Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-04-23
HUN |NFER|OR|TY
ASSOLD DER PROVED
BY BIG BATTLE
Assault Has Welded the Allied
i. Armies. Mot Split Them, Says
British Correspondent.
TsELGIANS SHOW VALOR

London. April 23-Perry Robinson,
writing under Sundays date from the
British correspondents headquarters IN
France, sends the following to the DAILY
News:
At the end Of the first month of the
German offensive we have, | think,
little cause to be discouraged. On the
one side we have to credit the enemy
with considerable territorial gains and
with the prestige of the first success
which gave HIM Montdidier and brought
him close 10 Amiens Against this are
the facts that he has employed already
such an enormous number OF men and
that his losses, without question, have
been trrrible
FOES AIMS NOT REALIZED.
In neither of his greater operations
whatever his gains have been, has the
enemy even approximately realized his
Sims. To that extent both have failed
In three other operations. namely at
ArraS. on March -. in his second effort
an the front from Glvcnchy westward
on April Is. and against the Belglans he
has suffered defeat more complete and
costly than, | believe. British arms have
ever suffered in IN offensive IN proper
tion to the size Of the operations IN the
whole war on the western front.
What is perhaps more important
than any results on the map has been
that the result Of the fighting SO far
has been 10 breed not Encouragement
but confidence IN our men, and best
of all il has brought out, as nothing
else could have done, the new unity
and great spirit Of comradeship OF tho
French and British armies.
Instead Of separating those armies,
rs the Germans hoped 20 do IN their
first offensive, they have succeeded IN
Welding them into one, and by their
fine fighting in the last week the Bel
cians show how stanchlv they can
he counted on to stand shoulder 70
shoulder with the other allies
GERMAN OFFICERS BRAVE,
MANY Of the German officers show
great cAlantrv One case | heard OF
In the last few days WAS where Ger
man officer armed only with a cane.
and with light overcoat thrown over
has left arm. led his men, mp 10 one OF
our trenches and with his cane Knocked
sside the revolver OF a British officer
pointed at HIM before he was shot dead
b. one Of our men.
Apart from the gallantry OF lndi-
vidual officers or OF certain bodies OF
German rank and file and the qualities OF
iigh training by their machine gunners,
il remains rs true ~ ever IL was that our
men are better than the Germans. Never
has II been shown more clearly than in
these days, when the enemy IN immensely
rreponderatng strength has found his
way through our lines at several points,
and our men, cit up in small parties and
isolated. have fought him off until they
could join UP again, and by sheer superior
Itv OF grit and courage beaten hun back.
Our men know 1t, and the Germans know
Il no less well
The Belgian success north Of Ypres
seems to have been even finer than
was at first reported. The German at
tack which was delivered early on the
morning Of April II was on q front of
something ike 4.500 yards between the
lower edge Of Houthuist Forest and
the edge Of the flooded land of Steene-
beke. near kippc, northeast of Merckem.
Besides the two divisions normally hold
ing the line here the Ist Landwehr and the
18th Saxon Divisions, two more, the
18th Bavarian and the ID NavaI Divi-
aIons, were put il for the attack.
OBJECT OF THE ATTACK.
The object was first to capture Blk
schoote and thence drive southwark
in the direction Of Elverdinghc and
Brielen, so cutting at the base Of the
Ypres salient from the north Apparently
the Germans thought they would succeed
without difficulty. for there was no pre-
lminarv bombardment
The weight OF the original attack.
which was partly surprise, enabled
rhe Germans 10 make ground at one
point southeast Of AIerckem An I'M
mediate counter attack. with support
.ng troops, from northward drove the
Germans back and recaptured part OF
rhe ground lost. Later in the day second
counter attack finished the good work
Besides winning back all the ground
lost, the Belgians took 200 prisoners.
several field guns, ten machine guns
and other booty. 1t Is estimated. not
counting wounded more than 1000
iermans were killed