FRENCH ASCENDANCY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16925, 10 August 1918, Page 8

FRENCH ASCENDANCY.

DEFEAT. OF THE GERMANS, • ••-..' /• i ■'■'.'.' \.-; v v ) ■;:. . RETREAT AN ADMISSION. . : - ■■['■;.* '"'•. LONDON. July 30. QilE Times in a'. leading article to-day states:—The idea is current that the Germans will not stay on the Vesle, but will return to the Aisne, which is one of the finest defensive positions in France, whew it would be . difficult to dislodge them. The complete abandonment o» the new salient wduld depress Germany, but the general staff is still ( able to bamboozle the civilian population. It is doubtful whether the relative success of the retirement will continue. The dense masses packed into the narrowing salient may suffer heavily as the pursuit develops, The Paris correspondent of the Times states that expert comments reviewing the latest phase of the battle reflect tne marked sense of the French ascendancy, and the readiness to meet any enemy stand.

General Maistre, interviewed, said: i" The incomparable dash and vigour of ,tho Americans will euabio us to illustrate Napoleon's aphorism that victory rests with the big battalions. The Germans have suffered a great defeat." M. Henri Bidu, in the Journal des Debats, says:—"The enemy reports the occasional capture of a hundred or so, but we are taking five or ten times that number."

Lo Temps believes that the Germans are planning an attempt at fierce revenge, for which tho Allies aro fully prepared. The news of the German retreat in the most, momentous since Foch made- his counter-attack, for it is tantamount to an enemy admission of defeat. The oostinate resistance which the Germars opposed to the -patient, but relentless, - pressure exercised by the Allies led many to behave that the enemy commaud. wotld rather sacrifice its troops in a hopeless struggle than order a retirement, which would finally shatter the belief of the German people in the invincibility of their leaders. It had even been suggested that the enemy was preparing a counter-attack, or at least, that he might stand on a new line from Soissons to ChatUlon, for tne ruggedness of the country arid the huge forces still at his disposal made a surprise not out of the question. The successful British advance west of Rheims, after the capture of Vrigny, was the first blow which . made the enemy realise the danger to his forces in -the south. Then followed the fall of vital point* on the west of the salient—Ville Montoire and Oulchy le Chateau— the capture of Reuil and the French adVance north of Pont a Binson gave the) Allies a new - section of railway, and onabled an incessant and murderous cannonade of the five-mile strip on the Marne, between Verneuil and Chatillon, to which the. Germans were still desperately clinging. The position of the Crown Prince's troops absorbs interest beyond any phase of the war since von Kluck was racing the British and French for the coast.