Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1917-05-04

iiA's N's Va
W. Colcul and tie Sense. Rear
III mind that a: this point the British
fau crossed the Hinder!surs limo 1T it's
point of junction with TIN. old trench
ilne ana had, in fact. to use the figure
OF the door. cut the hinges of the north
cTnmos door.
Ky Thursday the Germans recognized
mat their defeat was absolute. that
Nimy ridge could not he rctaken-theT
had already lost Hill NO. 140-and a
general retreat q ordered. Mean
time. while the army of General AL
ienby had been winning the battle OF
Arras, the army of General Horne, to
the north, extending from the surburbs
OF Lens to La Bbassee. suddenly be-
came active and began to move east
and south in an enveIoping movement
around the city of Lens. This opera
ton accentuated itself ~ Friday. and
very promptly the Germans began to
draw out of Lens itself. n the evac-
uation of all the lines between Lens and
Crolsllles were foreshadowcd. BY this
tune the extent If the British victory
va better known. and 200 pieces of
artillery and Is, 900 prisoners were the
proofs of the success.
h question that was now raised re-
mains unsolved as these lines are being
written. The British victory a al
ready passed any victory in western
trench warfare. There had been a
complete piercing of all the first sys-
tenn of German works, and tine sole
problem was whether between La
bassee and Cambria the Germans a
constructed a rearward line which
would serve to- Withhold he British
flood now pouring through the broken
dixie. This remains still a problem.
That SUCH a line does exist. extending
from behind Lens to the outskirts OF
Cambria and known as Drocourt-
Queant line, British reports had told
US. AS to it's capacity for resisting
we do not know.
The three phases of trench attack are
illustrated by three great trench bat
ties. In Champagne, in 1915, the French
penetrated the first line of the German
defenses and were checked at the sec
ond. AS a piercing operation it was a
FAILURE and came to an abrupt end. Inc
second phase is illustrated by the battle
of Brussfloff. in Galicia, last year.,
when, having penetrated the eastern
trench lines on a wide front, he was
after a number of weeks held by Ger
man attacks before he a effected
such a breach in the eastern front OF
the central allies that h whole front
had to be withdrawn. The third phase
is Illustrated by Mackensen's attack in
Galicfa in 1915, when at Gorlice he
broke IN whole Russian trench system
and, penetrating behind the Russian
line. dislocated h whole Russian front
from the Baltic to Rumania and com
PEELED the ultimate evacuation of
Galicia and h loss of Poland.
At present the problem in the battle
of Arras is whether it will terminate in
the second phase, which it has now en-
tered. as did Brussiloff's attack. or If
it will be successful as was Macken-
SENS and compel the German retire
ment out of France. These two pos
sibilities are to be borne in mind for
the newt faw 1a VIC and u,col.o MO NAV
see the British stopped permanently on
a new German line between La Bassee
and Cambria or we may see the British
advance go pounding forward through
Douaf, and thus compel a general Ger
man retirement to the line of the Meuse
and thence westward to the city of
Lille.
1t IS too early to say that we are see
ing the end of trench warfare, but the
sudden success of the British in sweep
ing through our or five miles of Ger
mar trenches on Il front of IL miles
must at least suggest that heavy artil-
lery has found an answer to the trench
warfare and that we are seeing the APP
proach of open fighting again. 1t is
clear. too. that the British have already
accomplished at Arras what the Ger
mans wholly failed to accomplish at
and have won the greatest
success in western trench warfare.
So u for the British attack. Now,
N week later, after another intense
bombardment, h French are begin
ming to attack between Rheims and
SCISSORS. And the position they are at
tacklng nswer exactly to the descrip-
ton OF the hinge of the other door. The
Key OF the position is the Craonne
plateau. wholly comparable with the
Vimy ridge to the north. The ground
over which the French are attacking is
the most easily defensible position left
II mo (~6YfN vS <ny~
the Disc, the dominating feature, the
raonne plateau. is where Bluecher
blocked Napoleon in the Marine cam
paign of 1914. II the French can pene-
trate through the German lines on this
'plateau they will cut the whole German
the Meuse. and the British and French
a north and south will take on
tne character OF pincers closing on the
Rheims.
In September. 1915. after the battle Of
lne Marne. the French n the British
were matted along the front that the
french are now ttackingin the bloody
battle OF the Aisne, which marked the
beginning of the trench war. Eastward
OF the Craonne plateau is the one weak
spot In the Gerlma position, the point
where the Aisne river come through
q wide v plain between the
pleateau on the north and the hills
east Of Rheims. Through this gap a
French division penetrated during the
pursuit after the battle Of the Marne.
1t actually succeeded in separating the
armies Of Kluc'< and Buelow, and, had
It held its ground. the German retreat
happily. the troops were green, the Of
ficers inexperienced. and, finding them
selves monentarily out Of touch with
their supporting troops. they withdrew.
Could h French now push up through
! gar. they would be in the rear OF