CHAPTER XXII MILITARY OPERATIONS IN 1917 N our consideration of political events we have IN for the moment neglected the course of military operations during the year 1917. As a matter of fact, these operations were not of great significance. The retirement of the German forces to the Hindenburg Line, of which we have spoken, made it impossible for the Allies to begin, without extensive and long-continued preparation, an attack upon that portion of the line affected by the retreat. But the northern end of the line, lying for the most part in Belgium, had not been so affected, and it was here that the British struck. To the north of Arras the German lines rested upon a stretch of high ground known as Vimy Ridge. Behind it lay a wide expanse of fairly level country, in which were situated the great coal-fields of northern France, centering about the city of Lens. The Germans were working the mines, and the supply of coal thus obtained was of material assistance in enabling them to carry on the war. They had fortified Vimy Ridge until they considered it impregnable, and the costly attacks made upon it in 1915 by the French had all been failures. The British determined to take the ridge. The attack was made in part by Canadian troops and in part by troops from England. It was brilliantly successful. The gallant Canadians, famous along the entire front for their bravery and dash, swept over the summit of the ridge, taking many prisoners and guns, and held their gains against repeated counter-attacks. Early in April the Germans had been forced back to the outskirts of Lens, and it was even reported that the city had fallen, but this was not the case. The many slagheaps about the place afforded admirable positions for machine guns, and the Canadians paused at the outskirts of Lens in order to save their men. Another stretch of high ground, known as Messines Ridge, formed a part of the German line opposite Ypres. Throughout the winter British miners had been driving tunnels under the German trenches and putting in position great quantities of high explosives. When all was ready these mines were exploded, and so terrific was their force that the entire top of the ridge was blown off. The German trenches were obliterated and their defenders killed, and the British occupied the ridge. These attacks formed part of a general plan worked out by Field-Marshal Haig, the British commander-in-chief, to drive the Germans from Showing the lines along the River Piave and in the mountains at which the victorious Austrian and German ad vance was finally stopped the coast of Belgium, and thus deprive them of the ports of Zeebrugge and Ostend, used as bases for submarines. In the main the plan failed. The weather conditions were against the British. Incessant rains turned the battle-field into a morass. Tanks were useless. Heavy guns could with difficulty be moved. After many weeks of the most desperate fighting the attempt to capture the Belgian coast was given up. The Germans claimed a victory, and in so far as they had defeated the British purpose, their claim was justified. The attacks further south, however, had greatly improved the British positions. The high ground formerly held by the Germans was now in the hands of their enemies. The French, in April, also undertook a great attack against the German lines along the Aisne. General Nivelle had been made the commander-inchief of the armies of France, and he sent his troops forward on a wide front between Soissons and Rheims. By the middle of April the Germans had lost twenty thousand prisoners and a large number of guns. The high ground north of the Aisne along the ridge known as the Chemin des Dames (Road of the Ladies) was taken, and the German losses in killed, wounded, and prisoners reached the great total of two hundred thousand. It seemed as though the French armies were in a good position to break the German lines. But their losses had been heavy, and the Chamber |