The Battle That Won the War.Foch's Victory
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The Battle That Won the War.Foch's Victory rival, succeeded, not in .-lopping either were avenged; in three days the British Bul Foch was now donc for the mo¬ ment both with (¡orinan centre and A the French or the Americans, but i". drove straight through the twelve, miles the Battle Whose Consequences Are left. to the Lille, The Result Was the Most Wonderful slowing down their advanci. The of the line on the front Turning right..about pur¬ Hindenburg to which front he had hurried De- as pose of the operation had, however, where it was strongest, and pushed out Already Great as goutte'a French army, last heard of Climax of Any MiKtary been already achieved by the strain into the open country beyond. By Octo¬ south of the Marne in duly, he again at made upon (¡crinan reserves. ber 12 they were in Le Gateau, St. pushed his wing forward, broke Leipsic «Meantime the Belgians and British Quentin had fallen, the fall of Cam¬ through all the German lines of defence Campaign and onward to I he in the had been ever mure successful. Kmcrg- brai was assurer?, the old battlefield of swept, Lys fruin southeast, to Roulcrs and Thiclt, in the in;;' Ypres and the old Yser front, First Cambrai, where Smith-Dorrien's and 1918, New York Tribune Inc. By FRANK H. SIMONDS half of Sir John French's north, to Bruges and Ostend in tho Copyright, they had taken Dixmude, the Forest of expedition¬ northwest. A swift of German Author of 'The World War," "They Shall Not Pass" was almost had collapse Houthulst and all the ground won in ary army destroyed, resistance followed. October 16 the been crossed the victorious British. By the offensive last year and lust this by Germans were gone from the. coast, The line was a memory. reserves, and three great spring. had crossed the Pass- Hindenburg Lille, Roubaix and Tourcoing were draft upon Ludendorff's successes. Second Marne H ATEVER be the future dors in They be a on the Third Somme and 1917. riicir problem was This fact, too, should emphasized, evacuated, the Germans were retiring ! not impossibly led to weakening the Battle of the Hin course of events, it is no chendaelc Ridge and broken out upon the the British thrust was the final thrust to make the Allied advance so slow and behind the Scheldt from Ghent south¬ decisive front. denburg Line, must^bc memorable for longer to be doubted that Flanders plain, swiftly advancing low- of the whole battle. In the decisive all later generations of W so costly that it would achieve no ma¬ ward. On the other side of the Lille are soldiers wh< all decep¬ the contest which ended in ard on battle of the World War Foch had But, of course, parallels study the method or of Roulers the north and toward salient Douai had fallen and by the a freemen who »n- terial results before, bad weather ended as tive, and we are now dealing with the breaking of the line Mcnin on the A was called upon Haig's armies, Napoleon end of the week were joy the benefits. Hindenburg southeast. wedge Home's troops ap¬ on two bundic«l miles of front, the campaign and gave their diplomacy was accustomed to call upon his Old struggle was the decisive battle of the World thus driven between the German armic.i proaching Valenciennes from north of where covered less than ten. Such, then, was the Battle of War. The battle the opportunity, using the dcad- Guard, and the British had made the the Gettysburg the consequences of this military on the coast and about Lille. Lille it¬ Sensée Canal, while Byng's army Nor is it, true to of only Hindenburg Line, as I see it, the as response .of .the Old Guard. For. the wholly speak Leipsic are realized, the ex¬ lock the basis for argument, to seek .was thrusting toward it from the south. of the German imitator?, of yet only partially self was threatened with was Third Battle three thrusts; there were three major Napoleonic a envelopment British this battle the tent of the retirement is still negotiated peace based upon the idea were also a series ambitions as well as of German and, as the cent the of Cambrai, á detail in the vast battle blows, but there long Napoleonic that no proved, German I_.ï ow the oí The strategy. But even thii to be disclosed, but the magnitude of military decision was possible. of but it was for the world the Long Night of minor thrusts by other armies. grandiose cam¬ hold upon the Belgian coast, was broken. Foch, -¦- *- vas but one the is and it has been In this contest the Germans were out¬ decisive stroke in the of the Slavery Ended whole thing was not a scries of detached paign phase of the Loch triumph patent, Once more a new strain was winning }lc set out to numbered put upon war. movement.-, but one perfectly coordinated strategy. drive the Ger¬ promptly followed by a German proposal and outgunned, but not in Thus in three week's Foch had upset mans German man power. Although he must by nearly a dozen armies, each out of France, to rout th-»m if he for an armistice which confesses the any overwhelming degree. had The consequences of the British the equilibrium of the whole (¡crinan operation They have thorn than the combined forces could, to win the decisive battle in any recognized that he could not per- success were enormous. front from the sea to the Menso. He had of larger loss of the war, although it does not yet just as good a chance to win a defensive immediately Meade and Lee at event, and to this extent he ¡seid to th<! manently hold the districts be- Their own advance was checked a few the retreat from the Ilinden- of Gettysburg. so far as Belgian compelled familiar of the foreshadow unconditional surrender. victory, surface conditions were with all its various The trouble with all Allied theory "Westerner.-.' burg line, annexes, previous that only in the vvc t could the We have, then, to review one of the concerned, as they had in three pre¬ he had insured a retirement out of all offensives had lain in the fact that all war be won* or lost. But in this vious years. FOCH\S French west of the he resources were concentrated on a narrow doing h few enduring military triumphs of HUNDRED DAYS territory Meuse, not forget the east. U,i hail liberated Belgium west of the front and the concentration betrayed to the contrary, human history, a battle whose conse¬ The task of Foch was equally simple, he timed his western operation to Scheldt, he had defeated the German the enemy the direction in which the at- coin¬ quences are already as great as that but of unexampled magnitude. He had, cide with two great in army in a battle which they had ac¬ tack was coming and enabled him to campaigns 'the other "Battle of the the con- in the few weeks of the cam¬ Near East. Nations," remaining cepted, on their own ground, prepared make a counter concentration. The test at Leipsic which settled the fate paigning season, to break the German by them over four years. The ultimate fault with the German offensives of this ssues on Which German of the Napoleonic Empire. Germany's line, to force the German armies back consequences of his success were still year has lain in the fact that they con- I dream of world power was as certain- over the whole front and to inflict upon problematical; no man could say exactly sumed all their energy and resources in Victory Flung at what point the Germans would un¬ dealing one colossal blow, and when that ly terminated in Northern France as them such a defeat as would abolish all In this respect his calculations were dertake to make a stand; but it was al¬ failed to achieve a decision they had to was that of the French question of the of a mili¬ clear. German in the war great Emperor impossibility certain that would be unable and a new the victory de¬ ready they stop prepare blow, giving pended upon two the more than a century ago in Saxony. tary decision and demonstrate that the to stand within French the to ana things, defeat of territory, enemy equal opportunity prepare the enemy in the west and the This battle, for which perhaps the war could be won by arms, and that liberation of France had been accom¬ to recover from the er the preser¬ tionsequences vation of that in ti e east therefore there was to thé advancing Allied armies first blow. empire which name of the Hindenburg line, the gco- left the Germans plished, was known to ah the world were welcomed by thousands of French as Mittel¬ graphical objective which was attained only the choice between immediate sur¬ The. merit of Foch's strategy has lain europa. If the eastern empire men and women, who had endured four in his to the over collapsed, and passed, supplies the best title, ex¬ render and persistence in a war ability expand pressure then only a decisive victory, a new west¬ years of slavery; for them the long a very wide front and his tended over a front twice as extensive which could have but one end, and multiply par¬ ern Sedan of the enemy, would bring night was over.