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 , 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, 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, 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 from 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 , 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 thBelgium 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. tial thrusts so that the was enemy never victory to But if the cas*. as that of the First Marne, hitherto the would, before that end came, bring the in ils was Germany. Such, roughest form, Foch's able to get his breath and never able to were held could with greatest in history; it was fought by not invasion of Germany itself. Germany put up nothing better than a deadlock m the less than it was imme¬ 4,000,000 men; Given the magnitude of the numbers west, a long drawn out and much mar- diately followed by the evacuation of involved and the extent of the front, nificd repetition of the Somme of 1916. more than 7,000 square miles of French there was small chance that Foch could She could calculate that u-.ie?: the and a as Allies could win a decisive in Belgian territory, and retreat achieve a Sedan, or a Waterloo, rictory ev.en the west they would with her unmistakable and perhaps to prove as unless there a bargain should be sudden collapse for peace in the extended as that of after coming winter, Napoleon of German morale, such as was not fore¬ that bargaining she could trai Leipsic. cast by any recent event, and did not, as holdings for eastern conque HTMie Hindenburg Line Was the event proved, occur during the Accordingly, before Ik lau -*- the Immediate Obstacle course of the actual battle itself. What great western battle. Foch threw Alien- lie had to do was to inflict a decisive de¬ by against Turkey in l'a!« I In this battle, in the larger sense, in Mace¬ feat, which would once and for all put D'Esperey against Bulgaria there was no geographical objective. The donia. The results of these two thrusts an end to the idea that a war of positions immediate obstacle before Foch was the were immediate and final. By the for could have no other termination than a mer Turkish Hindenburg line, which had to be broken» military power was broken deadlock. He had to win such a ynd the eventual inn of but the ultimate objective behind the victory occupât all tV as to prove that an old-fashioned, de¬ Turkish territory cast of the Ciiician line was the German army, which is not Gates, stive cisive military triumph could occur even everything Anatolia, was yet routed when these lines are writ¬ made possible. in contemporary warfare. Mesopotamia, Syria. ten, but has been beaten unmistaka¬ Palestine and Arabia were in-taut;. lost to the Turk and Armenia laid bly, and beaten in such fashion that ** ope T)leaking the Legend of an to invasion. the fact of Allied triumph is no longer -*-* Invincible Machine But the over the ti denied in Berlin. Napoleon's problem victory ..,_. In sum, he had to do was even more to the German. after Leipsic is Germany's problem now, exactly what the costly Ailied commanders fighting Even before the Battle of the Hindei after the Battle of the. Hindenburg Line; | Napoleon burg Line had reached its decisive had to do.he had to defeat his an¬ phase it is the problem of preventing the in¬ Berlin knew not that in such merely Turkey- vasion of the homeland and the over- tagonist fashion as to demon¬ had been crushed, but alsu liiat the Bul- turn of the dynasty. Napoleon failed to strate that ultimate and irrevocable de¬ 'garian army had been routed and that feat had solve his problem and was driven to ab¬ for the great roe was neither im¬ Bulgaria surrendered uncondition¬ Thus all dication and exile; the task before possible nor improbable. He had to ally. landward communication with the stricken Turkish was abol¬ William II is not break the legend of the invincible Ger¬ ally lighter. ished, the enemy would now he able to man now on the The Battle of the Hindenburg Line machine, defensive, a? dispose of Turkey at its pleasure, and the Allies of 1813 opened on September 26. On that date had to break the Na¬ there was already foreshadowed a new the Germans between the sea and the poleonic legend. This, all of it, he did front, the front of the Danube, from which Meuse were on the accomplish between September 2G and Hungary could be invaded and by substantially ground which the which they had at the October 15. In that time the whole enemy would gam communi¬ occupied beginning cation with Rumania and thus auto¬ of their offensive on of the civilized March 21. Only opinion world, Teutonic matically release the little Latin stain west and north of Lille and south of and non-Teutonic, was brought to the from the slavery imposed by the Treat., Laon did they hold any valuable ground common point of recognition that Ger of Bucharest and enlist half a million which had not been in their hands in the many liad lost the war irrevocably, am Rumanian troops in a new attack upon spring, while only east of Cambrai had all that could occur in the future wouh Hungary, this time with assured com¬ munication with its western allies. they lost any important positions like¬ be the victorious exploitation of tht wise in their hands in March. Battle of the Hindenburg Line. the World Upside On all this front of nearly two In solving his grandiose tactical prob TurningDown.for ' Germany! hundred miles the Germans stood be¬ lern. Foch opened his battle on the flanks liberated between The Foch has to be seen hind a system of defence which had reserving his main thrust for the centn Shaded.Territory July 18 and Sept. 26. Solid black-. Territory liberated since 26. strategy Sept. wholly to be appreciated in its full splen¬ been elaborated over and for the two and in places appropriate moment. Thus dor. He used all the resources which he over four on tween the Scheldt and the sea. Luden- miles south of Valenciennes on years. They possessed all September 26, it was Liggett's Firs the line supreme victory. It was not won over a anticipate in which direction had. He coordinated the operations in dorfT was to of the Solle the next the points of and from Arras American in wit] obliged gain time in which River, just north of Lc demoralized enemy. On the the blow was Palestine and with those in vantage, Army, conjunction but their contrary, to fall. In a word, you have Macedonia to to remove the enormous accumulation Gateau, halt was exactly like Germans with Flanders and The rcfuit Soissons they had before them Gouraud's Fourth French Army, whic' that of the fought, great persistence the difference between a brute and a man Champagne. of and in operative forces un the and If was not the consé¬ was the most wonderful of any that desert created by the famous Hin¬ delivered the blow on the German left supplies guns the doomed re¬ Hank-. bravery. trained in self-defence. The brute un¬ climax They had. accomplished their of a gion. he sent more re¬ quence collapse of their high com¬ dertook to destroy his a military campaign. Damascus, Beirut, denburg retreat of 1917, which chal¬ while King Albert's Belgian Army an Accordingly purpose, they had broken the Hinden¬ antagonist by serve divisions mand, for even after the defeat was as¬ few terrible blows. I-'och or Uskub, Nish, Lille. Douai, Cambrai and the to Flanders and for the h ¡e, had a parried lenged best efforts of Allied en¬ Plumer's Second British Army delivere burg they driven wedge sured the German armies were St. fell, if nor at saine mo¬ moment the drive into the drawn dodged those, and then began to play Quentin the gineers to construct lines of communica¬ the blow on the German right. Anglo-French slowed deeply German front ami the back with grcal skill ami unmistakable i.;-; ment, at least in succession; the down. It did hot Germans both in Lille and in all antagonist, nutting him on the de¬ vapid tion for their armies. !!c The franco-American blow stop; neither here nor the military ft was not in the fensive at the world, German as weil as allied neutre, advancing resulte new salient to the soulh efficiency, Second Marne, worrying between the Meuse and the between tlvj first three weeks a hfkd the sudden visi¬ hind the Germans was an undevastated in a swift, advance by the American Argonne Oise and the rout, as Leipsic had him at the Third Somme and making his impression of" the was Aisne, including Laon and not been a ble country with lines of communication de¬ north of the pressure relaxed, but for the mo- the St. rout, but i¡. was one of the ultimate defeat beyond question at the collapse, tli«.' simultaneous collapM Verdun, capture of Mont Gobain forest and facing Rheims, most, cut of aü the the Ger¬ merit Allied wa.s were clearly victories in a!! military Battle of the Line. Never various elements in veloped during four years of faucon and a dozen other towns an purpose achieve«.! and in a dangerous The Hindenburg occupation. posture. and for the it was a was the mât! world In the second «'«'. no useless sacrifice of men was centre history, Germans superiority of French to Ger¬ empire. on the west bank of made had performed its mission; it was villages the Meus defeat which terminated all not man military science more re¬ of September that empire reached the Collapse of the ! in too eager exploitât inn of undeniable time for the flanks to come toJiCe hope, perfectly r|^he and between the Meuse and the Ai again. merely of winning the war, but of im- vealed. like Jordan and the Euphrates on the to>'- *- ! success. Once more the French, German, strategy German Offensive Americans and Gou- posing a deadlock. After the Rattle is based and touched the North Sea on the Bel¬ gonne, villages famous in the campaig raud, aided by Berthelot's of upon Napoleonic principles, but Between March 21 and army facing the Hindenburg Line the of a while the German gian coast. By the end of the secon-d September Ub for Verdun of 191b. One immédiat British Achievement Rheims, struck northward. certainty only imitated Napo¬ the Germans had tried What fol¬ military decision, if not. anticipated by a leon, the Allied commander in chief in¬ week in October it stopped at the Dan¬ and failed to win effect <'f this advance was to break th (^reates!J in lowed «was a swift German All British retirement German surrender, was ube and was from the the war a colossal Warfare. unmistakable. terpreted him. rapidly receding by offensive. Their German domination of the Paris-Chi made between the Argonne and Rheims, the coast. Its Austrian fractiw Having Ludendorff anxious for surrender of all In a sense ail that is to come here- Belgian failure had cost them many prisoners Ions-Verdun which had bee the positions held sincr: was into ruins its Bln- railway, both his flanks, Foch was now the rot real Was Able to Coordinate after mils': be an anti-climax. The bat¬ crumbling and and many guns, but they had not yet lost ready from the First Marne in garian and Turkish were cut by indirect tire for more than fou for his master stroke. the 1911, FvochHis Three Strokes tle which we have witnessed at the Hin¬ department;? more or more Already September, including the old forts in dust and ashes. and £ prisoners guns than they years. Gouraud, on his side of th .British between the above Rheims, from which denburg line is unquestionably the Belgium Scarpe and the the cathe¬ if one wanted a parallel for Foch's were emerging from the German waves; had taken in the successful phase of north and took all th dral had been ruined and the greatest battle of the prescht war, as it Argonne, pushed Somme, between Douai and St. Quentin, city de¬ tactics, one might perhaps cite the meth¬ is most France was clearing of Germs« their offensive. It even be Less the tremendous epnflict of all rapidly may doubted ground famous in the Battle of Chan had been active, had forward stroyed. precipitately, but no less od of Lee at In tin.-, battle for the German the who« pushed the Gettysburg. huma;; history. And ;n it. ha1; been re¬ occupation: if their total losses were much greater of which ha inevitably, Germans began a retire¬ the great Southern general attacked first world had turned down pagnc September, 1915, and taken many valuable "jumping-off" ment between the Oise vealed one of the supreme s'oldiers of all suddenly upside than those of their and the Aisne by the left flank, then the and .for the rest of us it was assum foe, although their begun one day earlier. But on October on which by right, time. Henceforth and because of places. S, the front cleared Laon and the St. Gobain finally threw Pickett the the practice of selecting the best elements This advance was then upon Union achievement which has hi/), normal position. halted, as w« between Cambrai anu St. Forest and surrendered that great cen¬ centre. Both of unrolled be¬ armies Quentin, tra! his flank operations were fore our own in their and grouping them in inevitable, because it was an immedial aided French stronghold on which all their lino eyes Foch will be recog- The Battle of the Hindenburg b«-^ by Debeney's anny be¬ measurably successful, although neither nized as one of the storm units had them to much in Northern France had half dozen great com¬ won the war. The Germans still have exposed threat to all the German lines of con tween St. Quentin and the Oise, three been based. led to any decisive advantage, but in the manders of heavier losses best .Meantime the Americans, far out be¬ case of armies, the master of the unbroken armies, great resources m in their material. municalion between Alsace-Lorrair British armies, those of Home, tiie centre Pickett was utterly greatest armies Byng yond the Argonne, were in human history and numbers and in material; they arc capa¬ All things considered, the Germans and the Rhcims-Laon front and slowly blasting unsuccessful and suffered a bloody re¬ the successful parti« and Rawlinson, struck. What happened their way forward and had reached th( wieldor of the most in¬ ble on the military side of repeating sto knowledge. and i'ghting more campaign« coordinate his three months from the Marne to Allied at the Somme send reserves to flank, instead of .¦ ahe Whether do or not offensives, notably the endangered froi the Continent. All the past diminishing, grew anc three trokes in >uch fash ¡on that \vh his they depends upo« in 10H'> the and in disappoint- the Second American Army arrived i: thcldt, campaign in Northern the home front, not. the military fron:, and at Aisne FLan- at once, and these reserves, on their a merits were he truck the c< itrc the blows ranee in | ¡«banished, all the old defeat's the battle line to add to the already duly, August, September an.! as I n on pressure. delivered on the flanks had mad* a seç Mond::.-. October 21,when heavy 0 tober of the current year, with his this article is closed.