Arizona republican., 1916-12-17
fRepubllcan A. ?. Leased wlrel


 PARIS. Dec. 19.-The Allies are creeping closer to Bapaume every day and bringing nearer the evsntuality of another great battle there where French heroes of nearly all the ages have fought. The town has seen al most as much war as Perone
 General Faidherbe gained there January 3, 1Sl7, one of the few French victories of the Franco Prussian war, defeating General von Goeben.
 The possession of the town had previously been disputed half dozen times. beseiged two or three and sacked once Louis Xl besieged it.. took il and destroyed it. Charles Quint restored il. Francis I beseiged it and took it. It fell later into the hands of the Spaniards from whom it was taken and made French by de Ia Meilleraye. marshall of France in l645, with the aid of the muskcteers of dArtaenan and the Gascony cadets of CvIano de Rergerac.
 For he Germanic coalition today as for the Prussians in 1870 and the Spanards in l6fl Fapaume is a po- sition of vital importance it marks the limit of the last ridge of the Artois hills to which an army pressed from the south and west can cling; after Bapaume come the plains of Flanders with Cambria, Nalenciennes and DOuai in plain sight. Bapaume taken. Peronne becomes untenablc and Saint Quentin an unsafe shelter for the German staff
 The Germans certainly appreciate The value of the position no less than did Charles Quint and the Saaniaris, and they have organized it accord Q ingly but the French 16-inch mortaTs are now almost within range of the town
 it was at a critical period of the thirty years war that Rapaume be- came French. N de la Meilleravc had probably more to do with its conquest than either d'Artagnan or tyrano. but there was a less romance In his role
 De Ia Meilleraye had taken Arras after the famous siege. then turned 70 BaTaume. called the key to Elan ders." There are many analogies be- tween his campaign and that of the Allies today. Today. as then. the people are finding the war long Then, as today, parlor military crit cs picked out the flaws in the plans and complained of slowness and lack of energy in executing them. The army of the Hapsburgs had dug itself ir around Bapaume as the Germans are dug in there today.
 Then. as now. mettlescme soldiers or France chafed in the trenches, Like the poilus of 1916, they widowed in the mud when in the open and waded waist deep when underground. Marshall de Ia Meilleraye was then, as have been generals in the present war. criticised for diiatOry tactics and his laurels, gained at Arras. had begun to fade. he saw the shadow oi disgrace falling upon him Cardinal Richelieu. impatient and inDeriuus. insisted upon greater activity and en- erey. Then. as today, the reply was more cannon, more ammunitiorg. Riechelieu sent more cannon, more ammunition, with an order Co mttck.
 De Ia Meilleraye assembled his lieutenant generals. de LOfgueii and Harcourt in council of war to de- eide whether they should risk the as- sault
 T know in the regiment of the guard" said M de Lorgueil. a most capable officer and a man Of spiIi and resources. He came to me lately returning from duty and told me something that impressed me. Call him in, marshall. he will rereat bet Ter than I what he observed.
 The officer Of cadets came in. and with the accept Of Armagnac told how he had noticed a portion of the town wall at the sitiaIrh Of saint