Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-10-16
AN OLD-FASHIONED
BATTLE IN WEST
The Champagne "Nibble" May Be
come a Real Victory-The Re-
suit Depends on Ammuni-
tion and Reserves
BY FRANK II. SIMoNDS

strategy, which is to thrust the Germans
out Of France, not by direct attack along the
whole front, but by piercing attacks at two
points there are minor objectives and Incl
dental details Of the present operation which
are of real value and interest. Thus the
local success of the Artois operation will
regain for France the city of Lens; 1t will
relieve tho closely invested front Of Arras;
1t may eventually lead TO the freeing Of
Lille In the same fashion, the success of the
Champagne operation viewed only from It's
local side, will free Rheims, relieve Verdun
and threaten the whole German front be-
tween the Meuse and the Oise
The accidental circumstances of the Cham
payne battlefield make il possible to study
the operations at close range and with ad-
Vantages that are lacking in the Artois fight
which Is being carried on in a densely in
habited region-is a battle from house to
house, from village to village. In Cham
pagne, on the other hand, the struggle is
being fought out IN an open country, almost
destitute of population, under conditions
which recall many of the battles of our own
Civil War
Looks Like a Battle
In the old-fashioned sense, therefore, the
Champagne operation more nearly satisfies
the notion of a battle than anything in the
west since the German checks along the
User and about Ypres exactly a year ago.
What the Germans attempted in Flanders
the French are undertaking in Champagne.
So far the fight recalls in many particulars
the desperate efforts which marked the final
German drive in the west
1t is of interest to consider the number of
men actually engaged in this great BATTLE
for, measured by all the standards of the
past, this has been a great battle Unhap-
vNtIx ~
lecture. In March the Germans asserted
that the French used 25O,OOO men on this
same front and lost about $4,000 The French
estimated the German force at the same
number, but made no guess as to German
losses
Presumably the French have had more
men in this fight and the Germans fewer
because the extent of French gain indicates
a heavy superiority in numbers. The Ger
mans report that the chief loss was in a
single division; that is about 10000. But
the French claim to have taken about $1,000
unwounded prisoners, which would account
for at least a division and would point to the
destruction by casualties of at least an army
corps of 10000. The capture of more than so
field guns, which have since been exhibited
In Paris, is also an evidence of the extent
of German disaster.
sln
payne has now been permanently halted
This does not appear to be the case but
accepting German claims to this effect it is
still possible to see why the Allies are en-
couraged. Their conviction is that precisely
as Lees army before Richmond steadily di-
minished until, to use the commanders
words, 1t was stretched so thin It broke"
the German lines in France and Belgium
will be less and less strongly held If the
present ''nibbles" fail to develop into
drives" II the Allies do not get through
this time, they are satisfied that "nibble"
will some day prove to be decisive.
Actually the French are seeking to drive
a wedge between the German armies north
and west Of Rheims to the Disc and those
east of Rheims to the frontier. AS they
advance they will cut two railroads of inn
mediate Importance, the lines serving the
Crown Prince If they are able to continue
they will cut the lines along the frontier be-
tween Alsace-Lorraine and Artois and Flan-
ders. Once this is accomplished the whole
German position in France becomes untena-
BILE and the Germans will have to go back
to the Belgian frontier.
At the same time, the Anglo-British oper-
alton in Artois is striking at railroads which
directly feed the armies in France. If this
succeeds, the Germans will have to quit
line based on Namur, Brussels and Antwerp.
Bigger Than Gettysburg
But all these things are in the future
What is of immediate interest is that the
battle now going on at Champagne is bigger
than any battle of the last century, has
already become a struggle three times bigger
than our own Gettysburg and in its decisive
phase is being fought upon a front not much
wider than that which saw Lees last great
offensive fail German estimates of French
losses make them larger than Meade's army
French statements of prisoners taken show
a figure larger than the total losses OF Meade
or Lee. and the artillery captured exceeds
the number that either American army pos
sessed. German official statements have
fixed the French force at 100000
For the observers OF the struggle the
immediate interest must for the present be
the fate OF the village OF Sommepy and the
railroad that serves IL and supplies the
Crown Prince. After three weeks of hghting
the French are within a mile of IT, They
have won more ground than at any other
time since the end OF the German retreat
from Marnei they have won their greatest
local success since the war OF trenches be-
gan II they take sommepy they can claim
a genuine victory.
II must be remembered that in the modern
battle IT takes weeks instead OF days to get
a decision. The enemy's position is pounded
TO pieces by artillery and his first line taken
But he has second and a third, and the
process must be repeated indefinitely. The
only chance OF success OF the old fashioned
sort is that his ammunition fails and that
he is unable to replace losses. Then breach
win be made In his front. This happened AT