New-York tribune., 1918-06-13
Boche "Mustard Shells"

The first and the obvious thing to be
said about the statement Of General Won
Stein, the Prussian War Minister, in
which he declares that great part of
the French army has been beaten and
that tho so-callcd Foch reserve army no
longer exists, is that it is untrue and
demonstraby untrue. The second OBJ
servation must be that the German is
forced to make false statements official
ly and publicly to cover conditions and
facts which have disturbed his own pub
lie and are inconveniencing him at the
present moment.
To deal first with the statement that
great part of the French army has been
destroyed: In the March offensive no
part of the French army was involved at
the moment of the attack, which fell
upon fourteen British divisions, and
these were overwhelmed. In succeeding
days a certain number of French di-
visions came up, and soon after their
arrival the Picardy front was stabilized
Terrific German attacks between Mont
ddier and Amiens in the closing phase
of this operation resulted in heavy Ger
man losses, with no gain of ground, and
the French losses by comparison were
small. Obviously, then, no large part
or any part of the French army was de-
feated or even seriously engaged in the
Battle of Picardy.
In the subsequent battle in Flanders
the British again suffered a local de-
feat and sanguinary losses lasting over
two weeks. Toward the close of this
battle a certain number of French re-
serves arrived, were engaged in the
fighting about KENNEL, suffered severe
losses in the case of one or two d.
visions, but in the aggregate no great
losses. Nor were any large number of
French reserves involved. II is untrue,
then, that any considerable part of the
French army was defeated in Flanders,
and apart from the local loss of KENNEL
there was no reverse of any sort, the
German advance being pulled down
promptly
Turning to the case of the Battle of
the Aisne, the situation is different On
the front attacked four French and
three British divisions were involved.
The three British divisions suffered con-
siderably. The four French divisions
were practically destroyed. And this was
the heaviest loss to the French at any
time in the three offensives. Following
the German crossing of the Aisnc a GER
tain number of French divisions were
sent to the front between Chateau
Thierry and Scissors, and the line stabil-
lied itsaif: the fighting was not particu.
larly severe; American troops ir part
bore the burden with the Frcnch, and
aside from the four divisions overwhelmed
at the outset no great part"-no part
of the French army was defeated.
There remains to discuss the present
operation now going forward on the
west bank of the Disc, in which the Ger
mans claim so far to have taken 10000
prisoners. But facts and figures as to
this offensive would not be available for
the Prussian War Minister'S speech.
His reference must have plainly been
to the three previous operations. How
ever, it is clear that in this latest OPERA
tion there has been no great French de-
feat and no large destruction of French
divisions.
Now we have, on semi-official German
authOrity, the statement that prior to
the opening of the present campaign
y
Foch had available some fifty divisions
OF French reserves, which may be fig
ured at anything from six to seven hun
dred thousand men, and these in addi-
ton to something like an equal number
OF divisions on the line. Of one hun
dred French divisions, fifty of them placed
IN reserve by the Germans, only four
have been actually defeated, in the
sense OF being eliminated as organiza-
tons. 10 assert that the French army
mas been in great part defeated is there
lore to resort to a palpable falsehood de-
signed to encourage the German people
and discourage the Allied public wher
ever it obtains credence
AS to the second assertion that Foch,s
army OF reserve has ceased to exist. this
IS again unlikely. Foch has put GER
tam number of divisions from his re-
serve IN on the Somme, in Flanders and
IN champagne, to meet German thrusts.
but ne has put lesser number in than
the Germans on each occasion, and he
mas been unquestionably able to with
draw many of them when the line had
stabilized itself. In the mean time his
reserve divisions have been fed by not
less than quarter of million of Amer
lean troops, replacing wastage, and this
IN addition to another hundred thousand
at the least which are operating as in
dividual units at Cantigny, Chateau
Thierry, about Toul and northeast of