Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-07-01

I cesses. warned the public that an ad-
| vance must be made by infantry and
| not by artillery, and that the British
| army could not expect to come out of
the engagement scatchless. First ac-
counts of the battle, however, state
that the British casualties were not
| heavy.
The news spread throughout London
| IKE wiidf1re. There was a frantic rush
| to obtain special editions of the even
ing newspapers. Along the Strand and
otner thoroughfares there was a tur-
moli OF excitement From the tops of
| ouses passengers. especially soldiers.
cneered the tidings which had been
! awaited so eagerly Men and women
| IN little groups scanned the special edi-
tions. then broke out in cheers of Joy
Location of the Drive.
The portion of the line selected by
the British for the Inauguration Of the
drive runs from the Somme northward
past Albert to point about eight miles
south OF Arras. 1t is on the section of
the western front which runs roughly
north and south from the North sea
through Belgium and northern France
before, ii swings sharply to the south
and east and on to the Swiss border.
Albert is seventy miles northeast of
Paris.
There has been much heavy fighting
over this ground, but not to the extent
OF tnat farther north, where lie the
battlefields OF Arras Loos Neuye Chan
ellie. Ypres and Dixmude.
During the early stages of the battle
OF Nerdun when the French were COM
PEELED to bring up large reserves to
meet the German drive the British took
over long section Of French trenches
and now hold about ninety miles of the
western front What remains of the
Belgian army, under command of King
Albert. is in the trenches from the
Nortn sea TO a point near Lizerne
about six miles northeast of Ypres.
Ine British army, under Gen Sir Doug
las Haig, holds the line from the iunc
ton with the Belgians as far as the
New Departure in Tactics.
The great offensive undertaken k
the British offers, according to renorts
from the front and the comments of
military critics, an absolutely new de-
parture In the tactics hitherto pursued
by the belligerents. Contrary to the
favorite tactics of the Germans, the
British did not attempt a partial ad-
vance by massing their artillery at a
given point on the line and following
an intense bomba fNment by an infan-
try attack in serried columns
Employing an enormous number of
guns the British maintained a continu-
GUS and even bombar rdment of the Ger
man lines along the entire ninety miles
OF attack. They sought to level the
German trenches and destroy the con-
crete Notifications which sheltered the
German machine gun squads Hurri-
canes of shells were also directed
against the German barbed wire en-
tanglement. In the evenings following
this daily artillery storm, raiding
parties dashed out from the British
lines to complete the destruction
wrought by the big guns. In this way
the British claim that many prisoners
were taken. machine guns destroyed or
captured and the entire defense of the
Germans demoralized. A French officer
who witnessed this plan of operations
described IL as "the last word in scien-
tif1c warfare"
Last Great Offensive.
The last considerable offensive un-
dertaken by the British was a drive in
force at Loos In September. 1915. in
with similar French ef-