Nelson Evening Mail TUESDAY, OCTOBER, 15, 1918. FOCH'S GREAT ENVELOPMENT PLAN.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LII, Issue 248, 15 October 1918, Page 4

Nelson Evening Mail TUESDAY, OCTOBER, 15, 1918. FOCH'S GREAT ENVELOPMENT PLAN.

I Ji\ connection witlr'.the peace offensive munched by -Germany it-should not be forgotten that; she", definitely sought a military decision .this year, for-'' it was her only chance.'. Great .initial' successes were gained !but there was fail ure so far as'* the -maiii object was concerned, namely, t-o separate .the Eng--I'sh and the French armies:* The Allies ! fought with, great' courage and deterj miriation and the German tide spent I itself, and -when it was at .the 1 turning- | point. General Foch, who had bided hi e time, struck with the forces he had ! been reserving for that purpose. Enj velopment is the nightmare of the j modern, strategist when he is compell-, • '• ed ■ to fight on the defensive. In turn, '.Foch devoted his attention to'the salients the German- advance had made ' in the ATTied line. While the Germans, were'-Heavily hammered in.'..the centre of these salients the main pressure ■was' exerted - against the sides, threatening the enemy .with .;.encirclement. No such movement, in conditions such as those prevailing on the Western front, has been completely successful for the enemy generally has tim-e to get most of his forces away, but he suffers great losses' if the threats -on th e wings are strong, enough to endanger the whole/line. In more open •warfare, the greatest success of the encircling movement "was . that in Palj estino when General Alleriby's troops | broke through |the. enemy positions i north of Jaffa, where the Turkish ! right wing rested on the Mediterranean, and then sweeping' round with of cavalry, •■ encircled the (Turkish army and placed it/ between j the' hammer and the anvil. On the ! Western front ; at th© present time great -wedges have ibeen driven into the German lines with, the object of endangering - positions oh either side land threatening large, numbers - of Ger- £ mans with envelopment. For instance, j north, and south' of the St. QuenfcirH, ' Camlbrai advance, the almost impre.gi -j cable German positions, so far as fronI tal attacks.' , are concerned, are Wing •given up owing to the danger, of enY ■velopment. So rapidly have the Allies driven in . these wedges- -that the whole German line is imperilled aid .startling .developments .may occur at any -moment. To-day's report of;"a new offensive in Flanders, shows another phase in iFoch's great plan. Not only (have'.. the Germans bee n . ithreatened with envelopment, .. but these greatj salients have ; greatly increased the lines' that they hold- and thereby intensified -their man-power 'difficulties; C'iviously. Germany's great difficulty is to retire to her own 'frontier withj out. envelopment; by- the - Allies. • At [ this r moment comes, .the: German,. peacp (move and the, acceptance of J President, j Wilson's fourteen points which means j retirement -to '\ tihe 'frontier;. If Ger- { many could withdraw• her -forces she jwrald bo 'in a position infinitely safer I than" the one : : she'. 'Hence the move. Once back to a shorter line Germany would be' able to'treatany."' agreement as a "scTap of' paper,' -fpr th & Hun's Ibelievo; that hot ■ only may agreements be broken,, but that ' they should be broken, if there is any 1 gain to the Fatherland in so doing. I The fact thai the German move ■ is | hum'bug from "beginning- to -end hae been i realised in Allied, countries. The military party has not given over control of affairs to the people, however eager they may- be .to induce Presi';'dent Wilson to (believe that they have. ,'As late as 1914, Professor Delbruck, the successor ■ of .-Treitschke -in the j chair of histoTy in Berlin TTniversity,

wrote with obvious truth: "Anyone who has any familiarity at all with, our. officers and. general s knows that iit will take another Sedan, inflicted on v.s, instead of (by' us, before they will acquiesce in the control of the army by the' Germam Parliament." 'lhe German autocracy is face to face with its Sedan on th e Western front. Already the position is>' forcing the German people ,to learn the true lesson of the war, and to abandon the fake dreams of conquest and dominion. No attempt is here made to deal with the great problem as to what extent the German people must [be punished for their guilt. But it is !a fact that when the German people | take tho direction of .their destinies in theii- own hands, the mainspring of militarism and the Prussian cult of power will be destroyed. For in a democratic 'State, the State is the people,' not a class covetous of dominion and power. And the policy of a people tends to concern, itself not with the glory of the State, (but with the welfare of the community, , and to be guided, not by the immoral principle that power is law, but by the same standards of justice, equality and freedom which it follows ifo its own- internal affairs. The Allies will never agree to allow the Huns to escape the Sedan that threatens them on thg. Western front ito-day for it is the only safe way to. 'rid the world of the nightmare of German militarism.