PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 266, 30 July 1918, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

The circumstances in which_ the Germans have carried out their retreat from the southern part of the Manic salient are not yet fully disclosed, but available news is to the effect that while the Allies* are lapidly advancing, the enemy movemerit; to the rcflir has thus far been carried out in good order. Hopes of the envelopment and oi anv large portion of -the reheating armies arc thus tending to disappear. It is not yet certain, however, that the enemy has successfully solved his problem of retreat. His front no longer runs in an acute salient, but the Allied pursuit is being briskly maintained, and serious toll may yet be taken of the retiring German divisions. Of three road centres which served the south ern area of the German salient, two —Oulchy and Fcrc-en-Tardenois, half-a-dozen miles farther cast—are now occupied by t-h*3 Allies, and Yille-cn-Tardenois, in the eastern area of the salient, is closely threatened from the south and cast. It is possible that an Allied movement up the Ardre valley, north-east of Villc-cn-Tardenois, may seriously upsfet the enemy's_ dispositions. The general position is that the French and Americans have ■ crosscd the Ourcq, at Fore-en-Tardenois and elsewhere, and are striking north through comparatively clear country with no important river between th'cm and the River Vesle, which closely follows a direct line connecting Soissons and Reims. The enemy is still of necessity somewhat seriously handicapped by overcrowded communications, but it is obvious that he has taken a fairly long stop towards comparative safety. The detail movements disclosed tend to support an opinion expressed in one message that the Germans are retiring on a line extending from south of Soissons to north of Reims. This line is not, as a correspondent states, twenty miles, but from eight to a dozen miles north of the line of. contact indicated in messages in hand at time of writing. * k * *

One way of summing up the battle to its present stage is to assumo that, having enclosed the enemy in _ a trap, the Allies have allowed him to escape. Such a verdict, however, has no real bearing upon the facts of the existing situation or those of the campaign. It is* perfectly true that before he began the retreat which he has now carried to an advanced sta-go the enemy was in a position which made hiim exceedingly vulnerable to attack. But the Allies could not have fully exploited this situation without inviting and hastening the decisive conflict which it is their present policy to postpone. In order to muster force_ for an attack calculated to drive in the flanks of the enemy salient -and envelop the armies in its interior area, they would have had to weaken other and vital sections of their front. It is by no means certain that had such a policy been pursued the main battle would have been fought in and around the Marne salient.

The Allies have' followed a more cautious policy, and contented themselves with limited gains, but this should not be allowed to obscure the fact that their achievement in this battle is one of the finest the war lias witnessed. It is the net result thus far of their magnificent resistance to the offensive opened by tho enemy on July_ 15 and of the lightning stroke which laid open the vital flank of his lino at Soissons that lw has been compelled for more than a fortnight to engago in an exhausting struggle in which he has fought almost from first to last at a serious disadvantage, and has suffered heavy and disproportionate losses. An ample reason for what is cautious in tho Allied policy appears iu tlw fact that their strength is rapidly increasing. In these weeks in which the enemy offensive has been paralysed they have steadily approached their goal, and though they arc not yet ready to force tho final conflict their achievement in its present magnitude has mado it absolutely plain that the enemy's remaining choice is between a policy of reckless desperation or owning that his lost hope of victory by force- of arms has disappeared.