The Seattle star. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1899-1947, 1919-12-06
TANKS PLAY
IMPORTANT PART

From July 81 TIL well into Septem
Der was period Of trcnendou,
anxiety. on July 81 the English. as
sisted by few French divisions or
their left. had attacked on a FROM
Of about Is miles ,cast and north OF
Yprcs. They had employed suct
quantities OF artillery as had beer
rare. even In the West. At many
points along the whole front the en-
envy had penetrated with tanks. Cav
airy divisions were In readiness q
push thru.
With the assistanc, OF the counter
attack divisions usingreif's division
the Fourth army. whose chief OF tn,
staff was now Colonel won DoszberE
succeeded In checking the hostile
success and iocaiixing its effect. Hut
besides loss Of from one and q quar-
ter 20 two and half miles of grouns
along the whole front. IL caused u,
very considerable losscs In prisoner,
and stores. and . heavy expcudiiur,
OF reserves.
In August fighting broke out OF
many parts OF the Western front. In
Flanders the entente attacked agar
on the i0th. aliho they must hav,
suffered severely on July II. August
10 was a success for Us. on tho isth
we sustained another great blow
The English pressed on beyond
Poeicapelle and even by an extrem'
exertion Of strength on our par
could only be pushed hack a shor'
distance During tho following day.
fighting continued with diminished
intensity. The 2snd was another day
Of heavy fighting. August % con
cludcd the second phase OF the Elan
ders battle. IL had cost us heavily.
Tho main French effort took place
at Nerdun on August 20 and FL. Tn,
Fifth army was not surprised. Al
had been provided for weeks before
hand. certain areas. such az the Ta
lou ridge. were abandoned In time
The assault. which was not accom-
panied by tanks. again penetrated IA,
Into our positions.
On the left bank. close 20 ths
Meuse. one division had failed. MOI
had we been fortunat. on tn. rtgh
bank, and yet both here and In fian
ders everything possible had prob
ably been done TO avoid failure. TIL.
sist and 2sth also brought success u
the enemy and loss TO US nsy thet,
blows the French won hack the larg
er part Of the territory east of tn,
Mcuse which they had lost In Tbs
verdun battlesl'
FRENCH AGAIN
ABLE TO STRIKE
The French army was oncr NOR,
capable Of the offensive. II ha<
quickly overcome Its depression. Jusi
at this time the Statesmen In Pari,
put forward peace conditions which
did not accord with the military sit
ustion.
Tho costly August battles in FIan
ders and at Verdun imposed heav,
strain on the Western troops. II
spite OF all the concrete protection
they seemed more or less poweriesl
under the enormous weight % IN,
enemy's artillery. At some point
they no longer displayed that firm
ness which I. In common with tn
local commanders. had hoped for.
The enemy contrivsd 10 adapt him
self to our method OF employini
counterattack divisions. There wer
no more attacks with unlimited oh
jective. such as General Nlvelle ha,
made in the Aisne. Champagne bal
tie. He was ready for our counter
attacks. and prepared for them b
exercising restraint In the exploits
ton of success. In other direction,
OF course. this suited us very well.
I, myself. was being put to n te,
ribIe strain. The state Of affairs 4
the West appeared to prevent In
execution Of our plans eIsewher,
Our wastage had been so high as /
cause grave misgiving. and had e,
ceeded all expectations. The attac
ON the Dvina had TO be postpone,
repeatedly. Indeed. II became
question whether we could eontinu
to bear the responsibility Of retain
ing those divisions in the East.
The crown prince was not alone
his anxiety: several chiefs Of staff {
very cool judgment shook the
heads. But. in estimating III
strength of our enemies. I Away
said to myself that I'm this war III
only alternatives were victory or d.
feat. that their determination to d
stroy us made any intermediate 81
tuition impossible. In spite OF all,
was convinced that the West fror
would stand even more batterinj
tho fate might have even create
trials in store for II. This was al
other case where human wisdoi
! failed