struck back upon the eS-
tended and open flank of the Ger
mans between the Marine and the
Aisne, using Americans as well as
French troops in Mangin's spearhead
thrust.
Foch Repeats Marine Strategy.
The result was immediate and de-
cisive. 1t was a repetition of the
strategy of the first Marine, and it had
the same outcome. Ludendorff was
compelled to draw his beaten troops
out of the Marine salient. pursued by
Americans and French. He suffered
great losses in material. evacuated
scissors and the territory south of the
Aisne. but, what was more important
by his retreat he confessed the fail
ure. not of his immediate effort, but
of his whole campaign. Germany had
shot her bolt. She had lost the Of
fensive, and it now remained to be
seen whether she could hold out on
the defensive until the end of the
campaign.
On August Foch began his cam
paign- He threw Rawlinson's 4th
British Army against the Germans
holding a great salient from Arras
round to the outskirts of scissors,
broke in the side of this salient, TAX
ing thousands of prisoners and guns,
and then deliberately widened the
area of dislocation by throwing French
armies against the salient all the way
round to the heights north of the
Alsne. Under pressure and losing
heavily in men and material. Luden-
dorf staggered back to the old lines
of the Somme fighting of 1916 and
attempted to make stand.
But while he was seeking to do
this. Ludendorff was suddenly as
sailed north of the Somme by Byng,
who turned his flank, retook Bapaume
Hindenburg line from which the Ger
mans had emerged on March 21
And when Byng's blow had exhausted
it's possibilities, Horne. with the LIST
British army. struck astride the
Scarpe and actually broke through
preaching both Cambria and Douai.
By the first days of September Lud-
endorff. was not only back in the
Hindenburg line. but the chance of
his holding the line was debatable.
The Americans Enter.
Meantime away out at the other
end of the front Foch threw PERISH
ing, will the LIST American Army,
against the German salient at st.
Mihiel. south of Verdun, and the
Americans won a swift and consider
able victory. taking many guns and
prisoners, approaching Metz and Civ
ing Ludendorf a new cause for anx-
iety, since at last the American con-
tribution was becoming important in
numbers and was now destined to
Increase by several hundreds of thou
sands each month.
Hard on the heels of the American
victory at St Mihiel came two de-
cisive battles in the east. Ailenby in
Palestine destroyed two Turkish
armies north of Jerusalem and not
merely broke Turkish resistance in
Palestine, Syria and Mesopotamia. but,
as the event proved. eliminated Tur-
key from the war. No victory in all
history was more complete and all
German hopes in Turkey fell instant
ly to dust and ashes
In the same hour D'Espcrey, il
Ma cedonia, attacked the Bulgars ano
in struggle almost as brief de-
stroyed the Bulgarian power of re-
sistance and thereafter promptly re.
ceived the unconditional surrender OF
Bulgaria, witch disappeared from the
war, thus isolating Germany from
Turkey. opening the way to the allied
liberation of Serbia and Rumania and
the eventual invasion of Hungar,
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