THE ALLIED OFFENSIVE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16980, 14 October 1918, Page 4

THE ALLIED OFFENSIVE.

The enemy's resistance on the I western front has bmi so completely I overwhelmed cm two important sectors that the situation of a largo proportion of the German forces is gravely imperilled. The penetration a the Beaurevoir-Masnieros lino by the British un Wednesday was followed on Friday by the advance of the French and American armies in the Champagne and the Argoane. Or these vital sectors the Germans have, maintained a stubborn resist- . anee since the opening of the attack ft fortnight ago, but the offensive, has been pressed unremittingly, and' the reduction of the last element* I of the defence enabled the French cavalry and infantry to pour out into the Champagne pain, driving the enemy before them. Simultaneously the American force? further cast resumed their advance along the valley of the Mease As a result of theso operations the Allies have pasred beyond the formidable obstacle of 'the Argonne forest, have secured control of the Gap of Grand Pre, which is the strategical key to the whole of this -front, and have united in the advance against the main lines of the enemy's communications. The situation on the British' front is no [ess promising. The breaking of the German front between Cambrai and St. Quentin has undermined the defence of the Lille region, and Sir Douglas Haig's forces arc moving steadily forward through the dense] vbuilt industrial region of the Pas de Calais. Already they are at the outskirts of Douai, and within reach of the Lille-Valenciennes railway. In its general features, the effect of the allied offensive has been the complete penetration of the enemy's defensive system on wide fronts, and a rapid advance into the plains of the Scheldt and the Champagne. The German forces on the inter* mediate sectors are thus in immediate danger of envelopment, and the gradual retreat from the Aisne heights has become almost precipitate. French and Italian forces have rapidly completed the conquest of the Chemin des Dames ridge, while the massif of the Gobain forest is already outflanked, and must soon be aban doned by the enemy. On every part,of the front, from the Lys to the Moselle, the enemy is in retreat -on the whole, systematic and controlled retreat, but subjected to such close pursuit and relentless pressuro that the extrication of thr> major portion of his forces is growing hourly more difficult.