PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 307, 16 September 1918, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

The American Army has every reason to be proud of the result of its first important battlo .in the Western theatre. Details now availablcshow that the attack on the St. Mihiel salient was driven home with brilliant success. ' The salient has been flattened out, and thus far, according to the latest official report in hand at time of writing, the Amoricans havo taken 13,300 prisoners. The heavy capture of prisoners sufficiently disposes of the enemy's attempt to depreciate the American achievement by claiming that his retirement from the salient was voluntary. A German commtutique observes that: "In anticipation of attack, the evacuation of the St. Mihiel salient, which had long been under consideration, was commericed a few days ago." Even if this statement were true, it would not modify the enemy's defeat or minimise tho American achievement. But it is fairly evidont that it was precisely •by failing to anticipate the American attack that the enemy laid himself open to such a disconcerting and damaging defeat. That he contemplated a retirement from the St. Mihiel salient is not disputed, but if he had carried out the movement with skill and success tho Americans would not havo taken as many hundred prisoners as they in ' fact took thousands. Obviously tho enemy was outgenerallcd. The Americans broke into his salient from tho west and from' the south before his preparations for retreat were completed. - I** * i To the Germans, accustomed to regard themselves as masters of' the art of war, the humiliation of such a defeat at the hands of the untried American army must be intense. They will derive little oomfort from knowing that tho Americans, like other Allied Armies, are fighting under the supreme command ,of Marshal Foch, and received some, assistance iii the St. Mihiel battle from French troops and British airmen. As tho enemy is aware, the unified/command and the close interlocking of tho efforts of tho several national armies arc- now standing features of the Allied organisation. _ Under these conditions tho American Army is an immensely more valuablo reinforcement than it could possibly have been had the conditions of last year' been maintained. The sweeping .success of tho Americans is not only a proof of their fighting quality and of the ability of their Commander-in-Chief, General Pershing. It is at the same timo a striking demonstration of the benefits of unity of command, and one that is of rich promise for the future. / » « * * Proof of the confusion into which the enemy was thrown appears not only in tho magnitude of his losses —it may bo taken for' granted that he did not lose thirteen thousand prisoners without losing heavily also m killed and wounded—but in-other details. Not the least striking is tho comparatively undamaged state of the town of St. Mihiel and of tho railways which the enemy held or commanded while he occupied tho salient. One message states that the town of St. Mihiel is practically undamaged, and that the VerdunNancy railway, which the Germans wero astride at St. Mihiel, is intact, and will be used at once. Tho Thiaucourt-St. Mihiel railway, it is added, is also intact. The lastmentioned 'railway was the encniy's principal lino of communication through tho salient to its apex. Tho state of St. Mihiel and the railways is in itself conclusive proof that tho Germans made a hasty and demoralised retreat. At all points where they have, been driven back in France and Flanders they havo left destruction and devastation in. their wnke. Even in the difficult.retreat they lately made to the Hindenburg line they in most places contrived to lay the country waste behind them. It is quite safe to conclude that the departure from this,policy in the case of St. Mihiel was involuntary, and that it is to be attributed solely to the vigour of the American attack and the speed with which it developed. Tho evidence afforded in the state of the railways is, of > course, equally clear. Any retiring army makes- a particular point of destroying railways it is forced to abandon, unless it hopes/ to speedily recover tho ground it is evacuating, and that (the Germans did not follow this.cburso in their retreat from the St. Mihiel salient can only be taken to mean that they were denied time and opportunity. The German communique which alleges that the withdrawal from St. Mihiel was voluntary is clumsily drawn up. Its own details invalidate the claim, as> for instance where it shows that the height of Combres (a commanding position on the edge of the heights of the Mouse, southeast of Les Eparges) was fiercely contested, Ssd in the statement that Austro-Hungarian troops southward of Combres by a strong resistance assured the retreat of a division at St. Mihiel.

Whether the American victory at St. Mihicl is correctly defined as "a big local success," or is the begirining of something greater is for tho present an open question. Two facts stand out, however. One is that the enemy's position on the eastern part of the Verdun front is prejudiced by the'loss of the St. Miluel pocket, and the other that if they follow up their achievement by developing a thrust towards the Lorraine border the Americans arc likely to be seriously hampered, by conditions of ground and weather, particularly if the rains which aro now reported continue. During the wet season tho Woovre plain, between tho heights of the Meuse and the Moselle,.is a land of mud. As General Maurice observes in an article quoted to-day, the mud of the Wocvre resembles that of Flanders, and there is some apparent justification for the warning issued by_ several commentators that the elimination of the St. Mihicl salient does not necessarily herald an early invasion of German Lorraine.

Ok the other hand, the enemy is now far from comfortably placed cast and south-east of Verdun. Hu has a very limited foothold on tho edge of the heights of tho Mouse at Les Epargcs, which marks tho northern flank of the American at-

tack, and further north, and an unofficial message declares that lie is already rectifying his front east and north-cast ol Verdun. Whether this is true or not, the flattening of the St. Mihiel salient has distinctly improved tho prospect of an effectivo attack from Verdun, and reports of French raids in this region arc of more than ordinary interest'. The removal' of the St. Mihiel salient straightened tho enemy's.front between tho Meuse and Alsace. This front now makes only minor departures from a straight line between a point east of Verdun and the north-western frontier ' of Alsace. But while ho has straightened his front, the enemy has lost the advantage he enjoyed in maintaining a standing threat to Verdun on the south. Taking account also of the improvement in the Allied railway communications, it seems not unlikely that the American success may pave tho way for attacks a little further north. Meantime in redeeming ninety or a hundred' square miles of French territory and capturing more than 13,000 prisoners, the Americans have made a notable beginning as an army. * * * * During the last few clays tho British troops havo been steadily forging ahead on several parts of the front in- spite of particularly stubborn enemy resistance. The capture of Auchy means that they havo penetrated a mile into defences immediately covoring La Bassce which have defied attack during the last threo years. At Auchy the attackers are only a mile distant from La Bassce, on tho south-west. The British have also mado notable headway on the approaches to Oambrai, and French and British in co-opera-tion are closing in on St. Quentin. There are preliminary reports also of a French attack between tho Ailette and the Aisne on the western flank of the Chemin des Dames ridge and on the south-western approaches to Laon. The least promising, feature at the moment is that continued bad weather_ iB reported, but a high French military authority is quoted I>y Me. Charles Grasty, the American correspondent, as stating that five weeks more of good offensive weather are to be expected, and that it may be possible to'continue the offensive pouth of tho Somme after mid-October. Although the waning season admittedly limits Allied prospects for the time being, there are( good grounds for holding that the offensive is still far from being at an end for the year. . '