September 1918

September 6

Germans Retreat On 150-Mile Line

Continuing their pressure along the front from Rheims to Ypres, Allied forces are pushing back the Germans on nearly the entire 150-mile line. Telling progress has been made in particular from the French and the Americans along the southern part of the front. The French are before the old Hindenburg Line along a considerable stretch in the sector where they are closing in upon the bastion of St. Gobain, the key of the German defensive system in the West.

Further north the enemy armies are still retreating before the French and the British, who are capturing town after town as they make rapid strides towards a line from which the Germans attacked in their offensive last March.

The Americans have moved up along the Aisne Line, reaching the ground immediately south of the river. The Germans north of the stream appear inclined to hold there, but there seems to be no question that they will speedily be forced to resume their rearward march and not halt it again until their old line of March is reached.

German People Resistant Under Setbacks In War

Public opinion in Germany is starting to become resistant because of the Allies’ increasing successes. There are plenty of signs that Germany is rapidly losing confidence as she sees her armies hurled from their former apparently impregnable positions and asked to accept a never-ending list of disastrous defeats.

The Pan-German newspapers seem to think it is their duty to shame German slackers and publish fiery articles under such headlines as "Let us thrash our enemies," and, "Are we downhearted? No." The Cologne Gazette says that the judgment of future generations will condemn the country's fainthearted sons.

Other papers remind the Germans that the Allies will turn them into slaves if they lose the war. Yet, in spite of all this forcible feeling of heroism, Germany is so deeply dejected that it is questionable whether a sudden military victory would cheer her for any length of time.

Public opinion is also easy on account of the war in which the government is treating the Spanish ultimatum as a sign of weakness. It is realized that should Spain side with the allies it would naturally result in the other seafaring neutral nations of Europe sooner or later getting into line with the Allies. Germany, it is felt, cannot now afford the quadruple threat of Dutch, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish Armies on her northern and northwestern frontiers.

Look For Allied Victory In 1919

All military authorities agree that the Germans will take a stand for the winter far back of their present lines, but the exact line will depend upon the fortunes of war for the next two or three weeks.

A military decision for the Allied cause is believed to be reasonably certain in 1919, when the United States swings fully into the battle. By that time the Germans will be outnumbered in men, the morale of the new allied troops will be superior to that of the worn German fighters, supplies will be inexhaustible for the allies and scarce for the Germans, and every practical military asset will be possessed in excess by the Allies over the Germans.

It is expected that the Germans, realizing all these facts, will devote their attention to making their last line of defense so strong that they will claim a military decision for either side seems improbable; therefore, in the interest of humanity, a negotiated peace should be entered into. Of course, it must be entered into at once, before the Allies strengthen their arm for the final crushing blow.

The coming winter will be utilized for the spread of propaganda while the Germans are frantically strengthening their line of defense, wherever it may be located after the battles of the next few weeks.

September 13

Decisive Struggle Of War Underway

With French and American troops striking on a wide front South and East of Verdun the greatest battle - perhaps the decisive struggle of the war - may have begun.

Early reports show that this first employment of Gen. Pershing's new Army is on a wide front covering twenty miles. Apparently the initial effort is to force the enemy out of the St. Mithiel salient, which he has held since 1914.

There is no doubt that the Allies have struck a blow that they have had in preparation ever since they determined to withhold the bulk of the American Army from the fighting until the stage was set for decisive action.

Gen. Pershing has been concentrating his Army for some weeks in this region. To the west, all long the front line south of Verdun, where the French line stands parallel to the Meuse, the French are driving ahead to pinch the enemy out of the salient. The French operation forms one claw of the greater pincer movement of which the Americans are evidently the cutting edge. Success for the Americans would mean abandonment by the Germans of all territory in the salient.

It is strongly believed that this battle is only the prelude to a greater effort to turn the whole German line and possibly to cut so deeply into his position along the Verdun front that he might be compelled to abandon much territory including Alsace and Lorraine.

Allied Offensive Enters Hardest Phase

The Allied offensive is now to undergo its hardest phase. In July the Allies seized the initiative from the Germans. In August and the first week of September they exploited local successes with the result that the Germans were compelled to fall back to the positions from which they emerged to make their great attack on March 21.

This is an amazing achievement, but a wholly limited achievement, as Ludendorff's main army has not been broken. Victory in this war, as in all wars, can only come when the enemy armies are broken. Local successes like those that have been won in recent weeks are useful, as they permit the victors to gain valuable communications and occupy important positions. They also depress the spirit of the enemy and they raise the spirits of the Army's whining.

We may be sure that the allies will now make every possible effort to prevent Ludendorff from stabilizing his front, even momentarily, on the old Hindenburg Line. He has been preparing for the present emergency for at least a month, and we must expect the climax of all the fighting of the offensive to come in the next ten days. The Allies’ larger purposes have been blocked and the Allies suffer a strategic check if Ludendorff is able to pin down Allied advances on the present front.

The Germans must accept this defensive battle under adverse conditions or continue their retreat. If they accept battle they may be beaten completely and we may have the decisive military success of the war. But if they retreat, declining battle, then what the Allies gain will be merely territorial and the decisive engagement will be postponed - probably until next year.

But the Allies should do well to recognize that on the military side they are only at the end of the first stage of a great operation. The Germans have made a successful retirement from a vicious situation. Their retirement has been expensive. We do not know whether the Germans have obtained the main object of their retreat, which was to regain freedom of action, but we believe that he has not, judging from the circumstances of his retreat.

If we are wrong and Ludendorff has retrained freedom of action, he will now endeavor, by local counter offensives, to regain the initiative and compel the Allies to abandon their plans to protect his Armies from the Allied offensive.

On the other hand, if he has not regained freedom of action, and it is difficult to believe that he has, Ludendorff will continue his retreat to the Belgian frontier. This will entail the surrender of much French territory and it will involve losses of prisoners and guns, but it will postpone a decision until Ludendorff feels that he has positioned his troops to take action.

We are not to be confused by territorial gains, because the sacrifice by the Germans of the region between the Hindenburg Line and the Belgian frontier will not gravely weaken German capacity for resistance either on the military or economic side. All that counts on this side of the Rhine is the German military power plus the morale of the Army. We may win the war without a great military victory if we destroy the German morale because a decisive battle is fought, but failing this, we must have the victory, and up to the present hour, Ludendorff retains the liberty of action necessary to enable him to retreat, and postpone a decisive battle if he chooses.

September 20

American Victory Is Masterstroke

The American Armies’ maiden effort as an independent force in the World War is regarded by the French press as nothing less than a master-stroke.

The St. Mihiel salient was of great importance as a base for the enemy drive and in losing that position it was a sign that the general military situation forced upon the Germans is getting worse and will cost the Germans dearly.

It is the first time the American Army alone has launched an offensive on a great scale, though it won’t be the last. From the showing it has made the Germans are able to see that they have to reckon with ardent, enthusiastic and capable troops.

French newspapers are printing battlefront dispatches in the largest type and accompanying them with maps and explanations regarding the ground fought over. No one doubts that the effort was crowned with full success. It may be said at once that Gen. Pershing’s shocked Army has given fresh proof of the very high value of the American troops.

Speaking of the German boast, they are executing an orderly retreat from the American attacks at the St. Mihiel salient. General March, Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, said that the German communiqué failed to note that the Germans had left 14,000 men behind. Referring to the military value of the elimination of the St. Mihiel salient, Gen. March said that it would shorten the battle line by 22 miles and give the Allies a better railway base.

Along the battle line American attention is directed chiefly at the front in Lorraine, where the Americans are under fire from the fortress of Metz, to which the Germans withdrew their units from the St. Mihiel salient. Along this front American forces are on the threshold of Germany.

The victory of Gen. Pershing's men has had more than a merely local effect. German lines to the southeast have been weakened by the terrific blow dealt along the heights of the Meuse, while to the northwest the Germans are forced to adopt themselves to the new menace which has taken from them the cornerstone of their positions to the east of Verdun.

Pressure against the Germans on the Western front shows no sign of abating. In the region of Metz the enemy is reported to be burning towns in the valleys, probably in preparation for retirement to the Hindenburg Line.

As a result of Gen. Pershing's victory in the St. Mihiel salient, all eyes are fixed upon Metz. If the fort should fall, Alsace-Lorraine would fall as well. The work is not to be undertaken lightly.

A direct attack upon Metz is unthinkable, not merely because of the forts, which are far more modern and infinitely stronger than those ever done, but because of the lines of defense which the Germans have newly constructed upon the circle of hills surrounding the old French city since the war began.

We must recognize that Metz is the foundation of the German defense, not merely of the old frontier, but of all the country between the Rhine and the Belgian and French frontiers. If Metz should fall, a permanent stay of the German Armies west of the Belgian frontier would be impossible, a defense of Alsace-Lorraine could not be maintained and the Germans would have to retire to the line of the Rhine.

More than this, Metz defends the great iron district on the Luxembourg frontier. To lose this iron district would be to lose the main source of indispensable war material; it would be tantamount to the loss of the war itself.

Allied Offensive In Macedonia

The Allied offensive in Macedonia, which began on September 15, is being pursued with every success. Reorganized Serbian forces, aided by French units, are attacking Bulgarian positions in the mountains of the Serbo-Greek border. The early success of the Allied troops may lead to a general offensive in this area, with the purpose of cutting off Turkey.

A movement of this character carried to completion would crush Bulgaria and free Serbia and a large part of the oppressed nationalities of the Balkans. The front where the fighting is going on is almost shut off from the world, and, except for official reports, there are few details known as to the progress of the Allied forces.

Latest reports from the Macedonian front would seem to indicate that the rather restricted front over which the first assault was launched is now being lengthened, especially to the east. Maps of the region where the battle is being fought showed that the Allies have carried valuable positions on high ground, and that it is possible that they have passed through the zone where the heart of resistance may be expected.

Allied progress is so rapid that they have not been able to count the prisoners and war material taken. New regiments thrown in by the Bulgarians have been forced to retreat with the others. The Bulgarians have been defeated completely, and the Serbian troops are pursuing them day and night.

September 27

Bulgaria Asks For Armistice

Allied successes in Macedonia have resulted in a breach driven between the eastern and western flank of the German Bulgarian forces, whose main line of communications has been cut. The Bulgarians are in full retreat. German and Bulgarian reinforcements thrown in to check the Allied advance have been forced to join the retreat of their comrades who have been forced to retreat 40 miles since September 15.

The Bulgarian front has proved itself impenetrable so often that the first news of the attack could arouse no eager expectations. The topographical difficulties have been so repeatedly explained - mountain ranges twisting and doubling of one another in the little green fashion, the lack of roads in the existence of deep ravines - that the people here had come to regard the possibilities of this front as limited.

On Wednesday, Premier Malinoff of Bulgaria asked for an armistice with the Allies. The Germans are demanding that Malinoff be dismissed immediately, court-martialed and shot for high treason. It is believed that the Premier's action was the result of Germany's refusal to send sufficient reinforcements to Bulgaria.

News from Bulgaria is the first indication of any move made by the Bulgaria area to approach her enemies with consolatory proposals. The messages in their outlines would seem to indicate that the Premier has taken matters into his own hands and attempted to initiate a peace move for Bulgaria's independence from the dynasty. A move so made may ordinarily be considered in a broad way to amount to a revolutionary act, and possibly points to the execution of a coup d'état in Sofia.

With widespread discontent over the prolongation of the war, news from Bulgaria states that the country was in a somewhat disorganized state, and the further prosecution of which the Bulgarian people were able to see little advantage to them. There can be no doubt that the successful offensive of the Allies is now in progress and Macedonia has accentuated this tendency.

It is known that the Premier, who took power in June, was friendly to the Allies in the early stages of the war, before Bulgaria's entrance, and there had not been predictions that he might, in some way, seek to use his influence towards extracting Bulgaria from the unenviable position which she would occupy in the event of a German defeat in the war, which doubtlessly appears to be impending.

Meanwhile, rumors are again spreading that the Ottoman government will seek a separate peace. The Sultan himself says he would favor a separate peace if he could obtain favorable conditions from the Allied powers.

The situation in Romania has become alarming for the Central Powers. The Romanian peasants made enthusiastic by the victories of the Allied countries, are beginning to openly resist the German and Austrian military. Local revolts have occurred at a number of places and the Romanian government has sent agents to Berlin and Vienna to obtain a mitigation of Austrian rule. The Romanian government pointed out that if its request is rejected they will be unable to guarantee the maintenance of order and avoid the eventualities of a crisis.

Allies Advance In Palestine

In Palestine, Gen. Allenby has virtually wiped out enemy forces opposing him. He has captured more than 25,000 prisoners and 250 guns and continues to push forward between the Jordan and the Mediterranean coast.

On the Mediterranean coast of Palestine, British cavalry has occupied the ports of Haifa and Acre, marking an advance from just north of Jaffa of more than 60 miles. Since the present operation began the route of the Turks in the area west of the Jordan has compelled the Turks to retreat. Allied forces are pursuing them closely.

Americans Smash Forward

American forces between the Argonne and the Meuse continue to press northward through the hilly wooded country northwest of Verdun. The Americans are well beyond the original German lines of March and hold important observation points along the front.

In the Argonne Forest itself, the Allies are apparently making little effort to move northward. The Allied command seemingly believes that the forest will be cleared automatically as the Americans and French progress on either side. Already the Germans facing the French in the forest have been outflanked on the east.

The new British attack, launched Friday morning, is north of the scene of operations that occurred on the last fortnight looking to the encirclement of St. Quentin and threatens the German defenses north and west of Cambral. South of the Sensee River the British are well within the Hindenburg Line and are on ground untouched previously by heavy fighting. They are just west of the German line and the new operation is probably planned to outflank the Hindenburg position. The French and American thrust further south is aimed to pivot the north, resulting in the complete encirclement of all Germans within the Hindenburg Line.

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