The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-07-20

tionO is not synonymous with being victorious, and even prepares defeat if we remain where we are and do not pass to the offensive.
 Hence the moral: Action must be the primordial law of war. Freder- ick said, ''To make war is to attack always" Of all faults, only one IS characterization! So we ought constantly to try to mould events not to submit to them; to organize first of all the attack, to which all other things must be subordinated, for they must be considered only from the point of view of what help they will bring to the offensive.
 To break the will of the enemy; this is the first principle which study teaches us; to break # by an unex- pected blow of supreme vigor is the first deduction from that principle. But it is not necessary to bring to bear on the whole enemy army this supreme blow. His army is a living being with organs; an organism Is group of organs whose health and good condition are necessary to the life of the creature, and whose loss. even the loss of one of them, brings death. To beat an adversary, it is useless "to cut off at once his arms, legs and head and at the same time to make a hole in his chest and pierce his groin" A swordthrust in the heart, or a blow with a club on the head, will give the same result. Just so, to overthrow the wing of an army | the centre, one important part of the whole, will be sufficient to get the de- cision. All this brings us then to the | application of a supreme blow at one point, the principle Napoleon formu- l lated in saying that to be victorious ii is necessary, and sufficient, ito be the stronger against a given point at 8 | given moment"
 The decisive attack is the supreme argument of the modern battle, in the war of nations fighting for their ex istence, their independence, or some interest less noble, fighting in any case with all their means, with al their passions; masses of men ant passions which the attack seeks tC shake and to overthrow.
 To the moneuvre battle character | ized by a supreme effort-the decisive l surprise attack-is often opposed tt the theory of a parallel battle, or bat tie of trenches, in which fighting zoe on everywhere and in which the gen eral-in-chief awaits a favorable cir cumstance or a happy inspiration | which generally does not come, to de eide when and where he will move; If indeed, he does not leave tnTs dut. to his subordinates, who themselve initiate him and put the responsibil ity on their underlings, and so on, un til finally it is the private-soldier who win the battle, battle withou a name. History has often confirm
 ed this procedure;. this kind of bat tie exists; it has been practiced ant has been followed by victory; but i
 is a victory which has depended nor
 on chance than leadership. In al
 lotteries, there are lucky men wh
 win the big prizes; despite which, no
 body would think of recommending
 lotteries as a means of making a for
 tune.
 The feebleness of the parallel battl
 is that the attack develops every
 where with an equal force, leadin
 to a uniform pressure, against a de
 fender who furnishes a resistanc
 equallyl uniform, but superior in eff
 feet because he disposes of specia
 advantages, shelter. artillery protec
 ton, etc, which the assailant doe not enjoy in the same degree. Tn