The Washington herald., 1916-12-03
By JOHN L. BALDERsTON.

CCopyright, 1916. BY the Mcclure Newspaper
SyndicAte)
General Headquarters, British Armies
In France. Dec. 2-During the past week.
as q guest Of the British general stan.
have motored something like a thou
sand miles, backwards and forwards,
along the front in Flanders, the Artois
and Picardy. From far in the north
where the remnant of King Albert's
army calamity withholds a corner Of Bel
gium from the invader, to where the
French troops OF General Foch struggle
side by side with Sir Henry Rawlinson's 6
Tommies on the Somme, I have visited
by day and night headquarters and
trenches In many sectors, and studied the
positions and movements of Allied and
German troops along the whole line upon
the wonderful maps prepared for the
guidance Of the army chiefs.
In this story / shall attempt. while
keeping one eye on the censor. to outline
the general position on the British front
as II appears to the soldiers themselves
at the beginning Of the third winter in
the trenches, with especial reference to
the great suction action on the Somme
IA battle which, like a whirlpool, for
more than three months, has been suck
ing into itself British. French and Ger
man divisions from every sector on the
western front, battering and breaking
them in its vortex. vomiting them forth
again to seek what rest they may find
In quiet backwaters along the rest OF
the lines from Switzerland to the sea-
somme Campaign Differs.
The Somme campaign differs in kind as
well as size from the earlier allied often
sives Of this war. It Is a pitched battle
between a great portion Of the French.
British and German troops on the whole
western front. a general action almost
certain to continue, with such lulls az the
weather may prescribe, until the end of
the war-though 1t will not necessarily
continue on the Somme. The entire posi-
tion Is misunderstood by those who con-
fine their attention to the map, observe
that a belt OF land a few miles deep has
been won on a front Of thirty-two miles
at frightful cost, and picture to them
selves millions CT men more or less in
active in other 47o-odd miles Of trenches.
Travel to other sectors far removed
even from the noise OF the guns on the
Somme opened my eyes to the true state
OF affairs. In corps, divisional and bri-
gade headquarters near Ypres or Neuve
Chapelle or Loos. vast maps Of the Somme
salient occupy a whole chateau wall. Ask
the cause of this interest In a far-off bat
tlefeld. and you will be told, I'VE left
there week before last for little rest up
here; we don't know whn7 we're going
back. so we want to ke n touch with
things" You will be shown with pride
the red lines and black dots representing
trenches and buildings captured in the re-
cent push by your hosts. Then, II you
ask what German troops are opposed to
them here, you are answered, "Mechlen-
burgers. We met them down there at
closer quarters than this; they left the
Somme four days before we did. We think
they'll go back soon. for the Boches give
their men little rest" And SO It goes, up
and down the lines.
129 Divisions CIashinx.
Definite figures can be given by q Euest
Of the British army, only about its enemy,
but they are such as to make the ma
ture Of the Sonme campaign luminously
clear. Since the great allied attack be-
gan July l. the Germans have had alto
gether 129 divisions Of infantry upon the
west front. At present only III Ia re-
main. and perhaps Rumania knows the
whereabouts OF the others. Some Of these
divisions. in the course Of rearrangement
now being carried out throughout the
German army. have been reduced from
the normal complement Of four regiments
to three; which means that their total
strength instead Of 10000 Is now 1900
men, only 1000 Of whom fight IN the
trencheS- Germany at the beginning OF
this winter has about 10000 bayonets
opposed to the French and British armies.
Up to the commencement of the violent
rains last month. over eight German d.
visions had passed through the furnace
Of the Somme and been withdrawn to
rest and refill their depleted ranks, either
in the rear or in a quiet sector, depend
ing upon how badly they had been cut
up. OF the thirty-seven and one-half di-
visions which at that time had not faced
the supreme ordeal of this war, British
officers say it is possible that two or three
have been kept entirely fresh to be able
to deal with any sudden emergency, but
the rest have been taking part in the
other and now subordinate battle at Yer
dun, where a considerable concentration
Of German and French troops still exists
and where the fighting never dies down.
Twenty German divisions, up to last
month, had gone back to the Somme
front for the second time; six divisions
had appeared for the third.
Allies Bring More Troops.
During this time 1t is reasonable to
assume that the French and British
have brought more troops to the
Somme than the Germans. since they
have been attacking throughout, car
rying out scores of infantry assaults,