The Canon City record with which is consolidated the Canon City cannon., 1918-08-01
is High As
Fifth Year DulUns

Omitted Press staff Correspondent
Copyright. 1918. by the United Press.)
With the British Armies in the
Field. July lon this front three big
things loom up out OF the year which
began the middle of last summer and
ended the middle of this:
Haig's offensive in Flanders and at
Cambria
The decision to brigade Americans
with the British
The German offensive.
Each will have a large place in
the history of this war
Although at that time there was no
such thing as generalissimo on the
Western front. there was something
approaching unity of command. and it
had been agreed between British and
French that certain general policies
should be followed in the Allied of
fensive of 1917. Without going into
detail. the tactics of the Franco-Brit-
ish commanders were almost percise-
ly those of Hindenburg and Luden-
dorff this year. This is. an offensive
was to be turned loose in particular
place. and if this came to a stand
still another offensive should be got
under way as quickly as possible
somewhere else
ARRAs FIGHT STARTS.
So. on April 3. 1917. the battle of
Arras began few days later the
French attacked Scissors and Rheims.
The storming of Messines Ridge
came next and after this the push in
Flanders and the drive against Cam
brai.
The Flanders offensive was aimed
against the high ground east and
northeast OF Ypres. against Passohen-
daele. Roulers and the U-boat bases
on the Belgian coast Had these been
taken Germany's position in Belgium
would have been percarious and her
whole northern flank menaced.
But Haig played in usual British
luck: The weather was abominable,
Flanders became a Quagmire. There
were days when some of the finest
fighting men who ever pushed bay
onet failed to reach their objectives
only because it was a physical impos-
sibility to cross the bog
OF course progress was hopelessly
retarded. losses were heavy and the
campaign season ended with the cap
ture of Passchendaele. The Germans
were not seriously incommoded. On
the other hand. British troops. who
had TO fight rain and mud quite as
much as the other enemy, were very
tired
Still. after pause. the Cambria sur
prise was sprung on the Germans.
And this WAS a surprise, the Ger
mans themselves Notwithstanding
Personally. l believe the war might
have been ended there and then had
the Allies not been dog tired at the
end OF a long. hard campaign. instead
the tanks, hundreds OF them, broke
completely through before the panic
stricken enemy realized what was go
ing on. In front of the British infan-
country. All that was needed was a
strong. fresh army to exploit the
breach. The whole German front
might have been rolled up.
Dat tbatsS ,ba l..
story - . the men were tired and
their ranks thin and. not being strong
enough TO push on. had. ten days later
TO withdraw out of a dangerous sal
lent
RUMoRS OF OFFENSIVE.
About this time rumors of great
German offensive against the west
front began to take form. The Rus
sian collapse had become practically
complete and a front which required
76 German divisions TO hold down.
disappeared. Even at the time of
Cambria German divisions were ar
riving from Russia and from that mo-
ment on the Kaiser's armies in the
West grew bigger and bigger.
A little over year ago there We're
but 1ss German divisions on the west
ern battlefield. BY February OF this
year these had grown to ISL. Only 55
divisions were left in Russia. two 9th
ers being in the Balkans and three
in Italy. a total of 24l.
The German offensive which began
March 81 was not surprise in any
way Whatsoever While in Swityer-