The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1918. THE ALLIES' SWEEP.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 September 1918, Page 4

The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1918. THE ALLIES' SWEEP.

"Our men have made the hope of German victory for ever impossible." These are the words of Mr Gibbs, the war correspondent, who is not only a graphic, but a reliable, writer. The great gamble which the enemy entered upon last March has ended in a costly failure. Pour succeeding blows, each of which was designed to put an end to the Allies chance of success, were launched with all the preparation and formidable weight of men and guns that was at Germany's disposal, and each of those four offensives was held up, a heavy price having to be paid on each occasion. The picked storm [ troops—the flower of the German Army—have had to bite the dust, and these men cannot be replaced. It may be said that the backbone of the German forces has been j broken,, and though there is still a host of stubborn fighters in the enemy ranks, the loss of morale has been plainly evident by the comparative ease with which the Allies have swept the Germans back on every sector—and the process is still going on most satisfactorily. Marshal Foch is reaping the reward of his strategy, for the three French and. three British armies are sweeping forward without a pause. A New York cable said: "The British, armies have smashed the Hindenburg line, and are now beginning to roll 1 up the German armies on the Picardy front." The momentous question of whether the enemy could break through to Paris or the Channel is, happily, an evil shadow o ' past, when anxiety becam .• but confidence never wavered. The question to-'day is whether the enemy will stand and risk all in an open fight, or be driven back with rifle and artillery, mile by mije, till the arrival of late autumn and early winter renders the roads impassable for big military forces. Will he make yet another bid ; for victory by a determined counter offensive ? Will he retire to the line of the Vesle, the Hindenburg line, or what has been described as the elusive Drocourt—Queant line (otherwise known as the "Siegfried" line), or, as a last resource that will plainly indicate the beginning of the end. will he retire I to the Rhine? Time will show; at present there can only be speculation, but the general advance of the Allies continues with ceaseless and relentless pressure. No longer is heard the blatant trumpetings of the boastful Pan-Germans. There is an ominous silence, behind which the people are realising that the invincibility of the German armies was a fiction; that the submarines have failed; that while the Teutonic man-power has been wasted with prodigality the forces of the Allies are increasing by hundreds of thousands every mouth, and that the waves of war are sweeping over .the Germans and threatening to engulf their country. The Prussian machine is becoming chaotic, and reeling ever backwards, as the pounding process of the Allies proceeds from day to day. The British armies under Generals Home and Byng are moving towards that Hindenburg switch line of which we have heard so much. Bullecourt (at one end of the switch) which was stubbornly held by the Germans, with a view to stemming the Allies' advance on that key position, has .fallen, and so nullified German hopes, while the line lias been broken, and the British have reached the suburbs of Lens. In the south the French have crossed the Oise, moved across the rear of. the St. Simeon ridge towards the Somme, which both the British and French have readied south of Peronne, and established posts across the river. Bapaume has fallen, and the capture of St. Quentin was followed by the taking of Peronne, while a series of successful attacks lias compelled the enemy 1o withdraw from the Lys salient and yield, without a blow, positions of high tactical importance which he wou at great cost Equal success was met with on the Arras—Cambrai Road. In fact, on every sector the Allies are pressing forward victoriously. The retirement from Flanders involved the loss by the enemy of Mt. Kemmel, Bailleul and Dranoutre, also the- occupation by the British of the line of the Lawe, east of Betlmne, so we may expect in a few days that the whole of the enemy's gains since March will have been swept away. The latest cablegrams disclose that in spite of all obstacles the Allies are pressing forward and allowing the enemy no rest, while the acuteness of Germany's man-power problem is indicated by the necessity to use dismounted troopers to replace infantry. The enemy is making desperate efforts to cheek the avalanche till he ip safe behind the Hindenburg line, but it is certain that even then they will still have to face the victorious advance of the Allies. The Canadians have broken through' the "switch" line, and are still advajiqing, while lgood-pjrogressiis-beiog.mad&.sputli4

of the Scarpe, as well as on the Lys sector and towards Cambrai. With an adequate supply of tanks, well supported by flying squadrons, it should be possible for the Allies within the next few days to gain much new ground. As soon as the Americans on this front have completed their organisation as a separate army, it may be part of the scheme to make a turning movement on the Alsace sector.