Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1915-04-02
OBSERVER TELLS
OF CALAMITY OF
Il. FRENCH TROOPS
Sustained Operations in Cham
payne Designed to Wear.
Down Defense Of Enemy and
Prevent Use of Railway,
tA..ocIalea Pres. corre.pondenc.. !

N
I (Associated Press Correspondence
London. March GA British OBJ
server with the French forces IN the
field, who has the permission OF GEN
eral Joffre to report on the work Of
the French army, has sent in to the
Official press bureau an account COW
ering the three weeks since February
10, in Champagne. In the district
midway between Rheims and Verdun.
on a fighting front OF some five miles
he says the French have been attack
ing one point or another every day
for three weeks.
1T is a sustained operation. Of a
different kind to those which we
Ihave seen during the winter
months" he says Those were local
lenorts, lasting a day or two, designed
to keep the enemy busy, and prevent
him from Withdrawing troops else
where: this is a sustained effort,
made with the object Of keeping a
constant pressure on his first line OF
defense, OF affecting his use of the
railway from Bazancourt to Challe-
range a few miles to the north, and
OF wearing down his reserves OF men
land ammunition. II may be said that
the 18th of February marks the
opening Of the 1915 campaign. and
that this first phase will find an i'm
portant place when the history Of
the war comes to be written.
Nature of the Country.
THE nature of the country is en-
ltircly different to that in which the
British army is fighting. II Is one vast
200 feet higher than the valleys,
gentle slopes everywhere. The soil Is
Ichalky The. only features are the pine
woods which have been planted by
hundreds. As each rise is topped, a
incw stretch Of plain, new set of
small woods appear, just like that
(which has been left behind. The VIII
lagos are few and small. most Of
THEM are i'm ruins after the lighting
fin September; and the troops live al
most entirely in colonies OF little
huts of wood or straw, about four
feet high. dotted about in the woods,
in the valleys, wherever a little water
and shelter Is obtainablc.
| Lack of villages means lack of
roads this has been one of the great
difficulties to be faced; but at the
same time, the movement of wagons
across country is possible to far
greater extent than in Flanders. al
though ii is often. necessary to use
Eight or ten horses to get a gun or
wagon to the point desired. From the
military point of view the country is
eminently suitable for troops, with
Tits possibilities of concealment, or
producing sudden surprises with cav
lalry, and of maneuvers generally 1t
| is, in fact, the training ground OF
the great military center of the Cha
Ions and French troops have doubt
less been exercised over this ground
in every branch of military opera
ton. except that IN which they are
engaged at the present moment.
Magnitude of Attack.
what commander, training his
men over this ground, could have
Imagined that the area from Perthes-
lez- Hurlus to BeauseJour farm would
become two fortress lines, developed
| and improved for four months; or
that he would have to carry out an
attack modelled on the same system
as that employed in the last great
siege undertaken by French troops
that of Sebastopol in 1853? Yet TINS
lis what is being done, Every day an
Inttack is made on a trench, on the
ledge of one OF the little woods, or to
gain ground in one of them every
day the ground gained has to be
transformed so as to give protection
to its new occupants and means OF
access to their supports: every night,
and on many DAYS, the enemy $
counter have to be repulsed.
Each attack has to be prepared by
violent and accurate artillery fire; II
may be said that trench has to be
morally captured by gun fire before
lit can be actually seized by the in
fantry. once in the new trench, the
men have to work their entrencbing
tools, without exposing themselves,
land wait for a counter-attack, doing
what damage they can to the enemy
with hand grenades and machine
guns. Thus the amount OF rifle fire Is
very small: ii is a war of explosives
land bayonets.
up TO the present. the French
have made steady and continuous
progress; and their success may be
best judged from the fact that they
have not been forced back on any
Iday behind the line they held in the
morning despite innumerable coun-
ter-attacks. And this is not merely a
question Of ground, but one OF in
,creasing moral superiority; for 1t is
in the unsuccessful counter-attacks
that losses are heavy: and these and
the sense of failure affect the morale
OF an army sooner or later. viii the
French push through the line? VIII
a hole be made, or is the enemy like
a badger who digs himself in rather
faster than you can dig him out? |
cannot tell ii would indeed be an
astonishing measure of success for a
first attempt, and the enemy may re-
quire a great deal more hammerin9
lat many points before he has defi-
nitely had enough at any point. But
these operations have brought the
day closer, and turn our thoughts TO
the time when we shall be able to
move forward; and one finds the cav