New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-03-22
Verdun.

continued since then with only few brief
pauses. The flags have been hoisted IN
Berlin following various claims ana
rumors of victory. But there has been no
German victory Of sufficient consequence
10 deserve n celebration. Various MINOR
local successes have been won at cost far
exceeding their value.
What has happened in the months
fighting about Verdun is this: The French
have yielded outlying positions all along
the original semicircular line OF intrench-
nents defending the city from the north
west to the southeast-from Melancourt
and Bethincourt all the way around to
Fresnes. The Germans have pushed for
ward in these sectors from three TO four
miles. The French have fallen back TO
their main line of defence.
The German attacks have been fiercest
at three points The first great onslaught
was from the north. 1t lasted from
February q to February 26 and culml-
mated in the occupation Of the dismantled
Douaumont fort. From February 70 to
March the main pressure was eXerted
from the east and southeast. This attack
was not obstinately resisted and yielded
a larger area of territory than the original
attack from the north. From March / TO
March II assaults were made all along the
French line. East of the Meuse the gains
were slight. the movement from the direc
ton of Metz being halted at NauX and
Elk. Since March If the focus Of the
fighting has been shifted to the west side
Of the Meuse. There the Germans have
driven forward repeatedly. But their line
is still further from Nerdun at Chattan-
rt-Malancourt than II Is on the east
side of the river at Douaumont, or III.
front Of Vaux and Elk.
Taken as a whole, the German offensive
at Verdun has yielded nothing at all com
parable with the effort made. The ground
taken is of no special value. The forts OF
Verdun have been dismantled. They no
longer serve as traps for their defenders
Verdun itself could be laid in ashes with
out affecting in the least the military SIT
uot;on on the Meuse front. So long as
the French lines hold, every gain in terri
tory merely calls for another effort and
another sacrifice on the part Of the attack
ING armies. The German operations
around Verdun can bring results worth
while only if they wear down the French
defence. compel the evacuation OF Verdun
and the whole Verdun salient and enforce
a retirement from the Meuse westward 70
the line of the Aire.
Such an achievement would have had a
decided moral effect, if it had come with
machine-like precision or startling sud
denness. 1t was that highly impressive
moral effect, not only on the Allied Powers
hut on the neutral nations as well, which
Berlin gambed on when the great drive
against Verdun was undertaken.
What Berlin needed and hoped for was
another demonstration that the theory OF
numerical exhaustion, on which the Allies
have been banking in forecasting Ger
man defeat, has not yet even begun TO
come into play. Another victorious march
was 70 be staged like that through Galicla
and Poland or that through Serbia.
Herr Roda Roda, the most brilliant Of
the Austrian war correspondents, has de-
scribed picturesquely in the columns OF
the Vienna "Neue Freie Presse" the
method Of the Serbian advance. The
heavy artillery started its work daily at
about Q a. H.. playing on the Serbian po-
sitions and making them untenable. About
IL a. m. the German-Austro-Hun
infantry advanced and occupied the aban-
doned Serbian lines. The enemy had no
artillery with which TO hinder such an
operation and not enough infantry to IN
dulge in counter-attacks. Between noon
and / .. m. the two armies quit work for
the day. II was war conducted on a leis-
urely labor union schedule.
Taking into account the somewhat
greater capacity for resistance Of the Rus
sian armies, the drive through Galicia and
Poland was very similarly ordered. But
against the powerful French artillery and
the indomitable morale Of the French
troops no such easy progress was possible.
The French have yielded ground, but they
have never admitted inferiorty. SO far
they have held their main lines intact.
Verdun is still unconqucred, and after a
month Of desperate fighting, with neces-
sarily costlier sacrifices for the attackers
than for the defenders, the balance Of
profit over loss is on the French rather
than on the German side.
The third demonstration Of the over
vbelrning power Of the German offensive
has failed. The barren gains at Verdun
40 far prove that the Allied line on the
west front cannot be broken by any effort
Of which the German armies are now
capable. The one in which the Crown
Prince was 10 figure for his own glory
and the glory Of the House Of Hohenzollern
hss not materialized.
Neutral nations have been more I'M
A 10