OCR Text |
Show II uu I WHAT MAY HAPPEN . IN FRANCE. I Of necessity the German offensive is slowing down as the forces of Hin-denburg Hin-denburg get away from their base of supply and the military roads which I served them on the opening days of I the battle. The infantry has advanced beyond the .effective support of the 1 large guns and must wait for the brina ing up of the heavy artillery. 1 Now is the time for the allies to counter attack, if they have the forces" to throw into the conflict, and, yesterday, yes-terday, we were informed that they hae the men, as the reserves so far had not been employed. Accepting that as true, the outlook is not as dark i as it has been. II i General Haig is said to be making a I I Fabian fight, pf striking and retiring, avoiding a decisive engagement, while i i harassing and punishing the enemy. ; But there must come a time when the l British must make a stand and strike back. That time must be at hand. t TheTe is a possibility of the French U falling upon the German left from j Noyon to LaFere, and of the British at-tacking at-tacking south of Arras. Once a move- ! ) ment of that kind is well underway i j ' and pushed with unrelenting fury, the J J Germans will be forced to do the wot- I ' rying. ', The salient the Germans have al '. ready established Is a weakness, which may bring them disaster. What the allies should attempt is to break through with their "pincers' to tho heavy artillery positions of Hin-denburg, Hin-denburg, and, with storming troops, be prepared to make heavy sacrifices to capture the guns. It would be a desperato drive, hut, if successful, might bring an overwhelming victory. One feature though which makes a flanking movement difficult is the great width of tho base of the salient, which, starting with a fifty-mile front, narrows down to a point at Nesle, to the southwest of Peronne, The Germans, on the other hand, are seeking to carry out a double flanking movement They aim to turn to the north and outflank the British south of Roye, and to move south at Noyon and turn the French left Meeting Meet-ing with success, they would separate the British and French armies and cause a complete upsetting of tho campaign cam-paign of the allies. They might drive the British into the northwest corner of France and hem the French into the eastern part of France. Then there would come grief for Americans. Our troops might be so hard pressed as to be driven to retreat and finally fall back fighting to the southern part of France, and, in case of a debacle, be saved by being transported from Marseilles Mar-seilles to Algiers as a temporary place of refuge. That would be the end of the war on land. oo |