Lifting veil

The approaching victory

Allies’ powerful left wing

Particularly cheering was the intelligence last evening given in the French communique, that on our left wing after having repulsed all the enemy’s attacks, we have resumed the offensive at several points.

This is what we have been waiting for, not the news itself, but the official instruction of the fact, for we are now entitled without disregarding orders, to comment upon a position of affairs which to an observant follower of the operations was manifest before the official announcement.

At no point on our left have our positions been otherwise than appreciable maintained, a curious phrase but not ambiguous, and at several points we were the actual attackers.

We were strong enough to repel the numerous frenzied onslaughts and we have been wise enough to bide our time until we were strong enough to reply in kind.

Our tactics have been successful and our might is about to prevail.

What the Germans do not know about strategy and military science is supposed to be hardly worth knowing and there is no doubt about the efficiency of the machine.

What has surprised Von Kluck is that the men he is fighting against have displayed the same knowledge.

In mere military skill he has found the French and British at least his equals, in personal effectiveness and in individual valour.

Now he realises that in establishing a personal supremacy, his foe has become numerically stronger.

He is a broken man - all his efforts, gallant and resourceful as he has shown, have failed to shrug off the clutch of the allies upon his extreme right.

Stretch out as he may he finds the enemy still facing him.

He cannot get around the foe but the foe is getting around him.

The flanking movement appears to wear the appearance of inevitability.

Recognising this he has made frantic attempts to create diversions.

Unable to cause the enemy’s fingers to release their hold he has tried a blow at the bend in the arm, a fierce endeavour in the neighbourhood of Roye.

It failed.

The allies although hard pressed at times have never been caught napping or at any real and lasting disadvantage and alternative conclusions are candidates for acceptance.

Surface indications below which we must not penetrate are that with one or two difficulties successfully encountered we now present one of the strongest battle fronts ever formed and whether the flanking movement is successful in itself or not, Von Kluck is no longer in a position to defeat our purposely even to an appreciable extent, to hind our advance.