Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-07-26
DY FOR Big
|NDERS BATTLE
and Rupprecht on
Verge of Open
's3s Conflict
INES HEAVILY SHELLED
|otfuctive and Harassing
Fire on Both Sides Indi.
Gates Early Clash
INES HEAVILY SHELLED
BY PHILIP GIBBS

~ IUCt0t C0Ote 10 CCeNtHg FuOttC Leugef
1. copyrioht. 1918. By Ne,o York Times Co.
sWnr Correspondents Headquarters,
July 26.
what will be done with Prince Rup.
Itecht's group of armies opposite the
main British front from Flanders to
he Eomme remains the chief prob
I'm In this present stage of the war.
Those armies are still mighty strong
n reserves, fit for immediate fighting,
and / have but little doubt that. If
4 thingp had gone we'll with the Ger
man Crown Prince, we should already
have felt their weight in another
series OF battles against the British
Now the general situation Of the
Z enemy's offensive power on the west
arm front has been entirely changed
" Foch's counter offensive and the
utter disaster it caused to the Ger
man plans. The Crown Princes group
of Armies are almost out of business,
- far as offensive action counts. Most
of their fresh divisions have been
used up. their losses in men and guns
have been very heavy, and the best
they can hope to do for some time
s - to establish themselves on new
line Of defense and prevent the fur
ther pinching out of their salient by
desperate resistance on the wings.
That IL the very best they can hope
for, and even that may not be fulfilled
Il Foc.l can still be kept moving and
striking.
Doubt Rupprecht Will Attack
Prince Rupprecht, therefore, is
fAced with the task of playing lone
hand unrelated to a larger strategy
X he Is ordered to attack on the Brit
tsh front, and it is at least doubtful
to my mind whether the German high
0ommand will give him that response
billty while their position is in f1uX
down south. But that is simply a
natter of the psychology of the Ger
man leaders and one can have no GER
tatnty of what VIII happen from day
70 day. All depends upon the supreme
QoA3D80n- of the French "generalissimo,
who has proved now that his genius
- strategy Is patient as well as bold,
md that he will bide his time until
~ right moment comes.
4 20 here we have two great forces,
~ one side under Prince Rupprecht
81 Bavaria, and on the other under
~ Douglas Haig, watching each other
c5esely and waiting upon events else
NAere which will decide their own &C.
tecoas 1t Is a historical situation of
q1ormous and terrible interest, be-
0pse 1t Is the turning point of the
Wr. and the issue of it will be a
{fpat decision of the war, whatever
mays happen afterward and however
long the last phase may be-, ..
German Gunners Active
Meanwhile there is much harassing
ma destructive fire from the artillery
On both sides. The German gunners
m shooting with most violence in the
Scherpenberg area up in Flanders and
on the British side Of the Lys in the
Bethune area and southwark They
nave also been pouring gas shells, as
many as 1000 rounds in one day, into
and its neighborhood.
The country around Hebuterne, where
!, spent a day or two ago to see the
New zealanders at work, is another
piece of activity" and the enemy has
pIerced all this ground of old trenches
ana dead woods and winding tracks
Cs1OuBn neidS Knee-high in Towering
WoedB with innumerable shell craters,
hat there he is getting the worst of il
81 AL times, as 1 saw for myself when
watched the bombardment Of the
ofppud beyond Rossignol Wood, and the
New Zealanders have moved their line
3Aythsr Forward under cover Of this
intense fire
1hA German troops in line are suf-
8ogint heavy casualties every day. and
~ p0ces ike Ancre and Aveluy Wood.
near. Albert, where they are in low
2reuhd under the constant harassing
~ the British guns, their conditions of
~ are truly frightful Prisoners taken
xrem that part of the line bemoan the
tetrorB they suffered.
The place they most dread sis Aveluy
0nusewAy, which they have to cross on
3 their way to the line night after night.
our shells have killed many of them
- this passage OF the stream and the
GFpund about is. strewn with dead horses
and the wreckage of transport wagons
4n4 held kitchens. Now, when the re.
&efs 20 up they cross Aveluy cause
NY ut the double. and, as they have
abaadoned. the attempt to get their
transport and field kitchens as far as
thfe the men In the front line and out
I9ots have no food except what they
dorsye with them and no hot drink OF
1iGhtl So they are miserable and
A6pirtted men.