The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1917-10-04
CHEMIN DIES DANES BE
WORLD RENOWNED BArfi-k
Even Gr-ai~r Losses To Germans Than
Has B~en Nerdun.

French Front. Sept. is.-sCorresPond'
enc. To SAY 4 come nom the battle
neld OF the Chemin des Dames-,he
Ladies Road-siamps a French soldier
In the popular mind today as hero.
Ver,iun had seized the popular imagina'
tlon owing Ia its position as the n"oF
through which the Germans hoped 10
break To reach the heart OF France.
Even the battle of Nerdun, In which the
French. by their longSurering deiefm'
nation to resist. succeeded In thorough
In defeating the Germans. II considered
by some observers a lesser operation
than that Of the Chemin dies Danes.
whose possession means the command
of the grea; road to the north b, Whlch
the Germans must retreat
The outcome Of this great hattie has
al the date 81 writing not been nnalls
determined All that tho correspondent
Of the Associated Press. who has TOT
lowed the operations closely. can afrm
Is that the French. after their trst cap
ture ~ the famous road with all its OBJ
seryatories a. result o ftheir offensive
begun on April Is, have been able 10
hold all their gains. To iniiici almost un'
believahle losses on the picked troops
OF the crown princes army and 10 re-
sist successfully all the furious counter
attacks OF. the Germans.
During the months OF April. May.
June. July and August the fighting has
been incessant. In the first attack by
the French. when they started their Of
A san.s
man prisoners and s0e c;tnnons were
captured Since then attack has fol
lowed attack. eiihS from the French or
the Germans. and when the total Of
these operations is summed UP the re-
suit i shown that every four days dur
ing the four months there has been a
battle on a more or less extensive scale,
The net result Of these fights Is that
the French today hold all they gained
at their first assault.
The Germans have utilized on this
battlefront forty-nine divisions, which
have been sent into the combat and
Withdrawn when exhausted--ihat is to
say. when a division has lost in casual
ties at least 1000 men This gives
roughly on the German side 10000 cas-
ualties among the front line troops
without taking into account the killed
and wounded caused by the extremely
/ heavy artillery fire directed on the
lines of communication in the rear, in
the period since the first French assault
on April 10 This is almost double their
I losses before Verdun during the similar
period OF 1916. when severe fighting
was going on there.
The character OF the fighting on the
4 Chernin des DANES Is totally different
Z from that at Nerdun. At Ferdun il
was always possible to retire without
I great disadvantage for a certain dis
tance-which may he called the man
ouvering area-Owing 10 the nature Of
the ground with its successive ranges
OF hills aud intervening valleys. On
the Chemin des Danes il has been nee
eSsarv 10 hold on for should either side
retire for more than a few feet the
other side gained the advantage Of the
observatOries. permitting close watch
over all that went on in the adversary's g
lines. There are here no definite lines
OF trenches. no fields Of barbed wire and
no shelters. and the two adversaries are
always open 10 sudden inroads and have
to fight hand TO hand to hold their 10
sitions.
The crest on when the Chemin des
Danes runs Is like a knife-blaGe at
many parts. over the edge Of which
the enemy may not be allowed to peep.
Till now the French have always been
able to retain their outlook over the
edge and. full OF confidence in them
selves they intend to keep it until the
time comes for further advance.