The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1918. A BLOW FOR VICTORY.

Taihape Daily Times, 14 September 1918, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1918. A BLOW FOR VICTORY.

(With which is Incorporated The Taihape Post and Walnxamo News).

Generalissimo Foch lias put an American army, assisted by French, British artillery and aeroplanes, to test the vulnerability of the super-fortress of Metz, in Lorraine. Obviously, then, his intention is to continue to push along northward, between the Rhine and the Franco-German frontier. While those two harpies, Maurice and Repington, are dinning into his ears that he hasn’t men enough, Foch sends an army to challenge the last word, in modern fortification, and to seriously commence the invasion of Germany. While Maurice and Repington are counting and re-counting the lines of defence that are going to stop the Allies from attaining victory this year, and probably not next year, Foch has commenced to leave all such lines high and dry by a drive on German territory. With the fall of Meth will go the last hope of Germany to withstand the chariot of doom, driven by Foch, and for ever should he oysterised those garrulous pesky pessimists, Maurice and Repington. Foch did not elect to strike in across Alsace, where his men are already on German territory; where he is only a few miles from the j Rhine. His effort is strikingly ambitious, being nothing less than a fiftymile thrust to show his contempt of the Hun power in fortress-making at Metz. One message says Foch has struck to attain limited objectives, and beyond destroying the usefulness of Metz, and thereby considerably throwing out of gear the whole elaborate system of railways along th« frontier, which keep German armies in France supplied with men, food and every description of war material, his only intention may be to cut off the means of getting back into Germany the Kaiser’s armies from Oambrai down to the Swiss border. There can be no shadow of doubt that the great French soldier has some supremely vital objective as his goal, but at this stage it is extremely difficult to guess what is in his mind. A despatch issued at half-past two on Thursday afternoon conveys the extraordinary intelligence that the Allies haa captured Thiaucourt, a large town on the railway between St. Mihiel and Metz, some thirty miles from the former place and north-west of St. Mihiel. If that is true the Americans have made the most sensational advance of the war ,as it brings them to within twenty miles of Metz, the greater part of which will be covered by this time, as the fine railway from France to Metz is of the utmost value to Foch, enabling him to get his biggest guns, and ample of everything required in giving the Germans a lesson in fort destruction. The attack was made both north and south of St. Mihiel, leaving that military depot and stronghold to capitulate at its leisure. One message says its fall is expected; it would be surprising if it wasn’t, seeing that it is at the starting place of the only railway it depends upon for supplies, which the Americans now control for at least thirty miles of its length. The blow is one that must have far-reach-ing effects, but, at present we can only co-ordinate it with the armies in France By assuming fnat Fcch is convinced that the Germans must fall back, probably decided to fall back, to a line running from Belgium via Mons, Namur, Mezieres and Verdun. The advance on Metz would entirely scrap such a design, and would also cut away the very bastion of a line from Mens and Namur to Metz. i n any case it seems certain that the Americans are out on a mission to render futile all Hun efforts to prepare a safe or tenable resting place in France; to nullify the work of millions, and to render useless the line after line of strong defensive positions that military minikin Maurices impress upon Foch the Germans have constructed in such numbers that without far bigger armies he cannot hope to get past this year, and maybe not next. With a new American army, assisted by

British artillery and ■ aeroplanes,. forcing its way in Germany directly to the

eastward of German positions from Rheims northward in France, getting between the German armies in that quarter and the Rhine, consternation must have seized Hun commanders, u nothing else, their plans will be upset and new ones will have to be rapidly evolved, but there is one thing now certain, that is, that it is a battle of men, munitions, equipment and general war material. Foch is going to drive until weather entirely prevents continuous fighting, and: if he successfully makes the struggle possible of continuance on the frozen slopes of the Rhine while German armies are utterly demoralised, and even crack battalions refuse to be driven against the great superiority of force that is opposed to them, the final is not far away. The only hope of Prussian militarism rests in the early fizzle out of the Allied offensive; German armies are so discouraged that they lack the power to stem the tide of retribution that is fast overtaking them. Without* time to reorganise, the German case is hopeless; defence lines have been prepared with the hope that I the Allied effort will spin out somewhere. Disappointment meets them at every turn; the Allies show no sign of tapering off in France, and they have now struck a blow at the last projected line of Hun defence, at the very bastion of it, on German territory. How will this latest blow develop? Foch may know that Metz de.-' fences have been dangerously depleted to try and snatch the chestnuts from the fire in France. If that proves to be the case the early fS.ll of Metz may be expected, and with it goes a whole bag of nails into the German coffin. Nothing very definite in helping to form reliable opinions is yet to hand, however, but to-day’s news will probably furnish sufficient details to enable the formation of some idea of what the American Army has been set to accomplish. We think it probable that Foch has struck for the maximum. ,