Evening star., 1916-11-05


with the river out of its banks and
Just behind. not to risk great disas-
ter and the loss of the whole army. In
the view of the soldier Eerdun is
worthless il the hills behind it can be
held. and the soldier guarantees this.
But the statesman sees more clearly.
He recognizes that all France. all Ger
many, the whole world Will read in
the evacuation a confession OF terrible
defeat.
So at last we have the decision Of the
soldier to accept the will of the states
man. the personal victory Of BRAND
over Joffre. Castelnau and Petain go
to verdun-Castelnau, who saved Nan
cy in August and September, 1915; Pc
tain who all but pierced the German
lines In Champagne in the great battle
Of September, 1915.
What follows Immediately is the most
brilliant of all the phases Of Verdun. A
new line must be formed. new trenches
and defenses put in, and while this is
done the Germans must be checked.
For this there is. fortunately. available
Iron. the corps which will live with
the Old Guard in French history, Bal
fourier's goth Corps. When the blow
fell this corps was resting at Camp de
and now 1t arrives in automobiles and
throws itself into the furnace. In the
next few days its mission is to hold
while new army creates new line.
Twentieth Holds Firm.
And the goth does hold. It retakes
the village of Douaumont, 1t clings to
the slopes of Pepper Hill, it clears the
approaches to Vaux. but for the most
part it stands and dies on the lines it
takes up when it reaches the front.
All through the last days of February
the terrible struggle goes on. The
losses on both sides are terrible, but the
German losses begin to be unparalleled
as their commanders feel the great
moments slipping by. Actually this is
the great crisis of Verdun; there will
be no such critical hours again.
With the first days Of March there is
a pause, then on March comes the
second great convulsion; but the
French are ready, the new army with
Petain has arrived and taken its posi-
tion. the work of the goth Corps is
completed and the Germans are this
time unable to emerge from the bat
try the west bank of the river. and
Dead Mans Hill and Hill 304 come into
the official reports. to linger over many
months. But here the German advance
got south four miles in four days east
of the river: they never got three miles
south on the west.
After March 8 the French high COM
isied that Verdun will hold 1t rec
ognizes the remote possibility of fur
ther retirements. but the chance of a
break in the whole line. and there was
a very real chance in the first days. has
disappeared. Germany will now have
to buy each inch Of French soil at a
French price. All chance of a great
success has gone, only tight for moral
values remains, but the moral values
are great. for the whole world has fixed
its eyes upon this corner of the earth
and made the possession of the heap
Of ashes in the valley beneath the hif1s
the test of victory and defeat.
Last German Attack April 8.
And on April Germany tries her last
general attack. her last effort to crush
and crunch through in true Prussian
fashion. the fashion which the world
saw first in the terrible slaughter about
the User and at Ypres, where a quarter
or million Germans were killed and
wounded in less than four weeks. This
time the failure is absolute. There is
no gain. Everywhere the French lines
hold and the battle Of Verdun is over
The new phase is to be a siege, a slow
grinding, pounding attack after long
artillery preparation. and advance by
casualties.
To the world Germany announces the
new phase in a different phrase The
hope of immediate victory is over, and
instead Berlin tells the world that had
read the forecasts of the fall of the
city on February 26 that everything is
going as the German general staff had
planned. and that the city will fall in
due course. precisely as the German
general staff had foreseen, on August l.
Coincident with this there grows up
and spreads the legend that French
man power is being exhausted in the |
bloody shambles, and that the German
battering ram is no longer seeking-in |
merely endeavoring to destroy the /
of France, and is doing it |
with steady precision. And in addi- |
tion there is the ready explanation |
that as a result of French casualties no |
allied offensive in the west will be pos |
sible this year, or ever, perhaps.
Requires Month to Advance a Mile.
After April there are German ad- |
vances. Trenches are lost. the crest of |
Dead Mans Hill is passed, vaux is
taken. June 25 sees the Germans at
the ditch Of Souville and Tavannes. |
the inner forts, the village of F1eury,
the farm and work Of Thiaumont, the I
battery of Danloup are in German
hands. The French are actually in their
last ditch, but it has taken four
months 10 dutdHCG d mile on q front
of three. The last German report of /
progress Is on June 25 and already the |
French confidence Is displayed in new |
vigor at the moment when verdun
seems most in danger.
We know the reason. Suddenly far
off at the Somme the French and Brit
sh armies attack. And in this attack
The French advance cuts through Ger
man trenches, cuts swathe deeper
than the Germans have cut in four
months at Verdun, cuts it in as many
days and occupies the hills facing
Peronne, across the Somme. Here,
hen, is the French answer to the Ger
nan claim that France was being bled
white. Foch. at the Somme, takes on
he work of Petain at the Meuse; the
siege of Verdun. which began April
}, Is over by July 2; the campaign of
verdun. begun February II. has lasted
i've months.
Why did the Germans persist after
he first defeats. after April 3, when
he last real hope of shining success
,nded? Chiefly because they never lost
rope of taking the ruins of Verdun
md the moral value of these ruins had
become incalculable, not to continue
vas to confess defeat. To confess de- ,
eat was to sacrifice prestige at home I
md abroad. But even more impor- !
ant was the fact that the Germans E'
lad put their main mass of artillery ,
n, it would take time to md 1t to 1
IL taA1D-