The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-07-28

will comprise the great army con-
tingents which America is planning to
send to Europe.
Allies Missions to United States.
In cementing Americas association
with the nations now her allies, nu-
! merous exchanges of missions were
arranged. France, Great Britain,
italy. Belgium, Russia and other
entente belligerents sent delegations
to the United States as a step toward
unification. military, financial and
otherwise. The United States sent
tries
Fighting on the western front dur
ing the third year of the war may
roughly be divided into six phases
two iE the latter part of 1916 before
winter called a halt; and four after
the early spring.
French Victors at Verdun.
At the close of the second year the
Germans were still unwilling to con-
cede failure in the operations center
ing on Verdun. After August 3, 1916,
the French gained the ascendancy,
eliminating in the retaking of Douau,
Thiaumont and Fort Vaux. with thou
sands of prisoners and many guns. By
November the French had once more
come into possession of the complete
circe of the Verdun defences.
The second phase dates back to the
commencement of the Franco-British
offensive-the first bate of the
Somme-in July of 1916. By mid
September this had reached such
proportions that the Germans were
credited with bringing up seven new
divisions against the British and five
against the French. 1t was estimated
that thirty-eight German divisions, or,
based on the strength OF those Ger
IInifG that a
600 men, opposed the British and
French on this twenty-mile front. In
this battle the British air supremacy
became dominant. BY November the
British and French had taken st.
Pierre-Dtvion, Beaumont-Hamel and
Beaucourt and had penetrated Ger
man positions for depth of six miles.
The Hindenberg Retreat.
In the spring, the Germans, antici-
pating a resumption of the Somme
operations, began what has become
known as 'Hindenberg's victorious
retreat" to newly established German
lines. In this second battle of the
Nesle, Fayette. Gricourt, Vaux, Roye,
Tergnier, Ham and hundreds of other
positions were lost by the Germans.
In an evacuation which French critics
regard as memorial the Germans left
a track of widespread devastation
ton. The British claimed capture of
nearly 5000 prisoners in the three
months of this German retirement for
a depth of from five to fifteen miles
along a front of about forty-six miles.
In April the British transferred
their offensive northeast of Arras,
forcing Won Hindenberg to redistrib
ute his forces along a fifteen-mile
front. Canadians played a historic
part in this fighting. Monchy-le-
Preux was taken, and Vimy Ridge
was captured after one of the worlds
bloodiest battles. Canadians held the
ridge against desperate counter at
tacks. This success east of Arras
turned Hindenberg's northern pivot,
and British critics regarded it as the
greatest in the history of British
arms in the present war. The often
sive, continued, placed the British
astride the Hindenberg line, and the
Germans retired to positions a mile
or two west of the Drocourt- Queant
line. These they held as the third
year closed.
Meanwhile the battles of Cham
payne and the Aisne had been carried
on by the French, who in April cap
tured Auberive. In the first days of
Champagne offensive, one of the
greatest struggles of the war, the Ger
mans sustained an estimated loss of
100000 killed, wounded and taken
prisoners thru their desperate defen-
sive operations. Fighting in these re-
gions continues after three onths,
during which the French have ad-
vanced from one to five miles along =
fifty-mile front. The present French
line runs from northwest of scissors,
thru Rheims to Auberive.
In June, 1917, the British began an
attack on Messines and Wyschaete in
an effort to straighten out the Ypres
salient. Again British flyers domi-
m kzI ~ II IL, IT.
an entire year mining the earth for
this offensive, which was begun with
an explosion so terrific that it was
heard in London. Beyond Messines.
for two miles east and northeast, the
British won and consolidated ground,
captured more than 7,4oo prisoners
and great stores of artillery. Gaining
every objective, they placed them
selves astride the Ypres-Comines
canal, having advanced three miles on
an eight-mile front. Portuguese and
Belgian troops aided in this offensive.
In recent days the fighting there had
been confined to raiding operations
1t is estimated that during April.
May and June the Germans suffered
$4,000 casualties on the western
front.
Russ June Offensive.
The Russians, having in June of
1916 begun an offensive from the
Prlpet marshes to the Rumanian
frontier, speedily captured Czerno-
WITT and the rest of Bukovina, togeth-
er with Brody in Galicia, and in Au-
gust they entered Stanislau for the
third time in the war. These opera
lions forced the Austro- G ermans to
relinquish lines they had held thruout
the winter of 1915-1916.
The Halicz bridgehead fell in Sep
TENDER, but the subsequent advance
on Lemberg was not prosecuted be-
cause the plight of Rumania demand
ed the transfer of Russian troops to
aid their Balkan ally.
After the Russian revolution the
Russians made feint to advance on
Pinsk, to cover the actual operations
resumed in July against Lemburg
This latter front extended 1914 miles.
Known as Regiments July First, -
these troops, reinvigorated by the
consciousness of political liberty, con-