Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-12-30

would have shaken the faith of many
in our ultimate success The failure of
the enemy to capture it. despite great
efforts and heavy losses, was a severe
blow to his prestige.
Information obtained. both during
the progress of the Somme battle and
since the suspension of active opera
tionS has fully eSta blished the effect of
main forces tied to the western front.
In November the strength of the en-
envy in the western theater was greater
than in July, Notwithstanding the
abandonment of the offensive at Yer
dun. 1t is therefore justifiable to
conclude that the Somme offensive not
only relieved Nerdun, but held large
forces which would otherwise have
been employed against our allies in the
east.
Enemy's Losses the Heavier.
THE third great object of the allied
operations on the Somme was the wear
ing down of the enemy's powers of re-
sistance. Any statement as to the ex-
tent to which this has been attained
must depend in some degree on esti-
mates. There is nevertheless sufficient
evidence to place beyond doubt that
the enemy's losses in men and material
were very considerab bly, higher than
those of the allies, while morally the
balance of advantage side is
still greater. During the period under
review steady deterioration took
place in the morale of large numbers of
the enemy's troops. Many of them. it is
true. fought with the greatest deter
mination even in the latest encounters,
but the resistance Of even larger num-
hers became latterly decidedly more
feeble than in the early stages of the
battle.
aided by the great depth of his de-
lenses and by frequent reliefs, which
his resources of men enabled him to
effect. discipline and training held the
machine together sufficiently to enable
the enemy to rally and reorganize his
troops after each fresh defeat. But
toward the end of the operations, when
the weather unfortunately broke, there
Is no doubt that his power of resist
ance very seriously diminished"
In the course of his detailed study
of the operations Gen. Haig frequently
touches on the handicap of the weather
In mId-October came the allies great
chance really to break through the
German lines.
Halted by Bad Weather.
I'VE had at last" writes Gen. Haig,
reached the stage at which a success
full attack might reasonably be ex-
pected to yield much greater results
than anything We had as yet attained
The resistance of the troops opposed
to us had seriously weakened in the
course of recent operations. and there
is no reason 70 suppose that the effort
required was not within our powers.
Unfortunately at this juncture very
unfavorable weather set in and con-
tinued with scarcely a break during
the remainder of October and the early
part of November.
Poor visibility seriously interfered
with the work of the artillery and con-
slant rain turned the mass OF hastily
dug trenches into channels of deep
mud. The country roads, broken by
countless shell craters, rapidly became
impossible, making the supply OF food
stores and ammunition a serious prob
lem. These conditions multiplied the
difficulties Of attack to SUCH an ex-
tent that it was impossible to exploit
the situation with the rapidly neces-
sary to enable us to reap to the full
the advantage we had gained
Work of the "Tanks."
Gen. Haigs report contains frequent
One example follows:
"Cueudecourt was carried, after pro-
tecting trenches to the west had been
captured. in ar interesting fashion. In
the early morning a tank started down
portion Of a trench held by the enemy
from the northwest, firing its machine
guns and followed by bombers. The
enemy could not escape, as we held the
trench at the southern end.
''At the stame time an airplane flew
down the length of the trench, also
firing its machine gun at the enemy
The enemy finally waved white hand
kerchiefs in token of surrender and
when this was reported by the airplane,
the infantry accepted the surrender of
the garrison. Besides great number
of the enemy killed, we made prisoner
eight officers and 362 men. Our total
casualties were five.
Gen. Haig pays tribute to the work
of the various departments Of the serv-
ice during the battle. He declares that
the aircraft consistently maintained the
supremacy of the air throughout the
entire period. while the tunnel com
panies equally maintained their SUI
periority over the enemy under ground.
Discussing the use of gas and liquid
fire, he says:
Gas and Liquid Fire.
THE employment by the enemy of
gas and liquid flames compelled us not
only to discover ways to protect our
troops, but also to devise means of us
ing the same instruments. Great fer
tility of invention has been shown and
great credit is due to the special per-
sonnet employed for the rapid success
with which these arms have been de-
veloped and perfected and for the de-
votion of duty displayed in difficult
and dangerous service.
1.-The army owes thanks to the chem
lists, Psychologists and physicists of the
highest rank who devoted their ener-
gies to enabling us to surpass the en-
envy in the use of means of warfare
which took the civilized world by sur
prise. Our own experience of the nu-
merous experiments and trials neces-
sary before gas and flame could be
used. of the great preparations which
had to be made for their manufacture
and of the special training required for
the personnel employed shows that the
employment Of such methods by the
Germans was not the result of desper-
ate decision. but had been prepared de-
liberately
"Since we have been compelled in self
defense to use similar methods 1t is
satisfactory to be able to record, on the
evidence of prisoners, documents cap
tured and our own observations that
the enemy has suffered heavy casual
ties from our gas attacks. while the
means of protection adopted by us
proved thoroughly effective"