GERMANY'S LAST ATTACK.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 69, 21 March 1919, Page 5

GERMANY'S LAST ATTACK.

A YEAR AGO TO-DAY. HOW IT WAS SMASHED. To-day marks the first anniversary of tho groat attack which the Germans fondly hoped would lining them final victory. Instead it brought disaster, complete and irremediable, "ut for a while the enemy's progress proved oxciting enough from a liri'ish onlooker's point of view. The utter collaps >of the Russians and the peace of IJrest l.itovsk left the Germans with a great ii.unericiil advantage. of which; Hindenhurg and Ludendorff made 1 the fullest use. Initial success cam.-; with the lirst blow, the Allied line bent j under its weight, sagged inward, hut .lid I not break. The great fighting retreat.j which did not end until the gates of Amiens were almost readied, had hegun. The main idea of the, attack was to break through to tho sea. cutting the Rritish army into two portions, one of which was 'to bo driven back on the' Channel por:s, while anothci was to he j thrown southward it. disorder upon the French. All that happened afterwards was in the nature of attempts to repair a plan which hail gone awry, or to substitute some other which had not been originally contemplated. For that plan did go awry from the fir-t day. Even while tho Kaiser was tossing about ecstatic telegrams, ~\en while reports were coinin.' through of that hurried retreat upon Amiens, the German Staff km-w that the, had railed. For i:: that great offensive of March -1 the main weight of the attack was to have fallen north of the Soiumo. The Germans had no intention of masking innn\ divisions south of a line drawn from St. Uuentin to Amiens. And so the actual results, a severe chock to the northern section of the offensive, and a gnat advance in the south, were considered hy the German staff as oniewhat in the nature of a failure.

The attiipk, in fine, did not snooped ns had lioon expecte ', except south of St Qunntin. The swift advance there wajudged <o l>e of merely minor impor tance. The Germans had hoped to _nir equal sucooss all along tho line. What shattered their hopes was the stuhhort resistance of the Third Army. The* worp defeated by the fighting oualitioof tho divisions of that Third Army I'lio groat scheme was broken in tin fighting of those two days. It remainoi to try again. The next attempt may Ik* called an other version of the original idea. Ot March _li the attack "hot ween Oppv am Neuville St. Vaast wa« launched, in older to extend the southern success. Tin Gorman Stall were confident that the; would recover Yimy Kidgo and oapturi Arras by tfip weight of tho first blow. A. wo know, they failed completely. Th. reasons for failure were first, that. th. artillery preparation was not sufficient I'ocauso they could not bring up ;im munition fast enough: and. secondly that the resistance of the I'.ritish in f.-iiitrv went. Itoyond all Gorman Calcula t ion. Again it lieoamo necessary to recon shier the situation, and this time mon profoundly. The resistance had been si strong, the .-heck so discouraging, tin losses so heavy, that tlie (.erman stnf decided to give up altogether the origina plan of a break-through to the sen nortl of Amiens. They lookod for a nov scone of notion in which they eouh work with smaller forces, and with somi better ohanee of mi,t.w<. Hut still tin sea was the lure. The story of tin campaign of litis is reminiscent of soma caged boast, tearing and biting at tin bars that shut him in. unable to under stand how hopeless the fight is. urn yielding only when. bate red an. wound,.,l lo- his ~,.,. .1... .:.... i..

binks exhausted, still in his cage. Still trying for the sea. the Germans organised the attack of April 0 south of Vpres. This had Dunkirk and Calais as its objective, and -from the opening of the attack it was intended to push right through." Again lhe problems of feeding the guns hud not boon sufficiently studied, and again this hranr-h of the service compromised the rest. The difficulty of the ground prevented heavy artillery und ammunition being brought up. Also certain German divisions in thoir advance found quantities of wine, put it to its natural use. and got drunk. Finally, nnd as usual, the resistance of the English troops, especially about Givenchy. led to delay.

It is curious how closely tho story of this northern offensive resembles that of tho attempt to the south. Both begin with a spectacular success. which th.' General Staff consider a failure. In both there follows an attempt to repair the damage, to set the plan on its logs again. ].\ ir the attack of April IS on the Givenehy-Morville front was made to open out the northern salient and give the chance of a further advance as originally intended. This also failed, and then {Tie Gorman Staff throw up the game in tlie north and nut aside thoir hopes of the sea.

Meantime the Allied command had boon unified. Foch was in command, and when by his skjlf.il retreat he had thoro ighly exhausted the resources of his foe he turned and began the great offensive which ended in tiio capitulation of November 11.