COAST ARTILLERY, JOURNAL - Air Defense Artillery

546 THE COAST ARTILLERY JOURNAL
It is, therefore, in that region, [writes tbe Marshal] that we must look
forward to the application of those forces that are immediately available
in an operation susceptible of attaining, with relatively small means, import~nt
results, as follows: .
From the military point of view, by the conquest, at small cost, for all
the depth of the defensive zone, organized by our enemies for four years,
and by an exploitation as large as possible.
From the morale point of view, by planting the first step on a soil that
the enemy considers as national territory, and that we must conquer.
THE DECIDED ATTACK TO THE EAST OF THE MOSELLE
In order rapidly to exploit the favorable situation brought about
by the offensive of the Allied armies, General Petain addressed, on
October 27, the following instructions to General Castelnau:
GENERAL HEADQUARTERS
OF THE ARMIES OF THE NORTH
AND NORTHEAST
General Staff-3d Bureau
No. 38069.
Headquarters, 27 October, 1918.
Personal and Secret. Instructions.
To THE GENERAL CO:lIMANDING THE
GROVP OF AR:lIIES OF THE EAST.
I.-The offensives of the Allied armies between the Moselle and the sea
have led the enemy to accumulate his troops on the present fronts of attack
and to strip Lorraine of the reserves that he had maintained there until
recent date.
H.-It is important to exploit this situation as soon as possible. It offers
us a possibility of obtaining material and moral results, which may become
even more important because the enemy will no longer be able to make use,
after a short term, of his most advanced rocade railroad (Hirzon-Mezieres),
and will only be able, in consequence, to reinforce his Lorraine front very
slowly.
lII.-Consequently, the Group of Armies of the East is called upon to
take the offensive between the region of Nomeny and the Rhine-Marne
Canal, in the direction of the Sarre, at a date as near to November 15 as
possible.
lV.-This offensive will be executed under the supreme direction of tbe
General Commanding the Group of Armies of tbe East, by his two armies,
namely:
The Eighth Army, already in sector.
The Tenth Army, which will be placed under the Group of the
Armies of the East, and assigned to sector between the Eigbth Army and
the Second American Army.
The Second American Army will cover the left of this operation.
Y.-The operation will comprise two phases:
1st: The break-through of the fortified enemy front, between Nomeny
and Parroy, by me~ns of two actions conducted on both sides of the
forest of Gremecey and directed as follows:
One on the Cote de Delme.
The other on the :\farsal-Juvelize region.