OCR Text |
Show , in mm. P LEASES STAFF Washington Officials Hail Push by French and Americans. Southern End of Hinden-! burg Line Attacked in j Great Force. By MATTHEW F. TIGHE, Staff Correspondent Uuiversal Service. WASHINGTON, Sept. 8. The news of krtr.est a ixl mast si.cnli icant intervjit to rt? army staff hero is that which re 1 veals that thew U a forward movement! ct Frwich Aiui Aniorlojin?, evidently In f-f foi w, t own r J the sou l h e ni e ml of v Hlriilejibursi'linc This offensive do-vetopeJ do-vetopeJ in a single ni.ht and at a place between Conde and Kheims, where U was supposfd fr tho r;lJ?t ,en d.-tys the Cior-nuns Cior-nuns were already prepared to faJi back ou the HUidenburs: line. tt is now apivrent that, when the French ard Americans dnn'c the UtrniHiis over the .Mauw rear normans and ls.sy In July, heavy German forces remained until yesterday, when they were attacked, by the French and the America ns, ln-eidejitally. ln-eidejitally. It is also apparent that Gen-", eral Fershini? lias distributed his agfire-' pate forces all alons; the line, either in the front ranks alone, or fthtin stioul-rier stioul-rier to shoulder with the French and Knjrh'sh. instead of concentrating them, as a'Wfced in certain news dispatches from Washington, for aji all-American drive at soma new point. Americans Initiate. Array officers pointed out today that tbere was only one new point, and that JVrshins: not only haj a substantial force inere, but rushed up reinforcements from rear at hand to the assistance of the French and Americans, who be ran the thrust between Cunde and Rhetnip. It is ai" ays Lhe Americans now, sav the officers of-ficers here, with pardonable pride, when a re- thing is to be done. There is. of course, the understand ins: that the new offensive was ordered by General Foch to :v.k up that part of the Pershing and French armies in the Kheims sector with the advancing aJlies. and Americans who are heading for the Hindenburg line, with the ultimate view of concentrating- at Sl Quentin, Scheme Outlined. The scheme of the general battle now is; as seen here: 1. The just developed assault on the Gerrcan army holding the- Rheims section sec-tion of the Hinden burg line.. 2. The American and French advance over the Aisne towards Laon. The French and British. whose wires have joined, pushing on toward La Fere. 4. The British aid Canadians forging ahead against Cam bra i and IXmai. hav-ir.g hav-ir.g crossed tr Somme, and, in part, the Ca"V du Nord. if The extreme northern activities f British ar.d Americans In the old Vires sector. The main objective of the whole move-ncnt move-ncnt is the breaki-g of the strongest and .-kai part of the liindenburg- line at i?L jiuenun. Xre After Lille. 'e fall of Lille is the immediate objective ob-jective of the movement of the British operating south of Cambrai and north of that city in the Ypres sector. The continued con-tinued advance of the British and Americans Amer-icans menacing Liile may make it untenable un-tenable by that plan alone, but staff officers say its capture will be inevitable if the Hindenburg line is broken at St. Quentin. General Foch is usinsr both plans. That Is. the British are being sent forward, via Douai and Cambrai, and at the same time the British are moving southeast to connect with the French and Americans Ameri-cans pushing on via La Fere to take St. Quentin on the flank. The satisfactory progress of the allies al-lies and the Americans north of the Rheims sector appears to have been the incentive for the activity now reported from that part of the battle line. Aside from that, however, it was strategically necessary, in view of the imminent massing- of the Aisne by the American forces. 1o remove the menace of that part of the German army which lies to their right. Strengthens Salient. In other words, the salient driven in across the ilame might be vulnerable without the support that is now being prepared for it by tb attack between Conde and Rheims. The situation presented pre-sented by the continued advance of the Americans toward Laon makes it imperative, imper-ative, say staff officers, that the offensive offen-sive northwest and southeast of Rheims must continue to be developed with hard uphill fighting from now on. The immediate operation which will hold the stage for the next ten days is the master stroke of General Foch in having three great armies converging on St. Quentin. Its fall will paralyze the transportation system of the Germans and mav force not only a retreat but a Irout, because if the Germans stand at St. Quentin and fight to retain it, when they lose, the allies should be in a position posi-tion to follow the retreat Incessantly. |