The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1916-02-26
The German Offensive In the West.

The German Offensive In the West.
Since the French offensive In Cham.
pagne last September there has been
no forward movement in the West
comparable in holiness Of Initiative.
in tactical skill and In vigor and In
tcnsity to the attempt Of the German
Crown Prince to break through the
French line north Of and near Yer
dun. In no sense IL this offensive
a surprise. For weeks the German
preparations have been visible to the
French flying corps. From the Chan.
mel to the Nosgcs the Germans have
launched many minor assaults to test
the strength Of both the French and
British fronts. Strategic railways
have been built behind the German
lines. and Of late masses Of troops
have been concentrating In the neigh
borhood of Verdun. 1t seems to have
been known in Paris that the enemy
would soon strike.
What JorrRE tried 10 do In the
Champagne offensive the Crown
Prince is bent on doing now; that Is
to say, the plnn is to shatter the
enemy's line on a wide front and
through the gap pour several army
corps. On the Dunajec MACKENsEN
did this very thing; when he hurled
RADKo DMIrRrErr back along a forty
| mile line the whole Russian defensive
was broken. and Galicia vas lost the
! day the Russians fell back. JOFfRn's
General Order 43 announced that 1.-THE
hour has come to attack and to con-
qucr. to add fresh pages Of glory to
those Of the Marine, OF Flanders, the
Vosges and Arras." General CAsTEL-
SAu was in direct command of the
operations; he Is now fighting des-
~peratcly to check the Crown Princes
! assault.
In the great Champagne offensive
the French, after a terrible lombard
ment Of the German trenches, swept
the enemy back on a front Of twenty
five kilometers Fifteen and one-halt
miles), taking 1900 prisoners or
September -. on September % the
General Staff reported the capture
of nearly ten square miles Of closel!
fortified country. forty-four guns and
over 1000 prisoners" by the end OF
September, when the tide Of the ad
vance was ut its height. n o less thar
o3.OoO prisoners had been taken.
Ii was the calculation Of the French
General Staff that the Germans los
in killed, wounded and captured no
less than 10000 men. As usual, thu
French losses were not published. bu
they were probably not as heavy. fol-
such a hellish artillery fire rs tina
delivered hy C~AsTELNAU was neveI
known in warfare before. He ha'
been accommodating shells for months
And Yet the Champagne offensive wa
not a strategic success. The Frencl
broke through the first and secon'
lines of the enemy only to find tina
behind and below the crest of The hi
paralleling the Challerange.Bazan
court railway the Germans had con
Structcd an elaborate system Of hid
den Entertainments with sunken pit
for gun pmplacemcnts and entiladin
galleries that stopped the ofensiv'
dead.
1t is we'll in considering the opera
tiunS of the Crown Prince to keep Il
mind the details Of the Champaign
! forward movement and its strategi
failure, the five days of furious as
s;ultS. the spoil of prisoners an
> material. and at last the check !
> front of the third line. In II measnr
the Germans We're taken by surpris
. last September. The French wer
! forewarned in February. Now, n
y then, the offensive carries pverythin
! before It,. Village after village In
DePH taken, anu tHe NerHhuhS HHN
= smashed their way, according TO
Berlin report. to within two miles
Verdun. Yesterday they claimed 10
600 prisoners, but 1t Is slgniticaI
that mo information M he given
regard TO booty and supplies cal
tured." The French official stat
t ment, while admitting the loss Of So
eral strong positions, has little MOI
l. to say except to intimate that II
Y enemy's advance is being halted.
The real Champagne offcnsi'
lasted five days; the Germans we
on their fifth day yesterday. VIII
= the result remains in doubt, the pr
sumption is that the French defence
extend back II long distance from Il
Y positions taken by the Crown Prime