Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-07-01
Exceeds Anything of War

The tremendous offensive which has
been launched by the British army on
the German front is the elimination
OF fiye-day bombardment which in
the amount OF ammunition expended
and in the territory involved, exceeds
anything of the kind that has been
! previously known in the world war.
For some weeks reports have been
current in England and France that
the Big Rush" of the British was
about to commence. It was stated
that England had 100000 fully
equipped and trained, in preparation
for the supreme effort to break the
| German lines. More than 1000, 900
shells are declared to have been fired
daily in the preliminary bombardment
which extended over a front 80 miles
in length.
The menace of the British attack
was fully appreciated in Germany ac-
cording to newspaper comments from
/ Berlin and the utmost confidence was
/ expressed in tn ability of the Ger
mans to meet and crush it. The allies
are now on the offensive in practically
every field of the war. The British
! assault comes on the heels of the great
successes won by the Russians in
Galicia and Bukowina which have re-
suited in completely driving the Aus
trians from Bukowina and are still
central powers have also met with
| severe reverses and for several days
/ the Italians have been steadily driving
| the Austrians from position after posi-
| ton in the Trentino. The defense al
so of Verdun by the French appears
to have stiffened and the balance of
battle in that bitterly contested sec
/ ton appears recently to have swayed
in favor of the defenders.
! The great offensive undartaLan h,y
the British offers, according to reports
| from the front and the comments of
military critics is an absolutely new
departure in tactics hitherto pursued
/ by the belligerents. Contrary to the
favorite tactics of the Germans the
British, did not attempt partial ad-
vance by massing their artillery at a
given point on the line and following
an intense bombardment by an infan-
| try attack in serried columns
Employing an enormous number of
guns the British maintained q contin-
uous and even bombardment of the
German lines along the entire 90 miles
of attack. They sought to level the
German trenches and destroy the con-
crete fertilization which sheltered the
German machine gun squads. Hurri-
canes of shells were also directed
against the German barbed wire en-
tanglementS. In the evenings follow
ing 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 it as "the last
word in scientific warfare"
The last considerable offensive un-
taken by the British was a drive in
force at Zoos in September, 1915, in
conjunction with similar French
effort in the Champagne district. The
British captured Loos and claimed to
have taken 10000 German prisoners
and many guns. They were unable to
press home their advantage, however,
because according to the British War
Office, the reserves failed to arrive on
time.
The British official losses in the bat
tie of Loos were 10000 men. That
the British public is prepared to face
roll of dead and wounded on an even
vaster scale is indicated by the COM
ments of the British newspapers in
anticipating the present offensive
Political and military leaders have
warned the nation that the smashing
of the German lines could not possibly
be accomplished except at an appal-
ling loss of life.
The only front in the whole theater
of the world war where comparative
quiet reigns to-day is in the Balkans
and the predictions OF an allied ad-
vance in that region have been at
least as numerous and circumstantial