But if Sir Douglas Haig and General Nivelle can go
on calling the tune, the German High Command will have to dance to it. We used to have to conform to the German initiative. Why should our sceptics think it unlikely that the Germans will have to conform to ours ? At present the German front in the Somme-Oise fighting runs before Cambrai, St. Quentin, La Fere, and Laon. Those places may represent the Hindenburg Line. If so, the Allies may hope that the German paeans on the' glories of elasticity may
sound louder than ever before long. In spite of vile weather, the Anglo-French progress during the week has been unceasing without being rapid. Last Saturday the British cut the Cambrai-St-Quentin railway. The German occupation of St. Quentin is already threatened. The British have advanced more than a third of the distance between Bapaume and Cambrai. The French, who are beyond Coucy-le-Château, threaten to outflank the German positions at La Fere and Laon, and they are also advancing into the Forest of St. Gob ain, which lies between La Fere and Laon.
