New-York tribune., 1918-06-01

inal intention in striking toward
Amiens with a view to cutting the AL
lied armies in two.
Rupprecht Has Many Reserves
"The Germans have the initiative.
The Grown Prince has on his lett the
army group under General Won Gall
WITT, and to the left of Gallwltz is the
army group under Duke Albrecht OF
Wiirtemburg. Neither OF these army
groups has been engaged. Some re-
inforcements for further efforts by the
Grown Prince could be obtained from
these armies, but the bulk of the Ger
man reserves are in Prince Rup-
precht's armies and are very formidable
in strength The enemy may put them
in to exploit the success already gained
and push in the direction of Paris, or
he NAV continue his effort through
Amiens.
"The question has been much dis
cussed during the past few days as to
whether this German attack was sur
prise to the Allies. 1t cannot be called
a complete surprise, TOR the concen-
tration in the Laon area was we'll
known. But until a day or two before
the battle we had no indication that
an attack on a big scale was impend-
for maintaining secrecy regarding
their plan.
Mortars Displace Artillery
"The main masses of men we're
brought up to the actual front lines
only on the night before the attack,
which was preceded by only two hours
bombardment for the purpose of cut
ting our wire. The Germans are not
making the same use Of their artillery
as heretofore. They are using trench
mortars in large numbers for wire-cut-
ting.
tack on this part of the line for long
time, constructing the. necessary gun
emplacements and assembly places, SO
that our aircraft did not observe any
construction of new trenches or en-
placements just before the attack. The
Germans use of artillery before the
attack was of a different nature than
heretofore.
"Their guns did not register on
definite targets, but selected merely a
wide area and shelled it continuously.
1t always has been difficult for air
craft to obtain definite sttateglcal in
formation. Thus in 1914 airmen found
it very hard to detect columns on the
IOdQ, anu IIluCIl UOuUC cAlSCcU dO w eiiS
actual front covered by the German
advance in Belgium.
Disadvantages for Allies
"Under the conditions which pre-
vailed IN the region of the Chemin des
Danes an initial success could hardly
be prevented. Nor can it be prevented
anywhere where there are not adequate
reserves Immediately available.
"The Allies have these diso dvan~
tages: First, they are inferior iii num-
lers; second, they are acting on cx-
terror lines; third, they have many vul-
nerablc points; fourth, north Of the
Somme they have little territory IN
which to manHuvre.
at is not fair to blame the high
command when the Allies have inhe-
rently an unfavorable strategic posi-
mand placed three tired British di-
visions on an exposed part aof the front
it must be remembered that this dis
position was made with full agreement
of the British Headquarters.
More Room to Manmuvre
"Questions such as the bases of sup
ply and communication have to be taken
into account in the employment of
troops Until fresh reserves of the
Germans have been engaged somewhere
the situation must continue anxious.
"The attack during the last week has
not been so serious as other attacks at
other points in the Allied line, because
we have more room for maneuvre and
can better afford to fall back. Another
thing that must always be considered
is that the Germans are rapidly using
up their electives. Thus far they have
employed probably forty-tive divisions
in the present attack.
"The Germans deserve full credit for
maintaining secrecy Of their plans. The
main masses of men were brought up to
the actual front lines only on the night
before the attack, which was preceded
by only two hours Of bombardment for
the purpose of cutting wire entangle-
ments.
"The Germans are not making the
same use of artillery as heretofore.
They are using trench mortars in large
numbers for wire-cutting.
"ls this the enemy's main attack
He probably did not know when he
initiated it whether it would prove to
be a subsidiary or leading operation.
1t must be remembered that the enemy
has three great geographical objectives
as means toward his great objective of
destroying the Franco British armies
the Channel ports, separation of the
Allied armies by an attack through
Amiens and an attack on Paris
"In the present operations he is
doing all possible to develop his initial
success by attacks both on the centre
and on the fanks of the salient He
has achieved considerable success in
the centre, but on the fanks the French
a re hN divlrr lyolI h. rl,< o
Scissors and the British are similarly
fighting hard on the heights around
Rheims"