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numbers we do not know. The normal yearly increment is approximately 500,000; it does not seem reasonable that the number from other sources could be greater. This would give the total reserve figure at about 1,000,000. It is apparent, however, from the statement as to the German plan-which statement comes from Berlin-that Germany planned to take the initiative which the Allies had held since the ending of the battle of Verdun. If she did not, indeed, there was but little sense in collecting this reserve which was formed largely by mortgaging the future. It was a stake with which to gamble, and therefore must have been intended to be used in an effort to accomplish some result through offensive operations initiated by Germany.

Plans That Have Failed

To what extent, then, do the operations of the last month indicate success in conformity with the German plan? The first part-to gain time-has proved a failure. They did not gain time because the British and French, knowing of the coming retirement, (I myself was advised of it from an authoritative source the first week in February,) had, before it began, prepared to strike elsewhere than on the Somme. The British preparation for the attack on Vimy Ridge was made in February, the French preparation for the attacks on Craonne and in Champagne somewhat later.

The second part of the plan, while in one sense partially successful, since many hundreds of thousands of tons of shipping have been sunk, has in reality been a ruinous failure, since it has thrown the resources of America into the balance against Germany. Nor has it even approached cutting England off from the New World. Indeed, Canada is sending troopships across weekly, and there is no record of any one of them ever having been sunk.

As for the third, its defeat has been most complete. Germany has been utterly unable to take the initiative or to use for this purpose the million men she had gathered at serious cost to her later operations. On the contrary, she has had to use this reserve to resist the ter

rific and unrelenting pressure which the British and French have applied to the two most vital sections of the German front. And even this does not seem to have been sufficient. Aside from throwing this reserve into action long before it was expected, she has had to call on the Russian front for additional men, and is using many divisions of them now. The Russian situation permits this to be done without present danger. It is another case of mortgaging the future because of the exigencies of the present. When Russia is ready to strike again the result will show how serious the damage is. We see, therefore, that in every particular the German plans have met with defeat.

Less Hopeful Elements

To this extent the situation is entirely favorable to the Allies. But it is a negative advantage. In reality the situation is not as hopeful as might appear from what has already been said. There is reason for a somewhat dubious feeling about any great success this year. The whole thing hinges on Russia, and we know what the Russian situation is. The only way a group of nations holding the advantage of interior lines can be beaten is by striking simultaneously at many points on the inclosing circle. And this cannot happen. Russia, we have seen, cannot attack. Any Italian attack will be met by Austrian reserves, drawn with impunity from the Russian front. Rumania is dependent upon Russian assistance and Russian supplies, and may consequently be classed with Russia as incapable of offensive action. The army in Saloniki, although spasmodically active, is really performing no other function than that of a holding force, neutralizing the army of Bulgaria. Only on the western front can effective fighting be done, and the forces on this front must bear the brunt of the entire German Army. This, then, is the situation with which the British and French are confronted, and which must be borne in mind in following the western fighting.

French Fighting on the Aisne

As for the actual fighting, it has been more severe than during any correspond

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BRITISH AND FRENCH BATTLE FRONTS NEAR ARRAS AND ON THE AISNE

ing period of the war. The first attack to be noted-it began as last month's review was going to press-was the French attack west of Rheims and in Champagne. The attack west of Rheims was against the southern pivot of the so-called "Hindenburg Line "-against the Laon position. It was leveled principally against the heights of the Aisne, where the allied attacks which followed the battle of the Marne broke down. From the Aisne, passing north toward Craonne, there is an abrupt limestone plateau, rising in a very difficult, heavily wooded country and terminating sharply at Craonne itself.

The first French rush, which was preceded by the usual terrific bombardment, carried Nivelle's men well up to this plateau and accounted for a great many guns and thousands of prisoners, many of the latter being caught in the limestone caves-some natural, some created by the Germans-with which the plateau is honeycombed. Following up this success, the French struck again and again until the plateau was taken and Craonne occupied. French lines were established

about three-quarters of a mile from the Aillette River, which they now parallel from Courtecon to Chevreux. The floor of this valley is now under complete domination by the French guns, which occupy the ridge that parallels the valley throughout.

Here the French have had to stop. The Germans have thrown into the fighting over 100,000 new troops in their efforts to hold back the French thrust, and have made the most furious counterattacks, particularly against the Craonne position. But the French have maintained their new positions entirely. Indeed, it was the terrain which has held the French back, more than the reserve material which the Germans have thrown into the battle. The truth of the matter is that both sides hold positions which are exceedingly strong defensively. Each holds a ridge paralleling the river-one on one side, one on the other. There is no object in the French pushing down to the river unless they can cross it and seize the heights on the other side. This promises to be a most difficult operation, and one accompanied by heavy losses;

and there is no indication that any such attempt is being considered. Indeed, it would seem that the French have reached the limit of possibilities here, and that this section of the line will wait for an attack to be made from the east, where the terrain is much more simple and less favorable for defense.

Between Rheims and Berry-au-Bac the country is open, gently rolling, without positions of any particular dominating value. The attack here almost entirely cleared the Aisne Canal north of Soivre and forced the Germans back to within a mile of the Suippes River. Here, too, the advance has halted and the French have had to withstand the heaviest of countermovements. In the Champagne country east of Rheims, to which the French attack extended, there was also a decided gain in the early days of the fighting, but the advance stopped at the heights of Moronvillers. Against this section, too, the Germans have countered heavily, but everywhere the French lines have held. Division after division of the German reserves has been used up in these three sections of the line and withdrawn to recuperate and re-form.

On the British Front

All the British fighting of the month has been over the narrow front from Fresnoy to Queant. The ground gained has been unimportant, but the apparent plan of the British is important. It must be realized, first, that the western fighting still has with it the idea of attrition-of wearing the Germans down. This has

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never been lost sight of by the allied General Staff since trench warfare developed. And it is toward this end that the fight in the west is directed. idea of the British, then, seems to be to provoke the Germans to counterattack rather than to gain ground themselves.

The percentage of men lost in such attacks is always greater than in the original attack. There are several reasons for this, chief of which is that counterattacks, whether made to stop an advance or to recover lost ground, promise success only when made before the hostile infantry can consolidate the ground gained and settle down into new positions. The artillery, therefore, cannot be used to the same extent either to prepare for or to protect the infantry as it moves forward. The losses involved in such fighting are always excessive. Such attacks are justified only when important positions are at stake. Here is apparently the key to the fighting at Roeux, at Oppy, and at Bullecourt.

There are indications of activity both on the Saloniki and the Italian fronts, but such attacks as have been delivered are only in the preparatory stage. The Saloniki fighting has been confined to the Vardar Valley, on both sides of which the French and British have made slight advances. On the Italian front, about midway between Tolmino and Gorizia, a new crossing of the Isonzo has been forced and several heights on the eastern bank have been seized. In general, however, the engagement has been without definite result.

German Version of the

Month's Fighting

April 18 to May 17, 1917

ERMAN accounts of the fighting on

the western front during the month have maintained that the British and French attacks have been failures attended by appalling losses. "After a week of incomparably wrathful slaught," wrote the correspondent of the Berlin Lokal-Anzeiger on April 22, "the German front still stands unshaken, al

on

though covered with bruises and pools of blood on the Aisne and in Champagne, a guarantee that, since the enemy did not succeed in the first two days of this gigantic battle, when their valor and vigor were fresh, in breaking the German lines, they will never succeed hereafter."

The German War Office report of April 23, the day on which the British

launched their second great assault since April 9, said that on the battlefield of Arras the new offensive had broken down without success under very heavy enemy losses, and the report of April 25, referring to the same day's fighting, added that the number of British dead and wounded lying in front of the German lines, according to aviators and men in the trenches, was unusually high. Only on the Cambrai-Arras road did the British gain ground.

The Berlin Lokal-Anzeiger correspondent described this offensive as the most gigantic infantry effort ever made by the British. "British humanity in khaki," he wrote, "flooded the whole country in front of the German trenches at Loos and Arras. Between Hulluch and Lens they formed a living battering ram and thus succeeded in taking about a kilometer of the German first trench. But a German counterattack, following immediately, not only ejected them from the trench, but left every British soldier on the battlefield. The troops welcomed an infantry attack as relief from the rain of iron that the British artillery is pouring on them incessantly. The German soldiers who had for days been exposed to the hell of gunfire never lost their nerve one moment when the human sea of khaki threatened to swamp them. On the Aisne and in Champagne, too, a sanguinary struggle around the hills continues as bitterly as in the last eight days. Evidently the French have received fresh munitions and replaced their tired divisions by new formations."

British Failure Announced

The third attempt of the British to break through the German lines on the battlefield of Arras was, according to the Berlin official statement of April 28, another complete failure, involving heavy losses, and followed by a German counterattack ending in a heavy defeat" for the British. The War Office report of the following day contained this account of the battle:

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"A very heavy drum fire, which was begun before daybreak over the whole front from Lens as far as Queant, was the prelude to a battle by which the

British for the third time hoped to pierce the German lines near Arras. By midday the great battle was decided by a heavy defeat of the British. At dawn, on a front of about thirty kilometers, (eighteen miles,) British storming colums followed curtains of steel, dust, gas, and smoke, which had been advanced by degrees. The weight of the enemy thrust north of the Scarpe was directed against our positions from Achéville as far as Roeux, where the battle raged with extraordinary violence. The British forced their way into Arleux-en-Gohelle and Oppy and near Gavrelle and Roeux, occupied by us as advanced positions. They were met by a counterattack by our infantry. In a severe hand-to-hand struggle the enemy was defeated. At some points he was driven beyond our former lines, the whole of which, with the exception of Arleux-en-Gohelle, is again in our hands. South of the Scarpe, in the lowlands, a desperate battle also raged. In their wrecked positions our brave troops withstood the British charges, repeated several times. Here also the British attacks failed. On the wings of the battlefield enemy attacking waves broke down under destructive fire. The British losses were extraordinarily heavy. April 28 was a new day of honor. Our infantry, powerfully led and excellently supported by its sister and auxiliary arm, showed itself fully equal to its tasks."

Claim Heavy French Losses

The French preparations for a new attack at the end of April are described in the following dispatch, dated May 1, from the Berlin Mittagszeitung correspondent at the German headquarters:

"The great battle enters upon the fourth week and looks very much as though a new change of parts is about to take place. On April 9 the English began a great onslaught, on April 16 the French fell in line, while on April 23 the English carried out a second assault, which they followed with a third on the 28th. Now it is evidently the French turn again. The country around Artois is still vibrating with the fierce battle of the last eight days, and the artillery continues its chaotic noise, especially around

Oppy, which yesterday withstood the British onslaught four different times.

"On the Aisne and in Champagne the guns are roaring worse than ever today. As early as Saturday night one noticed at Berry-au-Bac, where I was at the time, the thunder of artillery and the flash and bang of exploding shells increasing in rapidity. Toward Sunday morning, of course, everything was prepared for a new onslaught. The French, however, did not think their artillery preparation sufficient, and continued the bombardment with all the more ferocity, since the German guns gave them tit for tat. Toward Monday morning the French developed a regular drumfire, which was mainly directed against the left wing of the Aisne front around Vauxaillon and against the line of BrayeCraonne-Brimont.

"Observation and the testimony of prisoners tell an awful story of the overwhelming losses on the French side. Large detachments ceased to exist in the original form. The battlefields which the Germans have to cross in their counterattacks are full of the terrors of slaughter. There are countless bodies along the whole front which in view of the French inconsiderateness for the life of their own men are not to be wondered at. The Germans, too, mourn many dead heroes, but it is quite natural that the French, who have been trying the front now for three weeks, should have suffered many more losses. The Germans know that, and they know that, thanks to the splendid efficiency of their artillery and the untiring efforts of their flying squadrons, they shall have the upper hand to the end."

Gigantic British Effort

Meanwhile the British were once more on the offensive, and again, according to German accounts, with no real success. "At this last hour," wrote the Berlin Lokal-Anzeiger correspondent on May 4, "the last waves of the hostile flood against the German walls east of Arras are receding. Another gigantic effort has spent itself without the desired effect of breaking through the German lines in even one single spot." He continued:

"Led by countless tanks, the British infantry rushed on as often as five times in some places. About noon on May 3 the most powerful of all the English onslaughts that brought them nearly one kilometer deep into the German lines near the village of Fresnoy broke down completely. At Oppy, where the field was literally covered with English bodies, they received a staggering blow and retired. In the valley of the Scarpe toward Roeux and in the direction of Pelves their onslaughts met a like fate in the fire of German sharpshooters and machine guns.

"Large, dense masses of troops operating against the German south flank succeeded in the first heat of the assault in piercing the line to Chérisy, which, however, was recovered by a counterattack. Having completely failed here, the British sought to gain a foothold at the village of Bullecourt, four kilometers east of Queant. Again they were defeated, but managed to occupy a short stretch of trenches, where they are now completely shut off from their connections. At 4:30 o'clock this morning (May 4) the British sent dense masses against Bullecourt. As far as we know by this time this attack was also successfully repulsed. All the enemy got for the thousands of dead and wounded sacrificed in this fourth battle is mostly a pile of walls and burned woodwork, where once stood a village of 200 inhabitants, and that after a bombardment that hardly ever had its equal, and after seventeen divisions spent their breath against narrow stretches of the German position.

"While this furor of attack on the Arras front seems subsiding, the valleys of the Aisne and Champagne are again shrouded in steam, dust, smoke, and the noise of battle. Since early dawn the French have been trying to rush the German position between the Aisne and Brimont. The night before their projectiles were raining on the Vauxaillon-LaffauxBraye-Craonne line. Guns of all calibres seem to have joined in the hellish concert, and for a change the Germans now and then were treated to gas shells. Now the battle of human masses is again raging in those valleys. There is no doubting what it will be."

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