The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-07-02
ALLIED OFFENSIVE
 IN EVERY THEATRE Big Push of the British Has
 Definitely Begun HAVE 100000 MEN Willing to Lose 100000 to
 Break German Line
SALONIKI ONLY QUIET
Here the Allies Have 100000 Veterans as Against 100000 Bulgarians and Offensive There Is Predicted Shortly-British Tactics the
 Latest Word in War

"tSSb W ohN III W "h
 The tremendous offensive which has been launched by the British army on the German front is the continuation of a five-day bombardment which in the amount of ammunition expended and the territory involved. exceeds anything of the kind that has been previously known in the world war.
 For weeks reports have been current in England and France that the "big push" of the British was about to com mence. It was stated that England had 2,0OO 900 men fully equipped and trained in preparation for the supreme effort to break the German lines. More than l, ,000C00 shells are declared to have been fired daily in the preliminary lombard ment which extended over front 90 miles in length
 The menace of the British attack was fully appreciated in Germany, according to newspaper comments from Berlin, and the utmost confidence was expressed in the ability of the Germans to meet and crush it.
 ON OFFENSIVE EVERYWHERE
 The allies are now on the offensive in practically every field of the war. The British assault comes on the heels of the great successes won by the Russians in Galicia, and Bukowina, which have re- suited in completely driving he Austrians from Bukowina. On the Italian front the central powers have also met with severe reverses and for several days the Italians have been steadily driving the The defense also of verdun by the French appears to have stiffened and the balance of battle in that bitterly contested sector appears recently to have swayed in favor of the defenders.
 The great offensive undertaken by the British offers. according to reports from the front and the comments of military critics, an absolutely new departure in the tactics hitherto pursued by the bel ligerents. Contrary to the favorite tactics of the Germans they did not attempt a partial advance by massing their artillery at given point on the line and following an intense bombardment by an infantry attack in serried columns
 Employing an enormous number oi guns, the British maintained an even bombardment of the German lines con- tinuously along the entire 90 miles of at- tack. They sought to level the German trenches and destroy the concrete fortifi- cations which sheltered the German ma
 
 also were directed against the German barbed wire entanglements.
 NIGHTLY RAIDING PARTIES
 In the evening following this daily ar tillery storm, raidng parties dashed out from the British lines to complete the de- struction wrought by the big-gu Tn this way the British claim that many prisoners were taken, machine guns de- stroyed or captured and the entire defense of the Germans demoralized.
 A French officer who witnessed this plan of operation described it as the last word in scientific warfare
 The last considerable offensive under. at Loos in September, 1915, in conjunction with a similar French effort in the Cham pagne district. The British captured Loos and claimed to have taken 10000 German prisoners and many guns They were unable to press home their advan- tage, however, because. according to the British war office. the reserves failed to arrive on time. The British official losses in the battle of Loos were 5000 men. yIvl, Iorit; oh fc rod tn fa "a a roll of dead and wounded on an even vasteA scale is indicated by the com ments of the British newspapers.
 READY TO LOSE 100000
 Political and military leaders have warned the nation that the smashing oi the German lines could not be accom-. plished except at an appalling loss oi life. It has been asserted, indeed, that the British authorities were prepared to face loss of some hundreds of thousands of so diers if they could drive the Ger mans from France and Belgium
 The only front in the whole theatre of the world war where comparative quiet remains today is the Balkans, and pre- dictions of an allied advance in that re- zion have been numerous.
 Newspaper correspondents at Salonik have estimated that the allies have 6O0,o0( to 7Oo001 veteran soldiers concentrated in that district The reorganized Serbian army reported to be l25,00 strong, was recently transported to Salonih from tho Island of Corfu, where they had been re- equipped They are said to have brought 100000 men from Egypt. The highest estimate placed on the Bulgarian forces which must oppose this great army, has been between soo,ooo and 4oo,oeo men 4 dispatch from the BulgaEan front stated
 tcontinued on Page Two)