PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3337, 27 February 1918, Page 57

PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

WHERE IS THE AMERICAN SECTOR? "'

At the end of last October it was announced that General Pershing's troops were finishing their intensive training in the trenches "of a quiet sector on. the French front." On'November 2 the Germans made it known that they had captured some "North Americans" in the neighbourhood of the Marne Canal—l. am giving this information as from the magazine supplement' of the New York Times for December 9,. from which also I have taken the map appearing with this Chat, though it is on a reduced scale to save space; but as the essential names Verdun, Metz, Saarburg, Strassburg, Toul, Nancy, Luneville, Epinal, and Belfort are discernible the map answers its purpose. Accompanying the map is an article " Where Americans Fight: Pershing's Men in Trenches Facing Lorraine. —Military History of Area which was Scene of Great Battles in 1914." After a paragraph or two of introduction (in which, among other things, the writer says the information "has passed the censors of three of 'the Allies—does he' mean France, Britain, and the United States?) he asks the question: Will the American troops who are now finishing their intensive training on this sector later occupy the front hereabout and independently develop it against the enemy? His answer is an implied affirmative, and for two reasons. First, "it is the only front through which war can be carried into the heart of Germany with all the strategic and moral advantage that this implies". So far, Germany has viewed the conflict from the balcony, as it were. It is necessary that she should be brought face to face with it in her home. Moreover, the German positions here give her' command of the iron mines of the Bassin de Briey, which furnish her with 80 per cent, of the steel used -in her armaments, and without which, according to the -expert Herr Schrodter, the Dusseldorf ironmaster, she could not carry on the war for three months." You may remember that, some months ,-ago, I touched upon this very point in a Chat I had upon the iron supplies of Germany and France. On the accompanying map Bassin de Briey is shown a little north of and between Verdun and ivietz. Notice how dangerously near to it the French are,

now they are in possession of Verdun. Another great ironfield is the basin of the Saar, in, which are Saarbrucken, Saargemund, Saarunion, and Saarburg, the last-named being on the Rhine-Marne Canal and a little west of the boundary between Alsace and Lorraine. Notice, again, how near the battle line is to this area. You can see, then, that Americans or French, or both, occupying in strength the position between Verdun and Belfort, threaten dangerously the very vitals of Germany. It is said that Pershing and others controlling American strategy are against depending upon attrition, and think it more humane and costing less life and treasure to concentrate on one essential position, pursue an active offensive, and push it home. It has even been said that the American military heads are going on their own, not being satisfied with- the co-ordinating of forces if that means not adopting their plans. If this be so, will the French and the British give the Americans a free hand in. this sector? Do recent developments mean that Pershing is going to sink his individuality in the general co-ordina-tion? Again, will the French and the British have full confidence that the Americans will be able to ho'ld their own and to advance without a stiffening of British and French? Still, again, will an active offensive be • undertaken in this sector? Is it a bluff? If the Germans are going to take' the offensive, is it the Allies' policy now simply to hold their ground where the Germans will attack strongly, at the same time keeping the Germans on the tension, finding where the weakest link is, and driving home there? But the Americans have a second reason for fighting on this sector with hopes of success. "It has the approvai ?.{ at least two of the foremost French strategists^—the Cominander-in-Chie? in the field, General Retain, and the man who fought here one of the bloodiest and most decisive battles of the war. General Ca^telnau."

Why, then, did not these generals back up their opinion by trying to break through as they think the Americans can? They did try; and what is interesting, now that some say the politicians have interfered with Sir William Robertson, is that these two French generals were denied a free hand. The article says: "The former, in December, 1916, made an offensive on this front the quid pro quo of his receiving the supremo command, but had to give way to the politicians of Paris and London. And General Castelnau has never lost faith in its vulnerability to the Germans and to Germany, but has never been able to overcome obstruction to it from the same quarters." •—; then, these Frenoh authorities favour an*«attacl- on this sector, and the Americans.believe in it, will they go their own way? Will they refuse to be regarded as " mere auxiliaries of either France or England"? "Free from all political and diplomatic bias, American troops are engaged in the war for the sole purpose of whipping the Germane. Hpw can they better perform this work than by carrying the war into the enemy's own courftry ovev the front that has the approval of a Petain, of a Castelnau—the front of Lorr raine?" . - "'.../. J It is not so well known as it. should be that, roughly speaking, Nancy was the centre of terrific fighting at the opening of the war, and that in an area perhaps 30 miles square battles were fought as important as that of the Marne. In this "quiet sector on.the Frenoh front'* more than 40.000 dead Germans lie buried, "the flower of the army', of the Crown. Prince of Bavaria, and for 28 days in August and September, 1914, five French, army corps under Castelnau fought'seven ' under the Crown Prince." -.<■'" But why did we not hear more about"" this at the time? " The reason is simple: While it was in progress the great Ger-'-;. man advance on Paris was going on; _ it reached its climax simultaneously with, the battle of the Marne, and its end came with the retreat of the Germans to the Aisne. There great operations diverted military as well as popular attention from the east to the west, and robbed the decisive contest for the mastery of Lorraine of its relative importance. ' When in August, 1914, Joffre, as Chief of the General Staff, took command of the armies in the field, Castelnau, who be'came his Chief of Staff, was sent to take ; charge of the eastern armies concentrated on Chalons, Nancy, Epinal, Langres, ,and Besancon (look up atlas and find these), where troops were kept at full war strength in times,of peace. Most of the fighting, however, * took place, as I have said, around Nancy. The French were handicapped through the want of longrange guns ancL had to retreat from Alsatian territory; but Castelnau was told f. by Joffre that he must not allow the Germans to cross ■•the Moselle. Taking his stand on the tableland north of Nancy, he defied all efforts of the Germane to dislodge him. The Moselle was not crossed, and since then;■ this sector has been a quiet one. Is it to come into prominence again:?* If the Americans are to take the responsibility of holding it, and -maybe" advance, we shall certainly, hear of it. I intended saying a little about what ia ,

known, as the gap between Nancy an 4 Epinal, and a second gap between Epinal and Bclfort; but I must stop. One word in conclusion. The gap between Toul and Epinal Is known as the Trouee de Mirecourt, and through here " is the route favoured since 1871 a« the French way of invading Germany, tho idea being to push through to the Rhine between Frankfurt and Mannheim, cutting between Metz and Strassburg, and masking these in passing. , : The article concludes thus: "And now this front, after an almost unbroken silence of more than three years, is again claiming the importance it should never have been allowed to lose. To America it is trebly important .is the scene of the first fighting of Pershing's men." It will be interesting in the light of what I have written to watch developments.