Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1918-08-02


a strong force of English and Scots
troops down from the north, and they
quietly slipped around south of the
Marine toward Reims. At the ap-
pointed time these seasoned fighters
hit the German lines southwest of the
cathedral city a mighty blow. In the
succeeding days, acting as the east
arm of the pincers, they pushed for
ward into the salient from the Noun
tain of Reims toward Ville-en-Tarde-
n0is and Fismes. Their progress was
slower than that Of the Franco-Ameri-
cans on the west, for the country IN
which they were fighting was much
more difficult. East of Reims the
French and Italian held their W
and even made some advance, though
the plan did not call for a drive by
them.
When Foch's offensive was a week
old it appeared probable that Luden-
dorff would attempt to make at least
a temporary stand on the half-circle
running from scissors through the
outskirts of Oulchy, below Fere-en-
Tardenois and cross toward the
Mountain of Reims. Competent OBJ
servers believed his troops were too
disorganized to hold this line for long,
and that he would be forced to fall
back to the Vesle river, which runs al
most due west from Reims, Joining
the Aisne near scissors.
The main efforts of General O
Boehm, the immediate commander OF
the Germans in the salient, were d.
rected to keeping open the roads OF
retreat. He was given the assistance
not only of most of the crown princes
| reserves, but also of nine divisions
from the army of Crown Prince Ru-
precht of Bavaria. Already he was
having great difficulty in feeding the
men he had there, and the additions
| did little but stiffen his resistance and
add to his commissary troubles.
At the time Of writing. the full scope
of General Foch's plans is not re-
vealed. He has the initiative, and may
elect to continue the offensive with
all his strength In the effort to drive
the Huns beyond the Aisne and as
much farther as they can be forced;
or he may find 1t prudent to hold them
at the Vesle and await the arrival OF
more Americans. 1t is a noteworthy
fact that 70 per cent Of the allied
troops engaged in the present battle
are French. A considerable portion
of the remainder are British and Ital-
ians. If so much can be done with so
comparatively small a force Of Ameri-
cans taking part, ask observers, what
will happen to the Huns when a MIL
lion Americans are In the fighting line
and another million at least waiting
their TURF for action? And this state
of affairs will be reached by October,
it is predicted.
Paris and London are loud IN their
praise of the quality and behavior of
the Americans in the Aisne-Marne bat
tie, and the newspapers there relate
many instances Of their bravery, o o
| ness and determination. They are ad-
mittedly as fine troops as ever were
seen, and even the least experienced
of them nave no idea of anything but
winning every fight they go into.i
Their craftsmanship, both with the
rifle and with larger weapons, is re
markable; their doggedness is tenn
pered with an unquenchable humor,
and their stamina is such that at times
bodies of them fought for many hours
xpf4hAy,k pnAd or drink 6nNtintn0 m
halt their advance TO let the commits
sary catch up with them. These
splendid troops, with their gallant and
| competent officers, have done their full
part in stopping the German ~offensivel
and converting it into an allied often
sive, and If they are now called on to
stop and await the arrival of more of
their countrymen, America should rest
satisfied, patient and proud. The
American casualty lists will be longer
and longer each day for a time, but
the bereaved ones may well take ex-
ample by the proud, unweeping grief
with which Colonel Roosevelt received
the news Of the death of his gallant
son, Quentin
In Flanders the British carried out
an important operation that resulted
in the capture of Meteren. They have
been devoting themselves to preparing
for the new offensive which, according
to the logic of the situation, Luden-
dorf must undertake and which, ac-
cording to military experts, probably
will be directed against some part OF
the line held by the British. Such an
Offensive would be largely 80 influence
public opinion in Germany and direct