Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-09-13
No Wonder Germany Quit
BY MAJOR FRANK G. MAHIN
OF the Army Recruiting Station

During the last few months of the
war the Allied reserves were built
up rapidly, due to the constant
shortening of the lines as the Ger
mans were driven back. The re-
suit was that in addition to the
great offensiveS already going on
from Verdun to the sea, General
Foch was planning two further great
offensives which would have result
ed in the fall of Metz. The first
was the attack of the End American
Army on tie front between the
rivers Meuse and Moselle. 1t was
in this region that for four years
the st. Mihiel salient had thrust
it's nose deep into the French lines
and which the 1st American Army
pinched off in September. On Mo-
vember IL the newly-formed End
Army was to drive in towards Metz,
taking the fortress of Longwy and
the invaluable Bricy iron fields. The
1st Army was to continue its drive
towards the Dutch border to the
west of Metz, thus enveloping that
great fortress on two sides with
American troops. OF course, the
armistice stopped the attack of the
End Army. The other great attack
was to take place on November IA
and was to be made mainly by the
French with a few American diVi-
sions helping out. This attack was
to be made through the Vosges
Mountains in an area where there
had never been a major offensive
during the entire war. From st.
Die-where there had been great
activity in 1914 and 1915-up over
the high Vosges, down across the
fpv 10 hnr6
where the original French drive of
August, 1914, was made and repulsed,
was to be the field for a really great
drive. At two or three points in
the Vosges there had been great
local activity at different times, at
the Tote de Faux, Reichakerkopf,
and Hartmannsweilerkopf partic-
ularly, but over most of that front
it was generally believed that a
major offensive was impractical.
However, the average person did not
have the vision of Marschalls Foch
and Petain. They had thirty
French divisions available for this
attack which was to be a complete
surprise. For two months guns and
troops were moving towards the
Vosges, relieving Americans who
were sent to the vicinity of Verdun
for the Meuse-Argonne and the
projected Meuse- -Moselle offensives.
OF course, the Boche knew the
French were planning an attack and
naturally assumed that it was to
come in on the east side of Metz,
thus practically completing the in
vestment of that place. But that is
where the Boche were wrong. Some
few troops would make a feint to-
wards Metz, but the main attack
was to be straight towards the Rhine
and across it.
DO you realize that along part OF
the Vosges front the Rhine was only
Is miles away and in plain sight
from the mountain tops. Eighteen
miles to so, then throw bridges over
the river and push across even II
only for two or three miles. Think
of the effect, the wild excitement
the panic it would cause in Germany
to suddenly wake up one fine morn
ing to find that the Allies had
crossed the Rhine, to find that the
Watch on the Rhine was a thing OF
the past, Germany itself had been
! invaded. Then what would happen
All the Boche reserves were used
up, so they must swing troops from
in front of the Americans to stop the
French, and due to the mountains
If their lines in front of the Ameri-
cans weakened, the ID Yanks
would come pouring through in
stead of fighting through. If they
weakened the line farther west in
front of the British and Belgians
they would come through to the
Rhine down there. They were be-
| tween the devile and the deep blue
sea. With the Americans attacking
in the vicinity of Sedan, about tc
start an attack between the Meuse
and Moselle rivers, and a French at
tack coming in on the east of Metz
there was only one thing to do from
a military point of view and that was
evacuate Metz, all of Belgium and
Luxembourg, and perhaps all of Ger
many south of the Rhine. If they
tried that they would lose hundred:
of thousands of men and thousand:
of guns and would be fighting or
their own soil. Metz was ordered
evacuated days before the armisticC
came, in preparation for this retire
ment IL the armistice was delayed
but fortunately they had had enough
and signed up without our having t
lose another million or so men,