The Washington herald., 1916-12-03

edge before an observer can say whether
sacrifices in battle are likely to result
in victory. There are a few men In the
world who know all that can be known
about this campaign from the point Of
view of one combatant or the other;
there Is no man who knows very much
about both sides. And to Judge the sue
cess or failure Of the Somme attack up
to this time would require such man.
British Army CONFIDENT.
To one thing, however, I can testify
most emphatically. that Is the British
army believes It is winning. 1t considers
itself top dog. The change in spirit Is
amazing since my last trip along the
whole British front In the spring, while
the Somme push was being prepared.
We've got our teeth In their throats.
and We are not going to let Co." said an
officer when I asked him whether he
thought there would be a let-up during
the winter. This spirit among men who
for months have been fighting and suf-
fering heavy losses, seems to me ex-
tremely significant, as is also the unani-
nous testimony that the enemy is losing
heart. The evidence Of hundreds Of off,
GERS and men who have fought on the
Somme. with whom I have talked all
rant the affirmation that the fighting Of
the last four months has raised the spirits
Of the British and at the same time de-
pressed those Of the Germans. 1t must
be admitted, however, that this state Of
affairs is to be expected where one side
is confined to the defensive exclusively
and sees itself continually losing ground:
thoughtful soldiers admit that a renewed
German offensive might possibly hearten
the Kaiser's dispirited men. But most
British soldiers do not believe such an
offensive on the west front will ever be
possible.
There was on this front last August q
pretty general belief chat the winter
would find the Germans establishing
themselves in new ground after a retreat
from the Somme. That has not come
about, and there is no repining about 1t
here. The Germans in the Somme sec
tor since they lost the ridge constituting
the watershed between the Sambre and
the Somme, have had all the worst Of the
ground, and their decision to hold their
positions during the winter Is frankly
welcomed by their opponents. I know
this sounds like what we Americans call
an "alibi," but It Is true I will give
the explanation put forward by a general
while showing me through his new
trenches de luxe" which he observed
with affected regret he would have to
leave in the spring.
VIII Battle All Winter.
IF the Germans went back now" he
said "they would go back to prepared
positions; winter in them, and have be-
hind them roads and railways untouched
by shell-fre-on the whole be better on
than they are now. We. on the other
hand, would have to leave our camps
our billeting towns. our dugouts. and ad-
vance into country utterly laid waste,
every house destroyed. the roads and
railways wrecked, very likely even the
wells poisoned. In good weather, 1t Is
difficult enough to cope with such con-
ditions, but in the winter our men would
our first seven divisions had to endure
in 1s14-1s15. Everyone would have to
work his hardest all winter digging
trenches. repairing roads. under fire of
the sheltered enemy. The Germans. Of
course, know all this. and they realize
that their present positions along the
Ancre and about Bapaume are unfavor-
able for themselves, SO 1 can only sup
pose that they do not retire because the
high command believes the moral effect
on the German people of even q short
retreat would be So serious that It pre-
fers to sacrifice military to political con-
siderations." ,
The Allied guns will hammer away all
winter on the Somme, to prevent the
Germans from organizing themselves in
strong positions for the resumption Of
the big push in the spring; and any clear
weather, with winds to dry up the mud
or cold to freeze 1t, may see important
operations resumed by the. French and
British. I cannot believe, however, that
sustained infantry fighting on a large
scale will take place for some months.
because Of the mud.
I have Just come from the Somme. I
never saw SO much mud in my life ex-
cepting in the Flanders plains at the
other end Of the line; and sitting right
down In the middle of 1t all is the
British army, amazingly. unaccountably,
indomitably cheerful. The men are un-
ab', to get decently clean from the time
they enter the Somme sector until they
leave 1t. but their incessant and profane
complaints about the constant downpour
and the quagmire they live in refer not
to their own discomforts. They are dis
gusted because the rains hold up the bat
tie and give the old Boche a breathing
spell"
A War Anecdote.
the front an anecdote which really be-
longs to another story will illustrate
the incorrigible Anglo-Saxon desire to
keep clean and presentable under diff
fculties. I spent a night in one of
the worst parts of the first line, where
the mud and water make 1t impossible
for considerable distances to construct
any trenches or any line at all. My
companion and myself found ourselves
at daybreak, not exactly lost but mis-
laid in a support trench. wandering
about fearing to poke our heads into
the open. not knowing where we were
and afraid to look over the parapet
because we thought, rightly as 1t
turned out, that If we did the Ger
mans could see u.s. An urgent phone