The Wilmington morning star., 1940-05-28
WAR INTERPRETIVE
CONTINUED from Page One)

less than 20 miles width, closing Of
which in either case would be a
grave menace to the foe.
The Peronne-Bapaume gap
through which the Germans
crashed their way to the Channel
is a critical matter for Germany.
Berlin's claim that only 10 miles
separate the jaws of Nazi pincers
seeking to bite off Lille and the
French forces in the Valenciennes-
Cambria pocket is hardly less seri-
Gus for the Allies.
The whole G German Channel
thrust still depends on keeping
open a 20-mile supply gap between
French defensive front on the
Somme and an indefinite p o t
north of Bapaume on the Arras-
Bapaume highway. With that link
broken, communications of the
German units west of the Arras-
Bapaume-Peronne highway would
be severed.
To avert that, Nazi s%trategists
are striking heavily westward
against the British-Belgian army
junction between Lille and Cour-
trai. They are also endeavoring
to smash northWard from Vimy
Ridge, northwest of Arras and in
the Ems region.
If, in making their thrust toward
Menin and Ypres, the Germans
could gain a sufficient foothold west
of the Lys river, they could turn
southwark, hoping to effect a juno
ton west of Lille and it's heavy
Notifications. To guard against
that possibility, retirement of the
French forces on the Scheldt river
front at the depth of the Cambria.
Valenciennes pocket was ordered.
The exact location of the new Al.
lied line is not clear. Probably il
runs from a point south of Arras,
passes through Douai or Lens, in
cludes Lille and joins up with the
Beigian-British forces holding the
Menin sector. If that is the line,
Cambria has been abandoned tc
the Germans and the Allied chan.
ces of closing the Peronne-Ba.
paume gap to trap the Germans
west of that line have been greatly
reduced.
Lille is of vital consequence to
the Allies. Its strong Notifications
face north and east, set there, just
within the Franco-Belgian border,
to guard against a German on.
slaught through B elgium into
France. The obvious strategy OF
the twin German drives, in the
north toward Ypres, and in the
south up from the Lens-Bethune
region, is to take Lille in the rear
and avoid it's northern and eastern
approaches, which are studded
with tank traps. That would pinch
off the main French army in Elan
ders.
The very meagerness of word
from Paris and London as to the
real situation shows that the posi-
ton of the Allied forces in Fland-
ers is growing hourly worse, not
better.
Generalissimo Weygand's chance
to nip off the whole German Chan
mel lunge at the Peronne-Bapaume
gap seems slipping from his grasp.
Yet the whole strength of a e
ganized French army, purged of
high command misfits, stands
south of the Somme-Aisne in
with no hint yet of a major effort
to smash its way north across that
small gap.
Instead come reports that
French Maginot line forts far east
ward, on the Swiss frontier have
been roaring in bombardment of
German rail and road functions.
France has flooded part of her
Rhine defenses, presumably in Or
der to muster more troops from
that section for the active Sonlme-
Aisne front.
That raises a question as to
whether Weygand may not be pre-
pairing for a far greater counter
attack than the seemingly critical
Peronne-Bapaume gap move. He
may be massing French reserves
under shelter of the Maginot line,
perhaps for a thrust down e
Meuse valley to retake Sedan and
Meziers and strike northward along
that river into Belgium in the rear
of the whole German push.