Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1918-04-11

towns thus mentioned. Yrres and .ArraS
are in British hands: La Bassec. Cam
hral and st. quentin in German. And of
these five fronts the frs three have
changed relatively little, tie LA Bassec
sector almost not at all since the trench
war began. But the Cambra and
81. Quentin sectors Were occupied
by the allies Only after the great Ger
man retreat. and the British armies
which arr now before Cambria and st.
Quentin We're facing Bapammc ana
Peronnc a wear ago.
No Likely Ypres Push.
OF the Npres sector. a. II possible
scene of a major German attack, this
could be said at once: Both the British
experience last year and The German
experience in 1914 and 1913 proved
mat the esion is almost impossible for
m1htary operations or Il huge scale. All
last summer and autumn British
troops ~floundered in the mud before
fpres. and their great offensive. which
did reach the Houlhoust forest and pass
fasschendaele. was halted by weather
even more than by the kaiscr'S armies
n guns. Today the British hold all
the high ground from Langemarck
right round TO Messines and Wys-
chaete. And behind them are the other
advantageous positions, holding which
are the old contemptibles,' who de
leated the great German armies in
1914, when there was lacking to the
British almost everything except cour-
age. necessary to make AN army. An
attack upon Ypres, therefore. seems
impracticablc.
Nor did the La Bassee sector hold
out greater attractions. ON the north
on either side of Armenticres. firmly
held by the British for more than three
years and y half, is a country of mud
n water. of bitches and bridges.
I ont -nf ,n 1,- h-
pelIe. at ~Festubert. at Givenchy, the
British have long occupied ground won
IN hard battle and maintained, like the
old Yprcs position, against terrible odds
i'm 1914. And behind the lower ground
mere the British have position after po-
sl,i"h on the high ground aroun
Bethulne. Below La Bassec, too. the
British occupy the ground Won at the
Dattle ol Loos. and also the famous
Hlli No. 40. taken and lost i'm 1915 and
definitely occupied last year. A sue
cessful offensive here would deprive
France of her last coal fields i'm the
north, but it would hardly lead to any
decisive military success. given the
character of the country.
Even less promising was the north
ern half OF the Arras sector. Here the
British not only hold the eastern foot
hllls OF the Artois plateau, but behind
they hold the famous Lorrette and
Vimy ridges, which dominate the whole
surrounding country, and offer a Well
night ~impregnable barrier TO a German
advance in this region. South of the
Scarpe. Monchy plays a similar role.
All along this Arras sector the Ger
mans had been pushed off the high
ground and down into the plain. they
had been driven out of their chosen no
sltions quite as completely as about
Ypres.
Can'brai and St. Quentin Front.
III is only ON the front below Arras,
the sectors facing Cambria and ST.
Quentin. that the Germans were in posi-
tlons OF their own choosing. and not.
as AT pres and Arras, on lines to
which they had been driven. or ms AT La
Bassee, on ground which they had oc-
cupled as the result of unforeseen fight
ing wnen they We're making their great
advance toward Calais in October. 1914.
from Glvenchy, near La Bassee. right
down to Bullecourt, British II French
advance in the various battles of Artois
had been slow but sure, and the prizes
IN the way of heights and gun positions
We're all theirs.
But from B%ullecourt to La Fere is the
front reached only after the great Ger
man retreat of last spring. Here the
Germans occupied the famous positions
of the Hindenburg line, which were
~preparted against the retreat more than
Il year ago, and have been held. with
a single exception, ever since. This
exception was the Cambria offensive.
which promised so much and yielded so
little. When they retreated last spring
the Germans fell back until they were
once more in positions in which they
had all the advantage of gun positions
and observation points. On this front
they We're in the same happy situation
they We're in at most places along the
western front in 1914, when they Occu-
pied ground of their own choosing.
On the Cambria and ST. Quentin
fronts. therefore, the British We're at a
dlsadvantage as to position; they oc-
cupied the ground selected for them by
the Germans. In addition they had be-
hind them all the country devastated
by the Germans in their retreat-a
country destitute Of villages. OF trees. of
farms: a desert. through which the
only communications are those built
since the German retreat. For nearly
20 miles behind the British line of to-
day his desert ~extends--a desert UNI
paralleled elsewhere on the globe.
In this country the Germans boosted
last year that they meant to attack
the British and French troops as the
allies advanced. They did not do so:
but could they break the British lines
now it would still be within their power
to fight a battle OF maneuver on this
ground, which they hav prepared with
a thoughtfulness of destruction nm
equalled in modern history. When
they held this region the Germans were
able to turn every farmhouse into a
fort, every forest into a defensive posi-
ton; they had the advantage of cover.
and the comforts and conveniences pro-
vlded by the villages; they had the re-
sources of the country in roads and in
rallroads-reSources existing before the