Evening star., 1915-10-03
PRESENT OPERATION OF THE ALLIES
MAY BE LONG INTENDED GREAT DRIVE,
JOFFRE CALLS A NBBIE
Unprepareness
of Brtih-Time Will Tell Whether They Can Hold Up Now

prince would have to give up his year.
long struggle in the Argonne and between
the Meuse and the Moselle for Verdun.
Great Drive Precluded.
East of the Champagne plain. where
the republican army defeated the Prus-
slams at Valmy, and Attilas host was
crushed, is the long ridge of the Argonne,
a dozen miles wide, covered by dense
forests and penetrated by few roads. In
this the crown prince has been fighting
for months trying to get six miles south
to cut the Paris-Verdun railroad at St.
Menehould and isolate Verdun from the
west. The country here precludes any
great drive, as his operation has shown.
Eastward the trenches in front of the
forts of Ferdun. the heights Of the Meuse
and Woevre offer serious obstacles, and
there is small chance of any major sue
cess. because to the east lie the perna-
nent forts of Metz. barring the road into
Germany For present purposes the
Vosges and Lorraine fronts may also be
disresarded.
Now. with this hasty glimpse of the
geography of the front in mind, it is
clear that the Arras and Champagne
fronts are the only points that offer
real promise of profit, local or ultimate.
local success in the Arras sector
would win Lens, it might clear the
Germans out of La Bassee, and 1t would
threaten the whole German position
south of the Somme, because it would
take the allies close to the main rail-
roads on which they depend.
Exactly in the same fashion a local
success in the Champagne sector would
relieve the stricken city of Rheims, i'm
peril the flank of the crown prince.
fighting to isolate Verdun. and it might
the Aisne about Rethel, to menace the
eastern trunk line which supports the
German position in the Aisne sector.
Another Polish Salient.
Recall the Polish campaign of the
Germans and the point will be clear.
Hindenburg and Mackensen were strik-
ing at the two ends of the Russian po-
sition, which extended in a wide curve
from the East Prussian to the Galician
frontiers. They had been halted in a
frontal attack at the middle of the
curve before Warsaw, as the French
and British were halted at the Afsne.
which corresponds to the Warsaw front.
In August they attempted to turn the
Russians out of Poland by converging
attacks, which were directed at the
railway lines behind the Warsaw front.
The British and French in the Arras
sector, the French in Champagne, are
making a converging attack wholly
similar. A progress of score OF miles
on either front might compel the GER
mans to straighten their lines, as Mac
kensen's success at Lublin forced the
Russians to abandon Warsaw. Such an
operation would mean the retreat to the
Belgium frontier and the loss of all but
a thin strip of the French territory now
held.
Take any map of the war districts Of
Belgium and northern France and
from Arras draw a line east, from the
Champagne draw another north. Be
fore they meet-about Namur-they
will cut all the railroad lines which
maintain the Germans in France. Long
before any armies had covered the
ground indicated by these lines the
Germans would have retreated to es-
cape development, as the Russians re-
tired. first from Warsaw and then
from Brest-Litovsk. There is not the
smallest prospect that the Germans
will be enveloped, but the threat would
be sufficient if carried forward few
miles to clear most of France.
What Has Been Accomplished.
Looking now to what has been ac-
complished, it will be seen that the
British in their first attack pushed
east. south of La Bassee, until they
cut the La Bassee-Arras highway, and
dominated Lens, from Hill No. 70,
which is mile north of the city and
two miles south of Loos. which the
British also captured. At the same
time the French pushed east, south Of
Lens ,and cut the Lens-Arras highway
three miles south of Lens. This town
Is then more than half surrounded by
allied troops. who hold the hills COM
manding it. If the positions taken
can be held against the German coun-
ter attacks its evacuation Is assured.
To the north La Bassee has been
transformed into a second salient. be-
cause the British were already east of
it. on the north, and their advance to
the Lens-La Bassee highway to the
south has drawn a semi-circle about
this town. But the half circle Is wider.
and the Germans are less likely to
withdraw here if no more ground is
lost by them. But their hold has been
gravely weakened. Further successes
will mean a German retreat both from
Lens and La Bassee and a general al
lied advance toward the Lille-Douai-
st. Quentin railroad.
If the allies ever get astride this
road, between Douai and Cambria, Ger
man withdrawal from France is next