Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7th, 1918. THE BATTLE FRONT.

Hokitika Guardian, 7 November 1918, Page 2

Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7th, 1918. THE BATTLE FRONT.

Thanks to the recent defections or enemy Powers, the battle front, at all i events tile immediate present, is reduced to tile Western Front, which has been long regarded as the real location for the final decision of the war. Whether a new front will be opened against- Germany through Austria, remains to be seen. It is possible Germany will accept the inevitable long before a prodigious attack on. that quarter could be launched, but it is not improbable that at an early ! date aerial warfare from Austrian territory will be opened against the •sole remaining enemy, and so assist to bring about the final decision which it seems likely cannot long be delayed. For the present, the Western front holds all eyes, and there, despite the fact that the winter season is coming down on the country, the Allies arc delivering a monster attack which is being crowned with marked success. The big stroke now being made by the British combined with the effort in Belgium,, and the Franco-American advance on the Sedan front, suggests that. Marshal Foch is getting in a telling blow before the weather quenches the ardour of .those wonderful super-men who have maintained so splendid an offensive for upwards of four months. The British advance now proceeding in the region of Mormal Forest is of neofullar importance, because according to the English papers, lately to hand, this advance taps the last prepared defences being got ready by the enemy when in September last it was likely the Allies were going to break through. The approximate line of this defence was from south of Valenciennes, before Mau'bengo to Metz. The results given by the cables would indicate that south of Valenciennes this final line of defence has been broken. The taking of I,e Qnesnov and the advance into Mormal Forest suggest that the centre of the lino, also, is being breached, thereby bringing the Allies into direct offensive against Maubengc, which was well fortified by the French in pre-war days,, and is a fortress town. Maubengc is directly south of Mona, the former being in France, and the latter in Belgium. The southern extension of the defensive lino is threatened by the Americans who were said t.o 1)0, yesterday only thirteen miles from Sedan. Sedan is a place of historic memory to France. It: was there on September Ist., 1870, in the Franco. German war of nearly half a century ago, that the Germans who numbered a quarter of a million under the direct command of William /, defeated the French under the Emperor NapoIcon 111, and Generals McMahon and ( Wimpffeu. The following day the | French Emperor and his army (about 84,000), surrendered an act. depicted in historical paintings. The battle and capitulation led directly to the fall of the French Empire and the establishment of the Republic. The fact that the Franco-American forces are now operating within range of the old scene, render it likely that another great international act in that region j is not at all improbable seeing that the Germans are now referred to Marshal Foch as regards any terms they may require to end the war. If the Allies can maintain the pressure at the present rate great events are possible now at any moment. -