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About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (June 23, 1918)
THE OREGON SUNDAY JOURNAL, PORTLAND, SUNDAY MORNING, JUNE-3, 1913. PARIS IS GERMANS' 1 MSSaaaSMBaHeSSSWMWaMeiHMMMMSSSBiMMW " ".Opining of Enemy's Third Operation Directed Against Paris on ; ; June 9 Between Montdidier and the Aisn Makes Clear That I Girman Offensive for 1918. 1 $-Aimed at French Capital. WHERE GERMAN OFFENSIVE FOR 1S18 IS CENTERED '9 J--".-t .- Town N of able as Place of Welcome of Marie Antoinette,, as Point Where Joan of Arc Was Caught and Birthplace of' t'Ace of Aces," ; J . 10 (P.OMPTF.ifLlVF, -.-r l f JUL -XJU V-F X ,1 m.J r r - i . i ni ( - n i ' - i r i .r-wm ijrf--r -J rr r. - sluj m j i - t ua- - " - "" - . - . - J " - ' -- - 1 By FRANK H. SIMONDS Coprrtsbt, 1918, br th Trlbun AMOciatiun, the Maw Tork Tribune. jfN Sunday, June 9, the Germans opened on the front west of the Oise and ' between that river and Montdidier, their third operation directed toward (rrtt of the present ampain. The first was included in their f reatest at- tack, tbat.of March at; their second led to the passage of the Aisne and the ? 'arrival tt the Marne, following the assault of My 27. Two weeks separate f the last two, while the March stroke was followed after t little longer delay by f heir 'attack in Flanders. , , u i - j It is the view of Trench military writers, now accepted in the allied world generally, that the ultimate objective of 4he German offensive tor ivis is Paris. Some time before the end of the present campaign it is assumed to be the expectation and the plan of. the German high command to reach the walls of the French eapitai, and, as a final threat to enforce their peace tsrms'.rive the French the choice' between the destruction of their capital 3 and a surrender on SUCH, conditions as T ' ' i . . . . 1 A ! nqcn an oojecuve preupjo u - delve defeat of the French military es tablishment between Parle and the pres ent front," the permanent Immobilisation pt th British on their line between tne fomrn And the sea. and the failure of the Americans- to arrive In numbers and in condition ta change the situation by : restoring to. the'allies.that superiority In urrfbsra possessed by them up to the moment the collapse of .Russia gave Ger nairjr.ft.lrea bftnd lRtJi.weet, J , Meal Terrt ale Cam pals ''.,!tit, recognlalng the apparent sound-H lteaa-ef the French appraisal ot uertnan t purpose, it la eaaentlal to point out at the outset that it is hardly likely that the Germane will henceforth occupy all their t time and effort upon the front which , we may now call the rariBlan front ; on the contrary, we are almoat certain to see other blows, like that which was truck In Flanders on April 9, designed to hold allied forces away from the main ' field of action and to achieve local nuc . t cesses which might contribute materially te the general weakening of the allied " armies and the more complete weakening Bearing In mind this' necessary quall- fieatlon, 1 mean in the present article to '- discuss the campaign for Paris as it is t new viewed by the various military com - mentators of the allied nations and de- vote some space to a consideration of the L geographical and other circumstances t of what promises to be the greatest and , the most terrible of all the campaigns of t human history, a campaign on the out- come of which will turri the immediate fate of our clvillxatlon and the future of ' the things that we believe in and love. I .-"j. say Immediate because I do not belteve that even a German victory In the prea- ent campaign, a thing in itself almost in- f conceivable, would fyr any long time put the domination of the world under the -1 German sword. But for a time and for Europe this might result from a victory 1 In the new advance upon Paris. Bo, in . a sense, the campaign must recall the rush of other Germanic hordes upon o Rome. system ot Frontier Forts ,' To begin at the beginning. French mil- Itary commanders had In the period fol lowing the Franco-Prussian war care - fully fortified the eastern frontier of t .France against German attack. The his- I tort routes of invasion, thbse loading ' throurh Verdun to the Champagne plain. ' through Nancy from the valley of the ' Moselle to that of the Marne. through Bel fort to the Seine, were barred by a system of Intrenched camps and de tached forts which has. with a single ex ception, survived the four years of war. . . Only between Verdun and Toul. on the front where some of our American troops - are now on duty, have the Germans been able to take even one fort in the French system, that of Fort Camp des Komains, , above St. Mlhiet, and the narrow gap , made here wadSiuickly closed. ... On the north, on the contrary, the ' situation has been quite the reverse Theoretically, the northern and easiest road to France was to be guarded by a ' aeries of forts and entrenched camps, ..' wholly comparable to the eastern system. . I VtWlw, mauoeugn ana iviei?r wrrc lu be the' centers, as Verdun, Toul and Epl- ' r nal are on the east, and between them detached forts were to cover other roads t'-mAA nllwavi tuiMln? hptwppn the main t centers of population and of resistance. . V.. . ' - j I. - " f And on any military map you may still r see these forts and camps marked- as ex v Istlng. but. In reality, they existed only - en the map, save In the case of Mau beuge. when war came four years ago. . In the time of Louis XIV Vauban, his great engineer, had erected a series of f fortifications covering the French fron r tier from, the North sea to Switzerland, ( and. In all the period of his wars, Paris had been defended at the frontier. This . continued to be the case In the early wars of the French revolution, and l these fortifications corresponded to the Maubeuge-Liiiie-Mezieres line, wmcn was - dfeni In the north in later times. But : aetuallv the enormous cost of modern fortifications and a reliance upon , treaties which declared Belgian soil neu i tral led French parliaments Into the cap- ftal blunder of leaving the northern frontier unguarded. Rtrn, Tin Mf f t - 1 Thus, In August. 1914, when Germany chose to advance through. Belgium, she I was able to reach and pass the frontier - defenses with practically no difficulty, " onuv biio xinu wun tnio uiieiiiiis itt-iuea di pteuicnaceau, i narieroi ana ivtons. in ' -1 point of fact, the French made no stand on the frontier, and Maubeuge, after a t gallant but hopeless resistance, fell while the battle of the Marpe was in prog- ress. Thus the barrier which had saved J- Parts at tho time rff the revolution , played absolutely no part in protecting ' . i, the capital In ISM. v Behind the frontier system, which ex - I tsted only on paper, the French had -. sketched, a second line of defense. This 4 . raatxl unnn tba rJtla nf Dfma l inn and La Fere and was prolonged to the 1 sea by the Somme river west of St. , f Queptin. Actually It rested upon cer I'vA tain natural defenses, -namely, the high .'nIil tn center, the Somme river on the west and the high ground and forts of Rhelma, This hiarh around hptwn tia '.' Atsne and the Olse Is so great an ob - ttacle that all the Important railways ( - and highways pass east or west of it, Rooming south either by the Oise valley : er by the depression between Solssons and Rhetma. And, In theory, the Oise j valley was covered by the forts of La V, Fere, the gaps between Soissons and J-Rheims by the fortress f Laon, the en- trenched camp of Rhetms and the de- 1 t ached forts between these two cities on " ' the high ground "north of the Aiane, but - v again. In fact, these forts were obsolete; i they were survivals of another age and , without contemporary value. ;, ', -1 The Warae' Is Crossed "W Aecerdlngly. when the Germans came south, In August, 1S14. they passed the t second' line of defenses of Paris almost wthout raalstanoe Rheimi and Laon " , ww evacuated : the line of the Somme ; U was not defended, and the Germans were ' i thus able to advance east and west of i the high ground between the Oise and the Atsne without epposttlon and ultimately 1 to reach and pass the Marne. oermany may men c noose io unci. T V.I In.... ..tin BIWV ft Will In this invasion the army of Kluck came south bv the historic northern route, passing west of the high ground and croSHing the Oise about Compiegne, while the army of Bulow pushed south between Soissons and Rheims. But hav ing reached Senlis the Kluck army in clined to the east, made its turn away from Paris and drove down through Meaux across the Marne, offering Its flank to Paris and Inviting the blow which began the battle of the Marne. After the Marne the first concern of the French was to pursue the Germans across the Atsne and drive them from the high ground between the Aisne and the Oise and the forts of Laon and Rheims, which formed the basis of the second line of French defense of the capital, the third line being the forts of Paris itself, now proved to be worthless against German siege artillery. This was the main significance of the first battle of the Aisne and of the desperate fighting about Rheims in September and early October, 1914. Allied Efforts Futile In this effort the allies failed. They passed the Atsne about Soissons ; they occupied some of the high ground in the angle between the Aisne and the Oise ; but the Germans held the northern fol-ts of Rheims, the high ground south of Iaon and north of the Aisne on the Chemin des Dames and he htghgTOUrrd Just west of the Oise ahout Noyon. In 1916, Irrthe Somme campagnJJie British and French endeavored to clear this bar rier to Paris by an attack on tho side of the Oise salient They did compel a retirement which cleared the Noyon heights and much of the high ground east of the fiver, but the Germans still clung to Laon and the St Gobain pla teau, east of the Oise and north of the Aillette. In 1917 the French under Nlvelle made a desperate effort to drive the Germans out of Laon, seeking to take the town and thus force an evacuation of the St. Gobain plateau, .from which the super- gun is now shelling Paris. At the same time a French attack east of Rheims sought to clear the Germans out of the forts to the north of the town, of which Brlmont was the most famous. But this offensive failed, Nlvelle was retired and the Germans were left still securely lodged in tho second line of defenses of the French capital defenses which. in the main, were supplied by the na ture of the country, not by artificial forts. Opening the Read to Farli Such was the situation at the begin ning of the present campaign. Three years tn whloh they had possessed tha offensive had not been enough to enable the French and British to clear the sec ond line of defenses. But they did hold a substantial portion of this line; they did hold enough of the high ground be tween the Oise and the Aisne to make it impossible for the German centv, fac ing Paris, to advance, white on the east they occupied the Chemin des Dames and the high ground immediately north of the Aisne and south of tho Aillette. West of the Oise their line faced La Fere and seemed to rest eecurely on high ground all the way north to the Scarpa, east of Arras. But on March 21, in their first and greatest operation, the Germans cleared the Oise valley as far south as Noyon. Retakfng this town, they also opened the roads west of it which descend from St. Quentin and Amiens to the Oise, which cross at Creil and Pont Ste. Max ence. Theae were the roads that Kluok followed. They lead over fairly level country right tp Paris. . On these roads the German were temporarily halted about April 1. Thereafter they shifted the weight eT their blow and sought to cut between the British and the French, but were checked before Amiens. German, Purpose Clarified As it stood at the close of this first offensive, the Germans were In posses sion of the four or five main highways leading south to Paris from Belgium, we ,Jr thft OUe- and only relatively In significant foothills lay between them and the plains of Ile-de-France. In the center they had. by their advance west or the Oise. rnmrulla tt .. back from the southern edge of the St. , Gobain plateau to a new position m, nearer the Aisne. If It were the intention of the Germans ni- Jway to est of the But" h?d.Kak2? a lonfs 8teP rward. fA f 0t !se- xween Soissons and Rheims, the French still held admir able positions, while hctwn ei and the Oise they continued to hold the K.uuim. wnicn precluded the Ger .....uoi mrougn tne center. At this ShiftliVl. ,thecamPaim the Germans shifted their attack to the north, and the allies were left In the dark as to whether lective German ob- The attack on May 27 went a long way toward clarifying the situation! This time the Germans struck between Sois sons and Rheims that is. along the rall and roads which descend from the north to Paris, east of the high ground between the Oise and the Aisne. In one Frlnf Wow the Germans thrust the French and British off the Chemin des Dames, across the Aisne and the Vesle and pushed south to the Marne. But the Marne was not their objective: their real rTV0 open the northeastern roads to Paris, as they had opened the northwestern, in March. Acwrdirily after two days of advance southward, the main German thrust was changed to a southwestward direction : in a word to ward Paris. In its turn this advance firrdnaaofateaU'TWetTy ln Last Attack Where" The Germans v ere thus, after June 4, JPossMpion of the roads leading to Parts, both east and west of the Oise. iT?"4 th 0i" he,d ne Mont-didier-Noyon, east of the river! they held h 8ois8ons-Chateau-Thierry, but " VTy ""oB were sun separated by the French center, which retained posses sion of the high ground in the angle be tween the Oise and the Aisne. Not until the Germans west of the river had pushed south to the crossings of Ihe Oise and occupied Compile could the whole front be joined and oeme active! For the moment no advance was pos sible en the Soissons-Chateau-Thlerry front because the French had brought up reserves and possessed admirable interior communications, while the Germans had moved into a country whose communica tions had been destroyed and had out run their reserves and supplies. Thus, while it was possible that the German might first indulge "in some side show, comparable with his Flanders venture after his MarRi push in Picardy, it was reasonably plain that when he resumed his drive for Paris he would attack upon the west bank of the Oise and on the front between Montdidier and Noyon, and this Is exactly what he did last Sunday. By this time he had had two months to repair his communications west of the -Oise and collect the muni tions and supplies for a new attack. Battling Toward Compiegne Now, 'roughly speaking, the situation as it existed when the German attacked JUne 9 was this: His immediate ob jective was the high ground just in front of him, south of Noyon and Las signy, the last considerable elevation be tween himself and Paris. But his ulti mate objective was the bank of the Oise, where the northern roads cross that stream north and south of Compiegne. If he could force a crossing ot the Oise between Compiegne and Creil, then the French center would have to retire not merely out of all the high ground be tween the Oise and the Aisne, but out of the wooded ground about Compiegne, south of the Aisne, which extends along the north bank of the Nonette about Senlis and offers the last but one of the natural obstacles to an Invader ap proaching Paris from the north. The last is the great forest south of the Nonette, but from the north bank of the Nonette the Germans would be within range of Paris with their siege guns and the city could be destroyed at will Once the German right wing, west of the Oise. had passed the river, south of the Aisne thnt is, about Comnlejrna if .would be possible for the center to ad vance and play Its part, while, at the proper moment, the left flank, between Soissons and Chateau-Thierry, profiting by the retirement of the French center out of the high ground and woods from Vlllers-Cotterets, south of 'Soissons to the Oise, could push on over the level. open country, which saw the great bat- tie of the Ourcq in September, 1914. As they stood on June 5, when their main advance was checked op the Solssons-Chateau-Thierry line,he Germans were hardly a dozen miles away from the northern comer of this battlefield, where Maunoury defended Paris and to which taxlcabs brought French reserves in a critical hour. Blows Elsewhere Minor Tou have, then, in brief, the situation. The first German attack, that of March, cleared the British and French out of the high ground west of the Oise and most but not quit A all of the good posi tions covering the western roads that come down from Belgium to Paris through Amiens and St Quentin. The German attack of May 27 cleared the eastern roads, which come down from Belgium, concentrate at Laon and then continue to Paris through Soissons, bor rowing the gap "between Rheims and Soissons. At the close of these two at tacks the French wings had been thrust wholly off the second line of defense of the. French capital and only the French center, between Soissons and the Oise below Noyon, still held on to a small but vital fraction of this defensive position. And with this attack, begun June -9, the Germans undertook to turn the French center out of its position by ad vancing down the main roads to Paris west of the Oise and endeavoring to force the crossings of the Oise in the rear of the French center. Meantime the German forces which had made the drive across the Aisne from Laon con tented themselves with holding their gains and organizing their strength for a new thrust when their comrades west of the Otse had temporarily shot their bolt Strategy Is Revealed But with the attack of two weeks ago the whole German conception began to be revealed in unmistakable clarity. Other blows to the north were conceiv able, a sideshow toward Verdun might be looked for as an effort to draw French reserves eastward away frui the environs of Paris. But unless they were prepared ta surrender their major purpose, namely, to get Paris, sr at least to advance near enough to the French capital to destroy it the Ger mans could not be expected to send many more divisions' in minor enter prises. ' We may say, then that any persist ence of the German in their drive west of the Oise and it is only in Its first stages as I writs these lines on June 11 will abolish the element of surprise and ' put the . allied nigh command in Region between Oise ani) the Marne against which complete possession of the necessary facts on which to base their answer to German strategy. This could not be the case as long as "it remained open to question whether the German objective was the channel or the French capital. The moment when the assailant's true and full purpose is disclosed is the mo ment when the defender really begins his operations; Advantages All With French Originally the French high command expected an attack where the blow of May 27 fell, namely, between Rheims and Soissons, and against this it was prepared. When the blow fell west of St. Quentin t had to transfer its re serves from Champagne to Picardy. Then the German struck in Champagne. But he cannot continue to mystify his opponent and the moment his plan is disclosed Foch can keep pace with each German concentration. He can calcu late within . narrow - range exactly where the next,, blow is to fall and have Ufa reserves reaqy. .. As the situation stood June 9. the French - possessed all the best of the communtcations. Paris is surrounded by a series of circular railroads, - built wun the defense ot the city tn view, and these lines remained substantially In tact, while the Germans Were divided by the French center and the flank between Chateau-Thierry and Soissons was prac tically without road or railway commu nications. On the .other hand, itwas obvious then, when the .Oerman attack was beginning, that no material advance could prove anything but sertous, and the arrival of the German right flank at the Oise between Creil and Competgne would produce a situation of utmost gravity. Paris the Xew Vrrdna The allies have put a price upon Paris. In a word, they have decided that Paris is worth so much to the allied cause that it must be defended to the limit. And this means that the -mllies will op pose their main strength to German ad vance between the present front and the French capital. They have accepted the rage of battle and obviously Intend to make a supreme effort to hold the city. This decision recalls the Verdun epi sode. At the outset the French had the choice between evacuating the hills east of the Meuse and accepting battle in the restricted territory between the Douau mont plateau and the east bank of the river. They chose the latter alternative and Verdun became a decisive battle. continued over six months, during which time the Germans endeavored to destrov French military power by annihilating the divisions and corps which were steadily, poured Into the furnace. They iaueu. veraun was saved and the Ger man defeat was complete. Now the &1 lies are accepting the battle once more within fixed limits, with their backs this time to Paris, not to any river. Mean time the Germans are following the Ver dun parallel, attacking first on the right wing ana men on the left as thev at tacked first at Deadman's hill and then about Fort le Vaux in the second phase or me ijorraine camoaiim. The present offensive, bea-un Jnn is the third step in the campaign for Paris. The first was the March 21 of- iensive from St. Quentin. The seeonri was the May 27 attack from Laon. This imra attack;, on the Montdidier-Noyon front is an effort to open the northern roads to Paris which come down from nejgium tnrough st Quentin and Amiens, urst to the-important railway and highway junction of EstrH-3 Denis and then to the crossings of the uiss ai tjreu, ront; Ste. Maxence and siur w. e. s Gum Magnate Longs For Old Bean Soup Chicago. June 22. Now that his labors in the Red Cress drive are at an end, William W. Wrigley Jr., chewing gum magnate and one of Chicago's most democratic millionaires, is roine to sume his search for a bowl of real, bean soup. Tims was when nickels were as bi to the chewing gum man as- $10,000 is to day and it was then that he made the acquaintance of the bean. soup that has neen tne QDjeci ox nis search ever sines l oecarae weaiuiy. "When I was a kid in Philadelphia used to have a nickel to spend for lunch," ns said, recently. 'There was little restaurant .there where they gave a big bowl of bean soup and a big roll for B cents. I used to walk up and down, looking in the window, wondering how the pie er the cake would taste, but I always went back to the bean soud. "Now I would give 10 for just one more bowl of that bean soup I have the German strategy for 1918 is eaten bean soup from New Tork to San Francisco and from New Orleans to the Canadian line. But it was not the same old bean soup. Every That is the war-time spirit of true-blue Americans the spirit the warr The day of talking patriotism is passed the time practice it: Your government has officially set Friday, June 2Sth National War Savings' Pay - . On June 28th every American will be summoned to enlist in thefgreat "army that stays at home." On that day every loyal American should "sign the pledge" to invest a definite amount in War Savings Stamps each month during 1918. ' We 5. 5. Cost $4:17 in June V -Worth $5.00 Jan. 1, 1923 Help the Fighters Fight On June 28th - iiisntrin tmrrsD states - orjrvzjtXMZNT directed. "If I ever find the cook that made that S cent bean soup I will give him a Job for life to do nothing but cook me up a bowl when I get the longing for it" a Family Pledge Yourself and Encourage Others to Buy W. S. S. (from Ut National Gaasiaphis Uasaiine.) 1 j Compiegne. the most Important city, along the tine of the attempted advance of the Germans ory the . Noyon-Mont-didter front, is situated en the southeast bank of the River Oise, .Just a pall he low its confluence with the Aisne. The city, with a population of 17.000 at. the outbreak of the war, is 62 miles by rail northeast of "Paris on the Parls-8t Quentin railway, 45 miles southeast of Amiens and 25 miles west of Soissons. " It is one of the most Interesting cities In this- part of France, having been known as Compendium in the days of Clovis. Its beautiful location, on the northwestern fringe of the superb for est of Compiegne, made It a favorite country residence of many French monarchs. The forest, which contains more than 15,000 acres and is 58 miles tn circumference, was for centuries a great royal hunting' preserve. It was Louis XV who commissioned Gabriel to build the magnificent palaee which is still well preserved, and it was that monarch who here welcomed Marts Antoinette, the 111 fated daughter of Maria Theresa, to France when at the age of 15 she became the bride of the dauphin, the future Louis XVI. It was here, also, that that other Austrian princess, Marie Louise, spent her brief but happy honeymoon with Napoleon I As an evidence of the emporor's in fatuation for his bride tan infatuatloi which caused Metternlch to write tha "he is so evidently In love With her that he cannot conceal his feelings and all his customary ways of life are; sub ordinate to her wishes) there is still to be seen in the park surrounding the palace an iron trellis which ha ordered built to remind the l-y ear-old empress of her favorite trellis at Schonbrunn. This Incident is reminiscent of the de votion displayed by. the Babylonian king who built one of -the seven won ders of the world the hanging gar dens in order that his bride might not be without her native mountain scenery even on the plains of the Euphrates. .It was at Compiegne that tne of the saddest episodes in French history oc curred the capture of Joan of Arc by the Burgundians In 1430. followed by her martyrdom at the stake just 12 months later In Rouen. Before the war Compiegne was an In dustrial town of considerable Import Fighting ance. Its chief activities being boat building, rope making, distilling and the ' manufacture of chocolate, machinery.' sacks, chemicals and hats. It also car- f rled on a thriving river borne traffio in ; timber and coal, and its asparagus -farms were famous. In 1814 Compiegne offesed a stern re--: slstance to the Prussians, and tn the Franco-Prussian conflict of 1S70-U71 it was one of the headquarters of the . , German army. ' - Now and for all time to come. Com plegne will be dear to the hearts of the French people, net because it was once ,' a favorite residence of Louis XV, Louis XVI. Napoleon I. Louis Philippe and Napoleon HI. but because on Christmas Eve. 1S4. there was born here Georges Guynemer, "Ace of Aces," the foremost airman of France, who before his tragic death at the age of 2S had won every honor that his grateful country could bestow upon tb rnohies defender. au w. s.a. . Author of 'My Dawg' Song Gets Married Kansas City. Mo.. June 22. J. Frank Neighbors, 47, business man and author' of the song that almost made Champ Clark president is married. Mr. Neighbors, who Is connected with : a Miami. Okla.. mining company, went to the courthouse, and, after securing a license te wed Edna Brooks, 18, a book keeper, handed the marriage license clerk a sheet of paper. "You may re 1 earns this to the Kansas City papers." said Neighbors. "I have already written the story." The article was h waded : "Miami. Okla., Business Man Secured Kansas City Bride." nuv w. t. a. Jailed for Frivolity Amsterdam. June 22. An American artist named Scbaffer, his wife, and two Germans have been sentenced to six weeks' imprisonment at Munich, accord ing to a telegram to the Frankfurter Zeltung, for "frivolity" in holding a fancy-dress ' ball durtnglhe first days of the offensive In the west The ball wnji In Twev attnri1 Viv thii mmhr of the arlatocracv and officers. V : Family that will win has come to - ' - , - k -