New-York tribune., 1915-03-13
The Winter Campaigns.
LIN Champagne.

mentS of German and French war olIlceS
alike have referred almost daily to en-
gagements in Western Champagne. lie
Nesnil. Beausejour and Nille-sur-Tourbe
nave again and again been the scenes OF
desperate combats. Plainly there has been
going on in this field a major operation.
Now the Germans announce 1t has ter
minated in French defeat-that the Battle
IF Champagne has been a German victory.
It is. then, an appropriate time TO analyze
what has probably been the most impor-
tant engagement in the west in 1913.
At the outset it is necessary to review
aurriedly the situation between the Olse
and the Meuse as it has developed since
he great German invasion was halted at
The Marne in September. At that time
three great masses Of Germans were oper-
ating between the two rivers. The first,
under Won Kluck, approached Paris and
hen went cast and south. The second,
ander Won Bulow, came south through
Rheims. passed the Marne near Chalons
and was defeated about ST. Gond and
Camp dc Maily. The third, under the
Crown Prince, passed between the Ar
gonne and Verdun and was halted about
Vitry-le- Francois.
As these armies rctreated the first took
I'D the position behind the AiSne, north OF
Scissors and south of Laon; the second fell
back until il occupied the northern forts
about Rheims; while the third withdrew
as far as Varennes, in the Argonne. When
he retreat halted these three armies es-
fablished contact and occupied front
from the Disc, east of NoyOr, to the
Meuse, north Of Verdun.
Won Kluck repassed the Aisne on Septem-
Der II, and on the next day the British,
following. took ground about scissors, but
we're unable to advance. Three weeks OF
desperate fighting in this field resulted in
q deadlock. On October the British army
rave up it's trenches to French reserves
and entrained for Belgium, where it
presently halted the German advance
about Ypres
The French troops who replaced the
British pushed their advance against the
Germans, made considerable progress west
of Craonne, on the Laon road, but were
finally heavily defeated in January,
driven across the Aisne, and the whole
offensive west Of Rheims came to an
abrupt close.
In the same fashion the early efforts
of the French who pursued Won Bulow's
army from the Marne were checked in
the eastern suburbs of Rheims. This city
mad been a fortified place, surrounded by
a circle of forts. In their great retreat
The French had dsmantled the forts and
evacuated them. The Germans in their
turn occupied the easternmost forts,
brought up heavy artillery and speedily
halted all offensive operations in this dis
trict. From the second week in September
to the present time the German line here
has held solid and German artillery still
bombards Rheims at will.
Having failed about scissors and about
Rheims, there was left to tho French a
third possibility. Between Rheims and the
Argonne is the great plain of Chalons,
familiar in history as the scene of the
defeat of Attia. The Argonne itself is a
long range Of low hills rising abruptly
from the plain some hundreds of feet,
perhaps ten miles wide, and thickly
wooded.
Through the passes in this range run
several highways and railroads, three Of
real value The southernmost pass, that
near st. Menehould, carries the Verdun-
Paris railroad. Near its western entrance
is Valmy, the scene of the famous Prus-
sian defeat in the French Revolution. This
road the French hold. Some ten miles TO
the north is the second pass, that of Grand
Pre-. Possession Of this was and is con-
tested by the opposing forces, but it re-
mains chiefly in German hands.
Finally, some six miles further north, is
Vouziers, at the western end of the upper
BASS. Through this comes the railroad
from Sedan, one of the life lines of the
Germans in France. Just south of Vou-
Tiers this line leaves the Vouziers-St
NIenehould line and, turning west. touches
The Rheims Chaflevile railroad north Of
Rheims.
The object Of French strategy in this
operation was to move north until French
troops crossed and cut the Vouziers line,
thus destroying one of the two lines Of
supply for the Germans about Rheims. At
the same time occupation Of Grand Pre-
and Vouziers would permit the French to
interpose between the German army be-
fore Verdun and that before Rheims, pre-
venting direct communication between
them and exposing the flanks Of both.
Could the French advance be pressed
home the Germans before Rheims would
be wholly separated from those before
Verdun. At Vouziers the French would be
north and in the rear of the army before