NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16274, 26 July 1918, Page 8

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

The battle still goes well with the Allies. The long triangular salient held by the enemy, with its base resting on Soissons and Rheims, and its apex taking in Chateau Thierry, is fast disappearing from the war-map under the continued attacks of the Allied armies, which have taken on something of the nature of a drive, -the French and Americans are advancing from the west and the south and the French and British from' the south-east. The British, who are astride of the river Ardre,' are holding the- Mountain of Rheims, the lofty position to the south of the city, which the Germans have never succeeded in capturing. Had they done so, they would have held Krheiics in an iron ring, apd would have gained a position from which it "would have been difficult to dislodge them. As it is. all tho country southward •of Rheims to the Marne offers mony facilities for defence, and'the progress made by our troops, under the. circumstances, is satisfactory.

It was mentioned yesterday that the enemy's retreat, which may yet be converted into a rout, might continue until we reached the Vesle, the littao river flowing into the Aisne, seven miles east of Soissonß. Apparently, only a series of stubborn rearguard actions. will enable the harried host to reach in safely the further bank of the river, where the conditions are favourable to his making- a stand. The country is well-known to the German commanders, for it was the Vesle that much" stiff fighting occurred, and the retiring force will find,. if it reaches the line of the many traces of the former German occupation of what, by tiie aid .of nature and their engineers, is a great position for fighting a defensive engagement. 7

The . Aisne, as described by John Buchan, has on its north side, at an averago of a mile or more from the stream, a line of steep ridges, the scarp of a great plateau. The hills stand like a wall and the spurs dip down sharply to the vale, while, between them the Bhort and rapid brooks have cut steep re-entrant .gullies in the plateau's edge. All this scarp is, or was, until torn by artillery fire, muffled everywhere by a cloak of woods. The valley of tho Vesle i 3 a replica in miniature of that of the Aisne. Before the Germans descended on the Marne nearly'four years ago, all this scarp was extensively trenched, and was made into a perfect position for defence, since it commanded all the crossings of the river and most of tha roads from the south. But, eventually, the Germans were forced out of it, and there is no reason to doubt that the present forces of the Allies can repeat the achievement. _ They were never better fitted for their tasK, whereas it is doubtful if the German army to-day is as-good as the army of last year or the year before.

The United Press correspondent, in the survey of the situation in' the northern area, to which we referred yesterday, spoko of the British troops under Sir Douglas Haig as being "keen and ready." This is also the impression gained by the London correspondent of the Sydney "Sun," who visited the West front a week or two ago. "If anyone imagines," he wrote, "that the British armies are depressed or disheartened by the buffeting they havo received this year, he

is •wrong." He found no noticeable difference, in many conversations with officers and men, in the moral of thoso who received the worst handling and the freshest divisions. "They are alias cheery and confident as ever. Everything is ready for the Boche whenever he may strike." It is naturally a rather "older army than it was—the extension of the military ago at Homi? accounts for the arrival at tbo ijont or many men who have passod their early manhood, and the correspondent notes some decline in physique, as compared' with that of the army early last year, but the German standard has, he says, declined far more. In confidence, m refusal to bo scared by vast German concentrations, and in gameness, tho British Army th«t awaits Prince Rupprocht's is equal to the best that Britain has put forth.

Thero was strong evidence in the army orders recently issued by General von Marwitz regarding the diminishing discipline in the German army, that the ■moral of the enemy is not what it used to be. Reference was made to cases in which soldiers openly refusod to obey orders. In this connexion it is interesting to 6ote that in a recent despatch Mr Bean, the official Australian correspondent, gives, "for what it is worth," the statement by a G-erman prisoner that the Thirteenth Reserve division was very reluctant to return to the front lino after the gruelling that the Australians had given it during the last time it was there. The Fourth Bavarian Division, which it relieved recently, -was told by Prince Franz of Bavaria that he regretted to have to send it back to this dangerous sector, but it was unavoidable, and the division must holdi on longer. Thereupon some of the older soldiers spoke out and said thoy would not go." The prisoner said this was tho first time he had seen 6uch a. tiling occur in the German army. The mutineers were to be court-martialled. "What is certain," added Mr Bean, "is that tho Germans deliberately are wearing out a certain proportion of divisions while tho rest are being prepared for some greai: assault."

Mr Beaeli Thomas, a "Daily Mail" correspondent, supports tliis by the statement that owing to the weedingont of troops in order to maintain special corps, the greater part of the German army on the West front was now divided into sheep and goats, a condition which explained many recent) battle-episodes, such, we presume, as the undignified way in which the Germans at Villers-Bretonneux fled coatless and bootless before the Australians. Numerous cases are said to have occurred itji which German commanders were obliged to bribe, wheedle, scold, and punish their troojis as nover before. Such a spirit, if it is anything like as widespread as it appears, might easily lead to a set-back degenerating into a scrambling rout, and its existence among the troops must be giving German commanders some uneasiness.

General Maurice, who declares that, without extravagance, wo may regard General Foch's present counter-attack as the turning-point of the 1918 campaign, is a great admirer of the Generalissimo, thoilgh wo do not suggest that this fact affects, in the slightest degree, his criticism of the situation. His admiration for him is based on his appreciation as a competent soldier, of Foch's qualities as a great strategist. Some little time ago he pointed oufr though Foch first made his name, as a student of war and a notable chief of the Frcnch Staff College, it -was as a man of action that he shono. No foreign commander is better known to the British Army. He fought beside us on the Marne. He commanded in the north in the bloody fighting on Yser, while we were engaged in the grim struggle of the : first battle of Ypres. He passed to the south, whero in 1915 he was ,on our right, confronting the Ridge. ... In 1916 we find Foch again on our right pressing to Peronne." Later on he became Chief of the French Staff in Paris, where in the comparative ease of office life <110 appeared to be- ageing. His appointment as Generalissimo of tho Allied Armies rejuvenated him—General Maurice, who met him on three occasions in the following two months, says that each time he found him younger, more vigorous, and more confident. A man must have many qualities of greatness .Tho can thus face a task of such importance and responsibility as few men have been called upon to undertake.

Foch's methods, we gather, are peculiar to himself. Hck is the most democratic of generals, living very simply and with absolutely no military ostentation. "He has no belief in red tape. In emergency he scatters i' II stereotyped methods to the winds and use 3 any every means which will help to gain his end. The man who sent from the Marne the message, 'The enemy is attacking my flanks, my rear is threatened, I am attacking in front,' may be trusted to remain on the defensive not 'one hour longer than prudent generalship demands. '

That is the considered opinion of a British general. As for what . the French Army, think of; their hero, we may quote.the words of Commandant Garenne, who lately passed through 'Sydney to take up the command of the French forces in the Pacific. "I know Foch, monsieur. He will Bave us. For me, Ido not despair. I hope. lam certain. There is no man, no soldier, better qualified to direct the fortunes of all our Allies; none other in whom the army of France will have more confidence. There may be others equally well able to direct. There is your General Haig—a great commander. But the choice has fallen on General Foch, and he will carry the terrible burden nobly." j

Tho cable message wo published a fortnight ago announcing the death of -Major James'McCudden, the Allies' greatest aviator, mentioned that he was "killed while flying in France.'' It appears, however, from a message in an Australian paper, that this did not tell the full tragedy of his death, which took place during a flight from England to France. He haa apparently been Home on leave, but is said to have been delighted at being recalled' to the front, "and his eyes fairly danced with joy as ho mounted his machine." His last remark to ti.is friends was, "I cannot always bank on my luck, but f hope for the best." He had reached France, "flying high and well," when his machine lurched, dropped towards a wood, and, striking a tree, crashed to earth. The airman was subsequently found dead among the wreckage.

McCudden was possibly tho finest aviator who has .taken part in the war. He was the Allies' "ace of aces"—British and Australian airmen claimed that he was better than the famous Guynemer and the master of the equally famous Immelmann's skill. Though not as deadly a long-range shot as Bishop, the Canadian, described as the third of the great British Plying Corps triumvirate. Ball being the other, McCudden "combined good shooting with masterly flying." He owed much of iis success, no doubt, to his coolness and extraordinary efficiency. As an Australian who knew him says, "he had the quiet confidence and steady concentration of purpose of Norman Brookes on the'tennis court."