The Washington herald., 1916-09-05
BY JOHN L. BALDERSTON.
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inspecting the positions on the S6mme
and discussing the situation with stan
officers Of the allied armies. have gath
cred that the first phase of the Offensive
of 1916 is drawing toward q close. With
the object of presenting a general view
Of the situation and of the results
achieved In the tremendous battle as seen
from this side. have drawn the atten-
ton OF generals and their assistants,
wherever possible, to the widespread Ger
man claims that the allies have failed
and that the German armies, by pre-
venting 'break-through'' here, have
won great victory.
Has the allied attack failed7 II It has,
II no important results have been or will
be achieved on the Somme, the failure
Of Gen. Sir Henry Rawlinson and Gen
Foch, in whose hands, under the super
vision of Gems. Haig and Joffre, the cam
paign has rested, is almost without prec-
edent in this war. For the effort made
has been trerendous, dwarfng every
other allied attack of the war eclipsing
even the German onslaught upon Yer
dun. And the price in blood has been
appalling-in the first six weeks of the
attack not less than a quarter of a mil
lion Britons and Frenchmen were shot
down, and the nature of the battle makes
1t certain that the German loss must
be very much smaller.
After the first week or two of elation
in London and Paris, when the capture
of most of the German first and second
line trench systems over wide front
was announced, and the severity OF the
losses incurred in the attacks was not
yet known. a feeling of disappointment
succeeded. which in some quarters has
changed into outright pessisimism The
Germans, using their publicity depart
ment skillfully. as always. have spread
in England as we'll as among neutral
countries the impression that their front
is mistaken and unshakable.
Let II be recorded then. first, that there
Is no pessmism at the front From
Tommy to the commander-in-chief, every
body is smiling and keeps his head. The
soldier at the front was disguised beyond
words in July. when he read the cack-
ling about victory in his home news
papers. for he knew what he was up
against, and knew that no victory, on
this front, was to be expected this sum-
mer. He is no less Disguised now, when
he reads between the lines in the paper
or openly stated in letters from home
doubts and misgivings. 1T 10 no use, no
use trying to make civilians understand
anything. walled a general in his head
quarters. They think we've been licked
though We told them before this show
started that we were going to do. and
we're doing It,"
As is the case with all attacks. this
big push" has failed to do all that was
hoped. Parts of the German lines that
by the original plan were to have been
taken In the first rush are still holding
out On the other hand, some German
strongholds, such as Pozieres, were taken
weeks before the men in charge Of the
push expected them to fall Every
British officer with whom I have talked
pays the highest compliments to the
brave soldiers of General Won Efnem. who,
1t Is said here, commands the Somme sec
tor. despite the widespread rumor in Lon
don that Won Mackenson OF Galician fame
is opposing Rawlison and Foch. The Ger
mans are fighting as they have fought
all through the war, with logged hero
ism; their brave machine-gun corps
seems made up Of men who utterly de-
spise death. for they come out of their
deep dugouts when the storm of iron
ceases. and the British infantry ad-
vances, and spray streams of lead into
their enemies until bombs blow them to
pieces or bayonets end their lives. No
higher compliment can be paid the Ger
man artillery than to say that it is now
better than 1t has ever been before.
These things are what the men out here
say 1t is in London that one hears, in
comfortable clubs. on the authority of
persons highly connected, but mysterious
and unnamed, that the German soldiers
are starving. surrendering in droves.
killing their officers, refusing to meet the
British bayonets.N
do not believe the allied attack has
failed. The Germans have succeeded in
creating this impression by cleverly
claiming, at the beginning, that the at
tack was intended to gain certain i'm
possible objectives, and then when such
towns as Bapaume and St Quentin re-
manned inviolate loudly calling attention
to the fact that the efforts to take them
had not succeeded-efforts which as
matter of fact were never made. When
l spent some time on this front, several
weeks before the Somme offensive began,
at time of comparative quiet, l learned
enough about the preparations to form
a pretty good idea of what the British
were about to attempt, and since then
stan officers have explained with the aid
of their maps. and their wonderful re-
lief models in clay of the whole country
side, their views OF the campaign. I'm
fortunately. I am unable to quote these
men at length, for the campaign is not
over and the things they talked about
cannot all be discussed in public as yet.
But I have received permission, pro-
vided I keep to generalities. to give the
point Of view of the British army re-
garding the present campaign, and to
show why, so far as it has gone, 1t has
accomplished what was expected of 1t
despite the great losses suffered, the
great number of shells fred and the COM
paratively small amount of ground cap
tured The losses, speaking roughly, can
hardly be less than $50 900 for the Brit
ish and French as against from one-third
to one-half that number for the Ger
mans, based on official figures for two
weeks OF fighting, an estimate that the
British and French have fired twelve
million shells since July l was made by
headquarters officer, who thinks that
the Germans have sent over about 5000,
900 projectiles in reply. The allies have
to show. in return for this terrible sea
of blood poured out and for the deple-
ton of their shell supplies not more
than fifty square miles of ground in
GLIDING. it is true, whole trench systems
constructed with the greatest SKILL but
containing not a single spot of great
strategic Importance. 1t is indeed not to
be wondered at that the Germans have
succeeded in persuading the world that
the allies have suffered a great defeat,
in view of these facts.
The observer who seeks to discern the