Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1916-03-27

/ the same situation. You begin witt
! the artillery bombardment frdn ARE
pared positions and this may enable
/ you 10. break forward for a few miles
After drum fire, The infantry attack
/ but then the drum fire must bea
down further obstacles before thu
next advance can be attempted will
any chance Of success. The heavy
guns have 10 be brought forward
again in support.
That means the most vital and diff
I ficult among the problems character
/ istic Of The present war. We do no
! know how the Germans have tackled
/ Ii or what degree Of partial success
4 they may have achieved. The battle
1 Of Nerdun still throws no light upor
! how to drive the continuous unremit
1 tins offensive until either line in The
west is broken through But the las
/ ten days have afforded by far tht
I most instructive demonstration ye
seen in the war of the posi- bilities OF
the rhythmic or intermittent offensive
I The reeurrent Dombardments by the
slowly advancing guns, If they car
advance, must mean the giant pulse
of combat in the unparalleled artil-
! lery battles Of the present and the
! future.
This is the significant development
How far ii is likely 70 be carried tho
next few weeks must show in more
than one quarter, and there will be
much more to say. We can only
bring up the record TO a point which
can net be considered conclusive IN
the sixty hours lull the Germans. as
far as they could, cleared the field
of their dead and wounded, and did
| their best 10 bring up artillery, work
ing now at much less advantage un-
der the massed fire of the French
The latter desired nothing better than
the resumption of the attack. In
these circumstances everything enti-
ties our allies to think that they will
inflict still more terrible relative loss
es than in the previous week. The
weather and the terrain alike have
impeded the forward movement OF
the more ponderous German metal,
and the enemy has done nothing in
this respect which the allies when the
time comes may not hope 10 improve,
NI.---Law of Diminishing Returns.
ON Wednesday the German artil-
lery opened again concentratine
against the Douaumont positions, and
after a twelve hours eruption of
high explosive the infantry battle
ragged once more. simultaneously
attacking from north and east the
Germans were shattered and driven
back in both directions. Under Gov
er of night they pushed fresh masses
well forward. Between Thursday
morning and evening, after repeated
rcpuises, they forced their way into
Douaumont village, and thrusting up
the single street, slowly cleared 1t
and advanced slightly beyond after
a deadly struggle, in which the enc
my fell in heaps. The French coun-
ter-attacks regained some ground AS
the Germans strovo to fight their was'
upward in this bloody work, seeking
to recover at any cost their command
of the Douaumont plateau and to
join hands with the Brandenburshers
in the fort, the French from the up
per positions still dominated the
slopes and strewed them with the
enemy's dead and wounded. Three
times the French lost the Douau
mont redoubt near the village and a
little below the fort. Three times
it has been retakeu by our allies
They hold it still Nothing is much
clearer from yesterdays German re-
port itself than that the Boches in
the renewed battle have gained prac-
tically nothing.
When we now come to draw the
moral several things must be remem-
bered. We must be careful not to
make too much of the German ac-
counts They are deliberately drawn
and colored to impress neutrals and
sustain German opinion. Next, the
cool brilliancy of French generaIship
shines out in every emergency. We
are certain that in the second. as in
the first phase, their retirements are
partly deliberately calculated and
meant to serve the one and only mas
ter purpose Of killing and disabling
within a given time and space the
highest possible relative proportion Of
Germans. Thirdly, the French stand
In lines which in themselves are far
stronger than before and far more
powerfully organized Fourthly, let
the Germans do what they viii, their
guns and ammunition. more and more
laboriously brought forward can not
play with the same effect as when
the first bombardment opened after
weeks of unmolested and perfected
preparation.
They never can recapture the first
fine careless rapture inspired by
ether and fresh hope. AS an effort
of this kind continues, it is with such
attacks as with novels. The sequel
Is rarely as good as the first success.
The picked corps are broken. Ply
sique and morale are jaded On