The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1915-04-10
FRENCH AT
FORCE GERMANS
FROM TRENCH HES
0fense Of Allies Troops Between
Meuse and Moselle Rivers Has
Wide Significance.
MEANS MORE THAN ST. M1H1EL
& Attempts are Successful Belgium
and France Can Be Entirely
Cleared Of Kaiser's Soldiers.
By J. w. T. MASON.

New York, April 10 - The new of
fensiye which the French Eastern
army is developing between the
Meuse and Moselle rivers has a
Significance far more important than
the immediate objective of regaining
possession of St. Mihiel. The opera
tions are, in. fact, the third effort of
the year to force the Germans out of
their trenches. If success ensues,
the Allies will be encouraged to be-
lieve France and Belgium can wholly
be cleared Of the enemy. If failure re-
suits, the task of winning the Ger
man trenches must become remote
and beyond the present ability of the
Allied Armies. .-.-
Both Attempts Failed.
The two preceding attempts to dis
lodge the Germans were made by the
French in Champagne, and by the
English at Neuve Chapelle. Both
failed, except in minor degree. In
each case the Germans were driven
back a few hundred yards, but this
effort was so exhausting that the
Allies were unable to follow up their
offensives. They were compelled to
rest, content with purely local gains,
when their real object was to obtain
success of dominant magnitude. Now
comes the third frontal attack on the
German trenches. If it, too, fails to
do more than secure slight advantages
at isolated points along the battle
front, the impression must be streng-
thened that the land campaign in the
west has reached deadlock
Mistakes Were Made.
Mistakes were made in the Cham
payne and Neuve Chapelle engage
ments. -.
It is understood vaguely that they
concerned chiefly the handling Of
the Allies artillery, but the details
have not become known. It is GER
tain. that ammunition shortage pre-
vailed, reducing, after the first ef-
forts, the intensity of the fire directed
against the German trenches. There
is no reason to believe the ammuni-
ton supply has been sufficiently in
creased, since then, to give any con-
siderable advantage to the French in
their recent st. Mihiel operations. But
tactical mistakes committed in the
two previous assaults have undoubt-
eddy been corrected and for that rea-
son the new offensive has better
chance of succeeding than had it's
two predecessors.
Is Main Object.
The St. Mihiel fighting, in fact,
may be said, without too much Ii
cense, to be the main objective of
which the Champagne and Neuve
Chapelle engagements were prelimin-
ary experiments. More important re-
suits will follow a successful often
sive between the Meuse and Moselle
than anywhere else along the battle
front. If the Germans are driven
back, their flank and rear will begin
to be in danger and they must rush
on the entrenched camp at Metz.
Here the French will be encour-
aged by the possibility of recaptur-
ing the fortress, whose downfall in
the Franco-Prussian war was so dis
astrous to Frances cause. At the
same time,> the German line of com.
munications, through the Gutenberg
district will be threatened and hope
will be revived that the Allies may
reach the Rhine through Lorraine.
But, if the Germans hold fast tc
St. Mihiel, and bend their line only
slightly elsewhere, little hope re.
mains that the Allies can succeed in
breaking the existing deadlock.