The Washington herald., 1918-04-28
Ypres.

II Ypres is to fall so be il. Its loss need not
be minimized nor magnihed The little Flemish
town is flaming symbol for British arms, and
its final capture by the enemy after all these bitter
wears would cause Britons to shudder. But at the
risk of being trite let say, "the Englishman
never fights so hard or so successfully as when
he is the under dog"
KENNEL Hill the southernmost flank OF Mes
sines Ridge is apparently in the possession
of the Hun. Berlin announced last night that all
attempts to recapture the hill had failed The
exact scope and result of British counter attacks
on the new German positions probably will not be
known definitely until London makes full re-
port on the subject. Sir Douglas Haig reported
last night that "we are holding the enemy at all
points," and there is nothing in the British official
statement yet to indicate the fall Of Ypres or the
partial evacuation OF the Ypres salient.
However, we must be prepared for an an
nouncement that Ypres is to be abandoned. The
undercurrent of the whole offensive, from the
point of view of Fochs Fabian strategy. is that
if the Boche is willing to pay the price he can
take what terrain he chooses to take-all terrain
which is not vital to the allied The price
is being set increasingly high. Ypres probably
will be given him. if he is willing to sell the lives
of thousands upon thousands of his soldiers for it,
Since the offensive has been resolved into a test
of relative man power, in which the German is
matching his temporary superiority OF reserves
against the advantage which the French and Brit
ish possess by reason of being the defensive,
it has been resolved also into test Of nerves and
brains
The sentimental value attaching to Ypres is
great. There need be no concealment of that
fact There is no greater glory attaching to the
history of the British army than the defense Of
Ypres in the fall of 1914 1t matches in every
way the immortal French victory on the Marne.
"Kitchener's mob" saved Ypres only by a miracle
of valor. Like all miracles nobody has ever been
able to explain it The failure of the German
legions to sweep the unframed, i-dsciplined Brit
ish diyisions-among whom were many newly
rived and raw Canadian detachments-into the sea
is inexplicable.
1t was at Ypres that the Hun gave one of the
first great proofs of what he had said in his heart
and what he had sworn to do. He launched gas
attacks at his enemy, despite his solemn agree
ment to the Hague convention barring such dia-
bolic methods OF warfare. Now there was no
question then-any more than there is now-of the
deadly character of gas and flame attacks in trench
warfare. Gas launched at the French and
British in clouds and waves, killing thousands upon
thousands of them. And still the line held, the
Almighty alone knows how. It was weeks before
the troops equipped with gas masks. The
British and French absolutely refused to believe
that the Boche would resort to utter barbarism of
this sort until it was thrust upon them. They were
caught unprepared, entirely because they held too
high opinion of their enemy. Indeed, to their
naive minds, still enwrapped in the normal atmos-
phere OF civilization it took months before the ex-
/. act German idea was comprehended-before they
were forced to recognize that they were facing
scientific sayagery, not Common mortals"
So the loss of Ypres, which has been so hero
ically defended in the past, will be small thing
II will be sacrificed only to the requirements of
allied strategy.