The Washington herald., 1916-09-05
Allies Plans Are Successful
On Somme, Say Generals

Galicia. careful study of the stages Of
the Russian attack will make this quite
clear. When Brusiloff's break through
at Lutsk threatened the whole Austro-
German position IN the east, the Germans
rushed troops to save the all-important
railway junction at Kovel and commenced
a counter-offensive which pressed the
Russians back for many miles and seemed
most threatening in the last days Of June.
The allied attack on the Somme forced
the German high command to stop send
Ing troops to the east, and in recent
weeks some have even been transferred
here from the Kovel front More i'm
portant still. II compelled the Germans
to use here the great stores Of shells and
new guns which they had planned, after
taking Verdun, to move against the Rus
SLAMS. 1t Ia certain that the Russians
owe to the Somme Offensive their ability
to get going again In July and infict
heavy defeats on the Austrians: It is very
probable that the Somrne offensive pre-
vented German offensive In Russia
which might conceivably have had dis
astrous results for the armies of the
Car.
1t has paved the way for an allied
attack in the Balkans. The Anglo-French
and Serbian armies have moved against
the Bulgarians from their base at Sa-
loniki, and, II the censor will allow me
to say SO, 1t is an open secret In military
circles that troops Of other nations will
take part in this movement, whose pri-
mary motive is perhaps the wish to in
fiuence Roumania. The spectacle of the
soldiery Of half a dozen nations advanc-
Ing against one small, weak power is
also expected to terrify the Bulgarians
and possibly persuade Greece TO Join
the war on the side Of the entente How
10 the Somme offensive connected with
this? Because II keeps in the west Ger
man troops whose presence was prom
Used in the Balkans in case Of danger,
and because the harassed Austrians, de-
prtved of German help against the Rus
sians, are unable to send the men to
Macedonia to help, the Bulgarians whose
dispatch was promised last winter. II
has always been understood in France
that the apparent disappearance Of Field
Marshal Won Mackensen, second ONLY TO
Htndenburg in German esteem, is ex-
planned by his presence In the Balkans
ready to command the Teutonic allies
when the move from Caloniki begins
Ii the report that he has been, or will
be, brought to the Somme is true, the
allies in Pfcardy have removed another
obstacle from the path Of Sarrairs poly
glot army in the Balkans
1t has, finally and most important Of
all. depleted the German reserves of
men, guns and shells and brought nearer
the final day when, British and French
strategtsts believe, the German lines,
west or east, through deficiency of men
or munitions-it matters not where or
why-wfh crack. Then. and then only,
will come the big drive" Of which
the allies dream. But that will not hap
pen this year, and since the failure of the
allied attacks last autumn there has been
no hope in French. British or Russian
headquarters that It would happen this
year.
So much the offensive on the Somme
has accomplished. British officers tell me.
They are very modest about it; they
realize that openly officially to make
the claims I have set down would lay
them open to the charge Of Dragging, OF
depreciating the efforts made by their
allies; when they say these things they
beg you not to forget, not to imagine that
they forget, that England has done the
smallest part Of the work on land, that
the resistance OF France and Russia has
been beyond praise and has alone made
1t possible for England at least to bring
her full power into play But they be-
lieve-and they let you see that they be-
lieve-that the great strategical plan Lord
Kitchener and General JorTre formed two
1918 at the latest; that the enormous re-
serves of England will turn the scale and
win final victory over the Germans. no
matter how exhausted the other allies
may find themselves in the closing stages
OF this terrible war of attriuon.
Having set down the great objects pro-
duced by the Somme ofensives in all the
theaters OF war. It would seem puerile TO
examine infinitely the small territorial
changes resulting on this front from
the great clash here have examined
the scene of the greatest struggle in the
world from hills in the rear and been
in the first line trenches during a heavy
l have seen the tremen-
jous. incredible concentration OF cannon
In the rear of the allies lines, extend
ing back for miles until the zone of
the heaviest howitzers and naval guns
Is reached. 1t would be possible to de-
scribe at length the terrain. but this has
already been done. and to record my
Impressions of the great battle would be
to describe the indescribable, to add
another failure to the long list of fail
ures to make people realize what things
are like that are unrealizable unless you
have actually been in them.
The British have the German first line