Evening star., 1918-07-21
BY FRANK II. s1moNDs.

which gave Its name to the most mo-
mentous struggle of the present world
war. After four days Of desperate
but In the main fruitless offensive.
Ludendorff has, temporarily at least,
lost the initiative, and 1t is Foch
who is pursuing the offensive and
harvesting toll of guns and prison,
ers surprising the German achieve
ment in the first days of the attack.
| Under circumstances strangely re-
calling the first battle of the Marne
the decisive phase of this second bat
tie Of the Marne has been fought for
ty-six months and ten days after the
earlier struggle, and on ground with
in cannon range of the fields that
saw the fighting of that other time.
Then, it will be recalled that while
the German masses were pushing
south of the Marine on a wide circle
from Meaux to Francois.
Joffre threw the army of Maunoury
eastward out of Paris upon the right
flank of the Germans. compelled Won
Kluck to abandon his advance south
OF the Marine and recall his masses to
save his imperiled flank on the OurcQ
river.
On Thursday of last week, when the
masses of Ludendorn had forced the
passage Of the Marne between Dor
mans and Chateau Thierry and were
slowly eating their way into the
Rheims salient as four years earlier
| Buelow's army was pressing south
ward about La Fere-Champenois, in
the first days Of September. 1914. Foch
force upon the right flank of all the
German forces actively engaged in
the battle between the Scissors and
| Rheims, and promptly repeated the
carly achievement OF Maunoury at the
Ourcq river.
Charlottesville as Parallel.
! A good American parallel for the
| Foch stroke is to be found in the
manner in which Lee threw Jackson
| upon Hookers right flank after the
| commander of the Army of the Po-
:omac had successfully passed the
Rapidan, and was at Charlottesville
preparing for an attack upon the di-
vided Confederate army. Both in the
case of Maunoury and of Jackson the
sudden thrust failed to destroy the
army attacked. but in both cases it
which seemed on the point of making
! material IL not decisive gains. and in
the case of the Marne compelled a
| general retirement of all the German
armies between Nerdun and Paris.
thus putting the French capital out
Of jeopardy for nearly four years.
Review Of German Drive.
! Returning now to the history of the
development of this. the fifth great
German effort. and the fourth in the
series directed at Paris. it is neces-
sary to trace briefly the progress of
events. The German attack opened
on Monday. July Is, on a wide front
between the Marne river at Chateau
4 Thierry and the westward fringe of
| the Argonne forest at Massiges. The
front Immediately engaged had an ex-
| greater front than that on which the
Germans made their first and most
successful attack in Picardy on March
81 OF the present year.
tack seemed to have the larger pur-
pose Of breaking down all the French
| front between the Argonne and the
4 Marine. forcing the French behind the
Marine and the Ornain rivers, abolish
ing the Rheims salient "a grievous
advance toward Paris), and possibly
in effect to place Verdun in exactly
the same position of peril which it
occupied in the days of the Marne.
| four years earlier.
| Unmistakably in its larger aspects
| German strategy was seeking to re-
produce a full measure Of the condi-
| tions which existed at the moment
l wheu tnc uTSI pdlllc VI INC mar Ihc pS-
gan. The Germans sought to estab-
lish their flank all the way from the
Massiges westward to the Marine, at
Chateau Thierry. behind natural OBJ
stacles and SO protect 1t that it would
be safe from any French menace.
when, at last, Ludendorff was ready
| to make his final thrust upon Paris.
Won Hutier Tactics Failed.
| Rut the larger purposes of the Ger
man strategy were foiled in the very
first days of the battle. Between
Rheims and the Argonne the French
armies under the command Of Cen.
Gouraud. q brilliant colonial officer,
who had achieved distinction at Gal
lipoli, successfully stopped a tre-
mendous German attack on their bat
/ tie positions. For the first time since
the Won Hutier tactics had been en-
ployed on the western front they fail
| cd Immediately and decisively. The
/ French line was not pierced; 1t was
not bent. Gouraud's troops retired.
voluntarily, a certain distance to their
prepared positions, and against those
positions the German storm broke and
failed. At the end of the second day
| the German attack between Rheims
and the Argonne was at standstill.
1t had achieved no greater gains than
heights, relinquished by the French in
4 the first hours of the battle. and a few
positions on the eastern side of the
Rheims salient. important only if the
progress on the west side should men
ace the salient itself.
| Westward Of Rheims and between
| that city and Chateau Thierry on the
Marne the Germans did better. At
| tacking the American forces holding
the south bank of the Marne between
Jaulgonne, the Germans temporarily
forced the passage OF the river and
drove our troops backward, but by
a brilliant counter offensive the
Americans promptly re-established
their lines and drove the Germans
losses and achieving what was, up to
1 that moment, the most brilliant
American success of the present war,
Huns Cross the Marne.
Unfortunately. the French to the
eastward, between Jaulgonne and
Dormans. Jared less well. Here, ON q
\ front of some twelve miles, the Ger
mans successfully passed the Marine,
mounted the hills on the southern
side Of the valley and temporarily es-
tablished themselves as securely az
had the Austrians at Mentello, in the
| opening phase Of the battle Of the
Piave. Having done this the Ger
mans turned their attention eastward
and. advancing up the Marne on
either bank Of the river, struck bold
ly and heavily for Epernay. with the
obvious purpose of enveloping the
French troops In the Rheims salient
and. aboltshing this obstacle to their
later attack upon Paris.
BY Wednesday night the position
of the French and their few italian
| comrades in the Rheims salient had
become difficult Il not desperate. On
| either bank of the Marine the Ger
| mans were not more than eight miles
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