The Seattle star. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1899-1947, 1919-09-19

French forces had brilliant Snare
In this work Of bombing and -
helped hold up the driveJ
SITUATION NOT
FAVORABLE
II was as yet too early 20 give =
final opinion on the strategical situAe
ton; In itself 1t was by no means
favorable How G. III. q. was to deal
with IL later on could not yet be do
termined. as we were still In tho
first stages Of the operations.
The Avre bridge head Ia narrow
hold the Germans had ON the south
bank Of the Avre southeast Of
Amiens. The French afterwards adj
ministered a sharp defeat on tho
troops exposed here with the river
at their backs was a special diff
Guilty in the tactical sense. The adj
visibility OF giving IL up was dis
cussei. But as this would have
shown the enemy that we had given
up any further attack on Amiens,
we kept IT,
The new front had now TO be forth
fled. Some OF the played-out divi-
stems were relieved by fresh ones
from quiet fronts. the less tired ones
were left in the line. Everywhere
the greatest attention and care was
bestowed on completing tho COM
lmunications in rear. For the main
operations 1t was. however. Of the
highest importance to take back
troops that were no longer required
In the new line for rest. training an4
improving their discipline. We had
TO collect reserves for further opers
atoms and TO repel possible counter
attacks. which could. however. for
tho present. be only Of local char
acter.
Tho troops Of the Second ar1uY
werc particularly handicapped ~.
having stuck fast In the western cdgo
Of the Somme field They could NJ
rcal rest only 10 the east Of our staft-
ing lima altho in the country thel
had traversed numerous English hut
camps had fallen into our hands un.
damaged CHE region Of which no
complains was that devastated BY
him in the great German retreat oe
1919
AOMhb = ubo bOSS
WAS HEAVY
Our losses were not inconsiderahle:
We had been fighting with large num-
bers for long time. The percentages
in the 18th army was too high: the
losses in officers had been heavy
turnout But. besides rich booty, No
had taken some $1,000 unwounded
fyyvrtU ~
enys battle casualties had been
heavy. We could expect to get back
many OF the slightly wounded with
in reasonable time. We had been
ATTACKING and had come off well,
even in the matter OF casualties.
The arrangements for dealing with
the wounded had not sufficed at all
points. altho they had been carefully
examined by the director OF medical
service before the battle. Tho
numerous slightly wounded made
things more difficult by the stupid
and displeasing way In which they
hurried TO the rear.
The battle cost me a great deal
also. My wife's youngest son fell on
the 23rd. He was a flying officer.
and was at first reported missing.
On the battlefield we found a grave
with the English inscription: Here
rest two German flying officers" I
had the sad task of Identifying my
SON Now he rests In German soil.
The war has spared me nothing.
My journey to the battlefield had
taken me thru the two trench sys-
TENS in which the opponents had
faced each other for no long. Tho
impression II made was great: a strip,
many miles in width. bleak and dew
astated, stretches thru France. the
mark OF the war conjured up by the
entente.
published by special arrangement with
the Mcclure Newspaper syndicate. Copy
righted. 1919. by Harper and Brothera
All rights reserved. Copyrighted in
Great Britain by Hutchinson and Com
pany and tho London Times. in Spain by
Messrs, SEEK and BARREL. In Italy by Fra
tell Treves In Canada and Australia All
rights reserved for France. Belgium. Hoi-
land, Russia and the Scandinavian
countries)
In the next article Gen. Ladendorff
/