Salt Lake Tribune | 1918-10-18 | Page 6 | Rout of the Hun

ROUT OF THE HUN. The 'jermau defense in Flanders has crumbled, Ostend has been evacuated and the Belgians and British are storming storm-ing forward on a thirty -mile front. Lille, Prance, has been taken by General Haig, and the whole salient must be evacuated by the Germans. French troops have taken Ardoye and Lichter-veld, Lichter-veld, while the Americans maintain their pressure on both sides of the Mouse. The extreme right wing of Lu-j Lu-j dendorff's defenses has been wrenched away from him by the loss of the protecting pro-tecting seacoast, and it is now possible to outflank the long Hun line. The Germans are offering desperate resistance resist-ance to the French north of Vouziers and to the Americans on the Meuse, for disaster would follow failure to defend the Ardennes pivot, according to the military critics. The march of the Belgian troops on Ghent and the British attack on the Lys is certain to have a marked influence influ-ence on the retreat of the Huns which has been forced by the allied advance in Flanders. General Ludendorff must make haste in order to reach a line in the rear, where he can defend the German Ger-man frontier, and a retreat on a wide front is perilous while Field Marshal Foch is pressing his assaults upon the retiring foe. It is said the Germans were surprised by the launching of the Flanders offensive only to the extent ex-tent that the movement was more rapid than they expected. The fierce onslaught on-slaught of the allied troops forced them to hurry their retreat, and it is possible possi-ble some of the kaiser's divisions will be compelled to cross the border into Holland in order to avoid capture. During Dur-ing the Franco-Prussian war a whole French army was compelled to seek refuge in Switzerland under pressure of the Germans, where it was interned until un-til the close of the war. Holland, being short of food for her own nationals, will find it very difficult to feed the German soldiers if they cross the border bor-der in order to escape the Belgians and British. It must give King Albert "and his heroic soldiers keen satisfaction to assist as-sist in driving the Hun invaders out of the country they have so ruthlessly pillaged pil-laged and plundered during the last four years, while we can well imagine the joy of the people who have been liberated from the tortures inflicted by their cruel oppressors. As Great Britain Brit-ain entered the war because of the invasion in-vasion of Belgium in violation of a solemn treaty, it is fitting that the British troops should take the lead in restoring the country to its lawful possessors. pos-sessors. The agony of the men, women and children of northern France and t Belgium will soon be over, and it will , be the turn of the Huns to defend their own country from invasion, and even this may be too hard a task for Luden-j Luden-j dorff and the other German generals in the field. Indeed, if the Americans and French break through, tho Gorman , army may bo crumpled up and either i annihilated or forced to su render regardless re-gardless of the wishes of the Berlin J authorities. A few weeks ago we did not think it possible the allies would obtain ob-tain such a decisive victory this fall. I but we bow to the military genius of J the greatest warrior of the age. Field j arshaI Foch, and the men of all nations na-tions engaged in battle against the Germans Ger-mans on the western front.