Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-07-22

mars had been outgunned. outmanned.
outfought and outgeneraled. The new
British artillery had achieved mastery
over the old German artillery. A Ger
man army had been surprised, swept off
it's feet. 1t had lost ground which it
had been terrifying for nearly three
years. 1t was able to avoid complete
disaster only by repeating the sacrifice
Of the French in the first days of Yer
dun and bringing up it's choicest troops
to build living wall while il could re-
pair the breach in It's dixie.
In the history of the strife between
the new British army and the German
the battle of Arras is the second stage.
There was a third. From the days of
October. 1914. the Ypres salient had
been the Achilles heel of the British
front. The ground lost in 1914 had
placed the Germans on the high land.
from which they commanded the whole
Ypres salient and from which they ex-
acted never ending toll of casualties.
No offensive operations in this field
could even be prepared without i'm
mediate warning to the Germans. Yet
in the full view of the German army
the British prepared an offensive on
the ground. In plain sight of German
observation and under the fire Of Ger
man artillery they gathered their
strength, they organized their stroke.
Ypres High-Water Mark.
The third battle of Ypres represents
tn high-water mark of British
achievement, because in all respects
the British were able. having directly
challenged the Germans. to achieve
their detectives without delay and at
moderate cost. In few hours the
Germans were swept from the Messines
ridge. They were swept out of the viii
lagos of Wytschaete and Messines
They were driven down into the low
lands Of the Lys. All the advantageous
points won in the battle of October and
November, 1914. were surrendered in
period of minutes. Seven thousand
prisoners, many guns. much material.
were left in British hands. and so com
pIetely successful was the attack that
it was as Mr.. Belloc pointed out, forty
hours before the Germans were able to
organize counter attack, which was
ahortive.
Looking backward now over the year
that lies between the opening of the
the third Ypres, we see certain facts.
In that period of time the British have
taken upward of four hundred guns--a
testimonial more eloquent than the
capture Of thirty-eight thousand pris-
oners at the Somme, twenty thousand
prisoners at Arras or seven thousand
prisoners at Ypres. They have driven
the Germans back over front in
places twenty miles deep. They have
mastered all the weapons which were
in German hands when the war began
and were. unknown to the civilian army
Of Britain. More than this, each sue
cessive effort of the British army has
been technically better in a military
sense. more efficient and more success
full than that which preceded it. and
each has shown newer and completer
mastery of the conditions. the weap-
ons and the methods of contemporary
warfare.
Such is the history of year of con-
fiict between the Briton and the Teu-
ton. 1t can be shown on the map, as l
have tried to show 1t. by an area of re-
conquered territory. 1t will be re-
counted in history in the story of
three great victories-the Somme, Ar
ras and Ypres-but the actual achieve
ment goes beyond the measurement
which we can get here. Before this
war is over I believe that we shall
have further and far more impressive
evidence of the moral superiority which
the British army has gained over the
German. When I came back from the
British army last spring my readers
here will remember what 1 said about
the moral supremacy which the British
army felt 1t had. individually and col
lectively. over the Germans This was
before Arras and before the third bat
tie of Ypres. 1t was based entirely
upon the Somme. But what the moral
Arras and Ypres must be 1t is not diff
cult to estimate.
What Germans Rave Done.
Now. IN all that time, what has the