The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1917-02-04
GREAT CONCENTRATIONS
IS EUROPl'S STRbTlG,
West Fronts Whole soul Is Now i'm
Great Sonnc Sector which May
Decide War.
BALANCE OF LINE THEIR
Veterans of War of 1870 A.-c Proudly
PatroIling Much of Front Left In
active BY Change in strategy
BY f.. ASHMEAD-B BARTLETT.
Tho Leading British War torrc-

Tho Leading British War Corre-
sIrondent.
copyright, 1917. ny international News
Service
This is the second Of a series OF
articles written for the international
News Service by Ellis Ashnead Bart
lett. the leading British war CORE
spondent. He was chosen to represent
ali the London newspapers at the
Dardane1les. where only ono London
war correspondent was permitted with
the army. He has been for eight
months past on the western front and
has just returned from Nerdun. In
this article Mr.. Ashmead- Bartlett de-
soribcs the French soldiers and the
power of the Anglo-trench
armies.
MIR, Ashmead- Bartlett's third arti-
Gle will appear in The Y!rginian at
an carly date.
New York. Feb. 3--Thc characte!
of the fighting along the western front
has considerably chan-,d since the
triple and quadruple lines Of trenches
and fortified posts w5rc built by the
rival armies. Along certain sections
Of that line enormoUs numbers OF
ucA and guns are massnd ond great
battles are being fought while the re
mainaer is being thinly hell 10y both
armies.
When YOU read that The French are
holding three hundred miles Of front
and the British about ninety. Won
often hear the amateur remark Why
really one would think the British
ought to do more TO help the French
thun they are doing"
AS a matter OF fact the actual
mileage Of trenches held ny one army
in comparison with what is held by
another Is no criterion Whatsoever of
the relative pressure each is bringing
10 hear against the common enemy.
because there may be a great deal
3norc activity on thirty miles of front
than on three hundred
During the past wear there have
been two main concentrations OF the
hostile armies, the one before Verdun
and the other north and south of the
Somme. Along these two sectors the
"Iivelness" is awful I}u; You can
walk for hundreds of miles along the
remainder OF the front without hardly
hearing shot fired and meeting with
extremely few men In the front
trenches. This is notably the case
along the line of the Aisne, where
the river renders it hard for either
side to attack with any hope Of sue
cess
Old Men soldiers.
Many OF these quiet sectors are held
proudly and defanfly by old terrltor-
ials. the gtandfathers of France, who
have long passed the military age
They are proud Of the trust confided
To them. They prefer this active
contact with the enemy To doing Ia
bcrers' work behind the lines, and as
they gaze out across the deserted
stretch of No Mans Land during the
long watches o. the night ana day
they know they are enabling the
younger men, who do the real hght-
ing, to have a good rest in comfort
able biliets somewhere behlnd Inc
lines
Why, then, tt may be asked, instead
of hammerlng away against certain
fixed positions. where the enemy is
known to have the bulk OF us FORCES
oucentrated. does not one or the com
hatants make sudden dash and break
through where the line is thinly held
The answer Is simple. Each section
is strong enough - resist suddcn
attack by the troops known to be IN
its immediate front, and IT there Is an
ky%t Fe ~ Nn