The Washington herald., 1919-06-01


Enemy Keeling Backward.
The whole West front. from tho
North Sea to Lorraine. had beer
for months reelinE backward under
the blows of the allied armies. Only
along the German frontier. from the
the scene of the American success
at st. MihieI southwark to Switzer.
land. were the old trench lines held
firm and the war of positions main
tanned as from 1914
Behind these long, quiet battle
lines Foch had prepared his finish
ing stroke. as Ludendorff well knew
when he insisted that the armistice
he signed whatever the terms Our
Second army. under Bullard. was in
auzuratIng on the day the war end
ed campaign on a scale as large
as the ArGonne battle. undertaken
with green divisions.
Foch's orders were these: The Sec
ond army was to attack along a
front of thirty-three miles from
Fresnes-en-Woevre where Billiards
left linked up with the right of our
VIGOROUSLY advancing First army
n Port-suT-Seille, A village eight
miles east of Che Moselle.
Metz Guns Considered.
Moving forward four divisions al.
ready in the front line and five in
reserve, Bullard was told to throw
2s"nO0 douShboys against the net
work of tTenchsystems and natural
obstacles defending the plain of the
WOeVre. Then. when these were car
riCd. the Americans were to push
northeast. toward the railway juno
tion at Conflaus and the coal and
IRON fields of Br.ev. keeping out OF
range Of the fortress guns of Metz.
On November IA. the orders of the
EeneraFssimo continued. after the
americans were fully engaged along
their whole front. Gen. Mangin. hero
Of Verdun and a dozen successful at
tacks. was to throw his ten divisions
Of veterans comprising the Tenth
French army against the enemy lines,
continuing the battle for sixty miles
more to the south. from POrt-sur-
SSiIlS to Senones.
Once the Second American and
Tenth French armies were fully on
=sEed. on n front of ninety miles.
other divisions moved from quiet sec
tors were to replace shattered units.
and the main weight of the fighting
IN the west was destined to he trans
forred before the end of November TO
this new southern battle-ground.
Explains French LuII.
Complaints have been heard here
and there that the French armies,
after Gouraud had repulsed the Ger
man blow in Champagne on July "a,
did no serious offensive work. hut
u. .rmrtted the Americans and British
10 do all the attacking. The revela-
ton Of Foch's plan for the finishing
stroke IN the south explains the rea-
son for this
Foch during the last months was
outstanding the flower of is men for
tn. greatest offensive battle France
had attempted since the disastrous
NtyeIIa push in April. 1917. ManGin
was to attack with ten division. pass
ing his men through the six divisions
Of Gen. Gerard's Eighth army. al
ready holding the front Of attack
These six divisions were 20 follow
- reserves behind the ten divisions
Of the Tenth army.
While Billiards. objective was Con-
fl,rs. an advance in uortheasterlN
direction. ManEin was ordered to take
Chateau-Salins. southeast of Metz
NoviuE east towards the Saar and
fnp Eninfs lIt Z lfllNll WIZ W l@oldLF
tine entrenched camp Of Metz from the
south while the Americans cut it of
from the North. and FOCh hoped that
Bullard and Mansiu would completely
en-sllf the fortress. join hands cast
rf II. and compel its surrender with
out suffering the losses inevitable in
? direct attack upon its extremely
powerful defenseS-
FOch Waits Patiently.
The result Of this program. if sue
ceSsful. would have been to compel
the German troops in all AIsace. out
Gauked from the north to leave that
province and retire behind the Rhine
INTO the Black Forest. But the de-
ciSivc featur. Of the Bullard- -Mangir
attack would have been in it's in
fiueace upoa the fate of the whole
retreatins German line in France and
Belgium.
FOch. as always, waited patiently
until his hour was ripe. That in TINS
case he waited so long that the blow
was never struck does not detract
from his genius. but is an additional
tribute: the foe saw what was COM
in.. ran up the white flag. and the
bIoOd of hundreds of thousands OF
Americans and Frenchmen who must
have fallen in the Rhine campaign
was spared.
The moment chosen to strike was
when the Arsonne-Meuse attack had
definitely succeeded, the left of Lig
Cett's First Army fighting for the
crossings at Sedan, the rest of his
men crossing the Meuse 10 the south
while to the west and north of tn,
Americans the French and British
were everywhere advancing. and the
German line had been torn loose from
Us base on the North Sea and was
irving to stand on the Dutch frontier
starting on November IL.
Having given a general idea OF th'
strategic scheme back OF the planne,
Battle Of the Rhine" there remain!
10 describe the American troops en-
gagged: what they were up against
and Row. on November 10 and IL be
fore the whistle of peace blew at 1
o'clock. they commenced to get unde
way for the great attack.
Foch had seen to ii that a concen
tration of men and guns were read,
ON this front enormously superior Il
ANYTHING at the enemy's disposal. Op
nosite our Second Army front. in lin.
and In reserve. the Germans had tn,