PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 288, 24 August 1918, Page 6

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

To-day's reports show. that the French advance between the Oise nnd the Aisne has created a situation which gives the enemy every reason for concern. The movement in its most immediate aspect is directed against Noyon,- but is. of much greater importance as a menace to the (lank of the German positions on tho heights of the Aisne and further south. - It. offers a certain threat felso to the range of enemy communications centering' on Laon. On the Oise the French have reached Scmpigny, a bare two miles south ol Noyon, and they are on or near the south bank of the river as far east as Bretigny. Scmpigny and Bretigny are five miles apart as the crow flies, but over the , greater part of this distance, the Oise runs in a pronounced bend to the south 1 , which would probably be difficult to defend against a crossing. From the Oise at Bretigny the French line runs generally, east-south-east to. the valley of tho Ailette. General Margin's troops have reached tho latter river opposite Quincv-Bassec, that is to say, at _ a point eight miles north of Soissono. is named only to indicate the point at which the Ailette has been reached. It stands i nearly two miles north of that river.' The situation has some extraordinary features, notably in the fact that the Germans are still clinging to the north bank of tho Aisne to point nearly two miles west of Soissons, In the communique in which'they state that they have reached the Ailette at QuincyBassec, the French report also that they hold the wr-stern outskirts of Pomniiers, and this village stands on the north bank of: the Aisne, two miles west of Soissons. It follows, of course, that the German positions north of the Aisne at Soissons now take tho form of an acute salient.

.* * ■ * i ' / As a, whole, .the state of affairs outlined indicates that tho vigorous French advarico has broken- into tho enemy's arrangements for retreat, and that a considerable section of his line is now in extreme jeopardy. How far this estimate ol tho situation is accurate events must show, but the facts which seem to justify _it may be briefly traced. Fro ( m Soissons the German -lino runs east-south-east along tho Rivers Aisno and Vcslc to the neighbourhood of Reims. Ilcccnt events imply that the enemy is clinging obstinately to tli- line of the Vesle, which flows', . over a considerable part of the distance between Soissons and Keims, about five miles south of the Aisne. The position disclosed to-day is that on a front of eight miles, extending north-east from the Aisne, tho French aro facing directly :into...the flank of tho enemy line along the Aisne and Vesle. This' state of affairs almost certainly means that tho enemy must .either, safeguard his menaced flank by a counter-stroko sufficiently powerful to' roll back the French advance, or execute a rapid retirement from the Aisne-Vcslc line, at least to the heights of the Aisne, and possibly, to the last natural rampart covering Laon on tho south, the ridge to the north of the Ailette valley.

There can bo no doubt as to the serious character of tho threat to the flank of the German line along the Aisne and Vesle. The front on which General Margin's troops are facing into the enemy flank runs right across tiie heights of the Aisne, and the Germans enjoy no particular advantage of ground in contesting a further invasion of their flank. If they are incapable of such a coun-ter-stroke as the occasion demands, their plight is certainly serious. In that case they arc condemned to undertake a perilous retreat from the Aisnc-Vcsle line, with the French pressing irresistibly on their right flank, and with a considerable river, the Aisne, immediately in lear. In view of the opportunities a battle under.these conditions would afford the attacking armies, it would not be surprising if it entailed for tho Germans a, more disastrous defeat than they have yet suffered at any stage of the war. The statement made in a message from New York that the capture of the line of tho Ailette means that Marshal Foch. has successfully driven a wedge between the armies of General von Boehji and those of the Crown Prince runs to .some extent ahead of, events, hut it is manifest that a long step has been taken towards this achievement. Attacked as they .are from the west, and with the Aisne behind them, tho German rvvniicj on the Vesle arc undoubtedly in ;i nosition of peril from which no ordinary effort will extricate tliem. An 'enforced retirement an-oss the Aisrie, -with its bridges under ,i'storm of bombardment from artillery and aircraft, would in any case bo a serious matter. Such a movement would certainly not be carried out without the heaviest losses. With the added complication of a French drive into the right flank of the retiring armies, the situation might well come to contain, for the Gerniars, all the elements of tragedy.

Ai,though attention is concentrated. on events east of the Oise, the .French in the latest fighting have also made considerable gains west of that river. To-day's reports show that Lassigny has fallen and that the. French now . hold practically the whole of the slopes in which the Lassigny mamf descends, on the north, to the little river Divcfcle. Noyon is so closely threatened that tho enemy's continued stand in its vicinity and in positions further north serves' chiefly to heighten the impression that the Allied onslaught has thrown his organisation out of gear, and that his desperate, resistance implies that he is under the necessity of gaining time at all cost;; in which to readjust, his arrangements for retreat.

Apart from' the'aspects of the situation north of tho Aisnc which have hecii touched upon, tho French advance, as has been said, offers a certain threat to the enemy communications centering on Laon. The threat is not as imminent as that offered to: .the flank of the German

lino along the Aisno and Vesle, but if their advance continues at its present rate it will not be long before tho French open the wide valley which runs north-east into the Laon plain. The point at which they have reached the Ailettc lies south of the Laon-La Fere massif, ail area of high, rugged country, much of it clothed in forest, which buttresses tho enemy line iit this region and covers the vital communications in rear. At the height of their advance last year the French mastered part of this natural bastion, in"ludiiig the Lower Forest of Coucy, but were halted by the still more formidable obstacle, of the massif. of St. Gobain, the area from which the Germans in more reccnt times nave bombarded Paris at long range. The wide valley extending north-east to Laon, which has been mentioned, runs between the LaonLa, Fere massif and the ridge, further east, which rises north of the Ailette Valley. Even at its present stage, and apart, from its immediate and obvious import as an attack in flank on the German positions along the Aisnc and Vesle, the French advance raises some prospects of an outflanking movement against the Laon-La Fere massif on the south. An advance up the valley of the Oisc would similarly threaten the northern flank of this great' natural stronghold. \ Thr graphic account given vasterday by Mb. Nevinson of the British offensive stroke between Albert and Arras made it clear that the immediate object aimed at was to master the strong defensive line of" the Arras-Albert railway. The cuttings and . embankments of 'the railway, which- runs through undulating country, gave the Germans a series of ready-made and.exceedingly formidable defensive positions. It is not yet. clear hbw far tho object of the attack was attained, but'unofficial reports, including that which states that Achiet-le-Grand has been captured, imply , that a fairly extended foothold has been gained east of- tho railway. The • only • details available at time of writing of' tho part taken by the New Zealan tiers are supplied by Mb. PiihcivAi/ Philljps. He makes tho satisfactory report that our troops scored a rapid success on Wednesday, and took two hundred prisoners, and that- the number of prisoners was much greater than that of their own casualties. •