Evening star., 1917-09-30

Somme in the great battle of last year.
Thus. long before the allies moving
down the valley of the Lys arrived at
Client. the Germans would have to
withdraw out Of the whole coastal
Flanders, as they had to draw out of
the great Noyon salient this spring
while the French and British were
still outside of Peronne and Bapaume.
Moreover. just as Bapaume and Peronne
were the Immediate ob5ectives of the
Somme push" Roulers and Menin are
the immediate goals of the present
drive. Once the British are at Menin
and at Roulers, the Germans to the
north and south, along the coast from
Ostend to Zeebrugge and In the ever
deepening La Bassee-Lille salient, Will
be in dangerous position, although
their fronts remain unshaken on either
side of the entering wedge.
Ridge East Of Ypres.
So much for the larger strategy. Now
for tho Immediate geographical circum-
stances. East of Ypres rather less than
two miles rises low ridge. 1t runs In
a general direction from northeast to
southwest. and its southern extremity Is
just due south of Ypres. 1t is not more
than a hundred feet above the sur
rounding country and the rise is so
gradual that it does not suggest real
height at any point. This ridge carries
a number of villages familiar to all
readers of the war news Of the past
three years. These are Messines. Wyt-
schaete. Hollebeke, Zandevorde, Ghelu-
welt, Zonnebeke and Broodseinde. North
Of Broodseinde it narrows very rapidly
to a point at the also familiar village OF
Passchendaele.
Actually this ridge is the watershed
between the Yser and the Lys. Down
its gently sloping western tanks flow
a number of little streams which enter
the User. rapidly dropping to the great
marsh to the west OF Ypres. Eastward
from the ridge flow other little brooks.
which enter the Lys. They are much
shorter than the streams Of the west.
but on neither side are the water
courses more than mere brooks. obsta-
cles to military operations only in the
wet season, which, however. is pretty
constant in this unhappy region.
Villages Held by British.
In 1914. when the British first came
to the Ypres district, they were advanc-
ing toward the north and east and along
two main highways-that which goes
road. and the Ypres-Roulers road.
which passes just southeast of Lange-
marck. But their main push was along
the Menin road, and when they were
brought to a dead halt by the new Ger
man drive for Calais they stood along
the ridge from Broodseinde right down
to Messines, holding all the little viii
lagos along the crest which have men,
toned. From Broodseinde their line
extended at right angles to Lange-
marck. behind several of the little
brooks which flow west to the User
In the first battle of Ypres-in Octo-
Der and November. 1914-the British
were pushed westward OF the ridge
from Broodseinde all the way through
Wytschaete and Messines, except for
one little strip from Gheluvelt to Zon-
nebeke: but from Zonnebeke to Lange-
marck their line was pushed back very
little indeed This fighting trans
formed the Ypres sector into a very
d:sagreeable salient, and the Germans
on the ridge about Messines and Wyt-
. schaete looked down upon Ypres and
. swept the rear of the British and their
lines of communication in all the sa-
lient.
In the second battle of Ypress-in
April and May. 1916-the battle in