Suppose things go in this clockwork way, and that the
Allies are unable to worry the Germans while they are making their last two forced marches on Paris, and also while they are making their final preparations for investment. Suppose, indeed, that the Allies are pushed brusquely away to the eastward to make a clear passage for the Germans, as constables push back a crowd at a procession. How will things stand then ? If our readers will look at the map, they can hardly fail to agree with us that they will not stand badly for the Allied armies, and that the Germans will have undertaken an operation calling for so many more men that it is difficult to see how even their tremendous resources can make good the demand. The essential feature of the situation will be that the extreme left of the Allies will not be in the air, but will be resting firmly on the huge fortified enceinte of Paris. Now this means that if the Germane are to go on with their favourite encircling tactics they must toil right round the girdle of Paris to accomplish them. It will not merely be necessary to march a little faster than their opponents, or rather to have more men to march with, in order to envelop or threaten envelopment. Movements of that nature, which must include Paris, will be appallingly difficult.
