Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-10-27
BY FRANK H. SIMONDS.
Auther-of 1.-The World War;" They Shall
Not Pass

Copyright. 1918, New York Tribune, Incl
VX YHATEvER be the future
M course Of events it is no
" " longer. to be doubted that
the contest which ended in
the breaking of the Hindenburg line was
the decisive battle of the world war.
The consequences of this battle are
yet only partially realized. the ex-
tent of the German retirement is
still to be disclosed, but the magni-
tude of the triumph is patent, and
it has been promptly followed by a
German proposal for an armistice.
which confesses the loss Of the war,
although it does not yet foreshadow
unconditional surrender.
We have, then, to review one of the
few enduring, military triumphs of
human history. battle whose conse-
quences are already as great as that
other Battle of the Nations" the
| contest at Leipsic, which settled the
| fate of the Napoleonic empire. Ger
many's dream of world power was
as certainly terminated in northern
France as was that of the great
French emperor more than a century
ago in Saxony.
This battle, for which, perhaps. the
name of the Hindenburg line, the
geographical objective which was
attained and passed, supplies the
twice as extensive as that of the
| first Marine. hitherto the greatest in
history; it was fought by not less
| than 100000 men: it was imme-
diately followed by the evacuation OF
more than 1900 square miles OF
nd al
| retreat as unmistakable and perhaps
to prove as extended as that of Ma
poleon after Leipsic.
Kaiser's Problem Like Napoleon's.
In this battle, in the larger sense,
| there was no geographic objective.
The immediate obstacle before Foch
was the Hindenburg line, which had
to be broken; but the ultimate OBJ
man army. which is not yet routed
when these lines are written, but has
been beaten Enthusiastically, and beaten
in such fashion that the fact of allied
triumph is no longer denied in Berlin.
Napoleon's problem after Leipzig Is
battle of the Hindenburg line; it is
the problem of preventing the inva-
sion of the homeland and the over
turn of the dynasty. Napoleon failed
TO SOlVe MS problem ana was driven
to abdication and exile: the task be-
fore William II is not lighter.
The battle of the Hindenburg line
opened on September 26. On that date
the Germans between the sea and the
Mouse were substantially on the
ground which they had occupied at
the beginning of their offensive on
March 21. Only west and north of Lille
| and south of Laon did they hold any
| valuable ground which had not been
in their hands in the spring, while
only, east Of Cambria had they lost
any important positions, likewise in
their hands in March.
On all this front of nearly 200 miles
the Germans stood behind system of
defense which had been elaborated
more than two and in some places
more than four years. They possessed
all the points of vantage, and from
Arras to scissors they had before
them that desert created by the ia
nous Hindenburg retreat of 1917
! which challenged the best efforts OF
allied engineers to construct lines of
communication for their advancing
armies. Behind the Germans was an
undevastated country with lines of
communication developed during four
years of occupation.