The Washington times., 1915-07-28
ONE YEAR OF WAR IN EUROPE
AS SEEN IN FRANCE
BY WILLIAM PHILIP SIMMS.

PARIS. July %.-When General de
Maud'huy blocked the Kaiser's lc-
gicns In their smashing drive for
Dunkirk. Calais. and Boulogne, he
scored for France one of the biggest
victories OF the first year of the
great war.
The Germans ever place this battle
FIRST In Importance. and their verdict
In this matter might well be taken
since they better than anybody else
should know Just what success there
would have meant to them.
Whatever else a victory Of the i'm
perial arms would have meant. 1t
would have brought them In sight OF
England. the whole course of the
war would have been changed. and
the result probably have been d.s-
astroI,s to the al!ies' cause.
As II turned out. General de Maud
huy's success completely used up
Germany's initial strength. or what
was left Of II after the Marne.
heightened the battle-line front con-
siderably. and inausurated tho
strength-sapping winter campaign In
the trenches. each of these hard
blow to the Teutonic hordes. For
months Of immnbilizationw when time
was go valuable to them. but Gen.
eral Joftre was given time to re-
organize his resources in men and
matesaal both on and back of the
line. now an urgent and necessary
thing
After the battle of the Marne.
In early October, the second great
German offensive began: the dash
for the sea. General Joffre began
q similar movement about the
same time. his object being to turn
his opponents right flank. A
series Of surprises followed. Every
where they went in their turning
movement northward. they found
the Germans a little ahead Of them
and though at the start Won Bue-
lows move seems to have been
taken for an endeavor to turn the
French left. It was now perfectly
evident that the mass descent upon
Paris had been transformed into an
advance against the channel ports.
BY the middle of October, a formi-
dable front was presented by the
Germans clear to the North Sea
and the situation looked serious.
There are really three gates to
the channel: The User river, La
Bassee and Arras. the last being
considered by far the best since II
not only opens the road to tho
coast. but to Paris as we'll. Against
the Prussians were General dur
balls Eighth army. the British ex-
peditionary force. the tattered
remnants OF the Belgian army and
General dc Maud'huy's Tenth army,
the last named holding the critical
point between Albert and a point
to the north OF Arras. against the
whole OF Won Buelow's command
Military writer's agree the attack
on Arras was probably the critical
moment OF the terrific attempt OF
the Germans to reach the channel
coast. The bombardment Of the
city began October 6. while Gen
eral de Maud'huy. just outside the
city to the eastward. was holding
in check the rapidly increasing
army OF Won Buelow. the Bavarians
to the north trying to outflank
him.
The great battle for the posses
sion Of Arras continued until 'Oc-
tober 26. the Germans at one time
entering the city. The famous
Prussian Guards hammered away
at the French. making some of the
most desperate assaults of the war
| They hoped to slash their way
through to the coast. cutting off q
| large slice of France and what re.
| mained Of Belgium. and with this
| territory tens of thousands OF
| prisoners, including the entire Bel.
| gian army and the whole of the
British expeditionary corps. not tc
mention seriously hampering com
munications between France anc
| England.
But de Maud'huy held firm and
more: he drove the Germans. In.
cluding the Prussian Guard. from
Arras. He kept open the lines of com
munication and trainload after
trainload Of re-enforcements poured
into the north of France. The allie.
owe him a great debt. for his was
one OF the finest performances OF
the war.
| After Arras. the Germans tried tc
| Dfeak UnrOuSn on the User, they
tried to get past Dlxmude, defended
by the gallant Admiral RoLarch anC
his daredevil Breton marines. LIE
Bassee saw very stubborn fighting
and lastly one Of the greatest en-
Gaments of the whole war came a
Ypres with the British. In bulldos
fashion. holding practically III,
whole Of the line.
| But, after all, Arras was the mali
gate to the coast, and had de Maud
huy failed there, the other fghtin,
| probably would not have occurred
| His victory was the decisive one.
In subsequent battles had the al
lies been forced back at any poin
| re-enforcements were at hand. ant
the thing could have been remedied
The British victory at Ypres. b.
some said to be the biggest battl
J. not only of this war, but of all time
was not Of itself decisive since d
| Maud'huy had won out at ARA
by October 26. insuring the ar
rival Of reserves all along the lin
as far north as the sea. and had tn
British given way they very prob
ably would have been supported b.
fresh troops and the German ad
vance arersted before the coast wa
| reached
Thus 1t was de Maud'huy. VIII
held the gate to the sea and prob
ably shved Dunkirk, Calais. an
Boulogne with all that such a vic
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