The Washington herald., 1919-03-12
GIBBS REVIEWS
GREAT WAR PHASES
In LECTURE HERE
ooNrINUEp FRoM PAGE oNE.

les" and trench feet were being intro
duced TO civilized society, Mr.. Gibbs
spoke realistically. but he said, 81 give
You my word of honor there was
laughter in those trenches, and SUBJ
lime faith that the end would be right" +"
How hard IL was to maintain that
faith when the Tommy" and the
Amaze and the Canadian peeped
out OF their dugouts and saw the
Boche entTenched on high ground
along Vimy Ridge. at Messines
and Monchy. with constantly aug
p7enting forces Of men and artll-
Iery and all the diabolisaI instru-
ments OF warfare which ne invent
ed, Gibbs painted in brief but tell
ing words. Through the dark year
Of 1915 the awful life of the
trenches continued.
But in 1916 the warfare of move
ment began with the first battle of
the Somme. when the freshly re-
cruited British army began its first
great offensive, with the Highland
ers. whom the German called 'the
ladies of He'll" the Irish and the
Colonials, displaying unprecedent-
ed bravery. That battle. under Sir
Douglas Haig. Gibbs was frank
enough to describe as only partial
British victory, perhaps in its major
outlines a British defeat.
British LOSSES Heavy.
Then came the great campaign OF
1917, which the Germans signalized
by retreat to the Hindenburg line
leaving a swath OF destruction be-
hind them. In this campaign in
Flanders the British lost 500, 700 men,
largely without adequate return. The
offensive against the pill boxes" was
opened in conjunction with the Nivelle
offensive, which proved to be French
defeat.
The year 1918 opened as the
blackest OF all the years of the war
because the Germans had been able
to throw all their forces OF the East
ern line into the Western front. The
British were weakened, since Sil
Douglas Haig had despatched several
divisions to Italy. and he had taker
over a part of the French front north
and south of st. Quentin. The result
was the ruin OF the army of Gen
Cough. and the ordering OF the great
retreat. which ended only on the edge
Of Amiens.
And then came the Americans whom
Gibbs had first seen in action during
the German counter offensive against
Byng at Cambria. These were the 25t
engineers repairing a railroad line who
protested as the Germans came for
ward, this isn't in the contract" but
who got rifles from the British troops
and fought a brilliant rear guard ac-
ton with the enemy.
Gibbs did not sec the battle OF Chat
eau Thierry, the American classic. mol
any advance OF the American troops
but he did see the two American d.
visions. the Twenty-seventh and the
Seventy-ssventh New York, which
were brigaded with the British, and he
paid tribute to their fighting quality.
The turn of the tide" he de-
scribed as coming when the Hin
denburg line was punctured north
of Arras. with British, Canadian
and American troops crossing the
canal at Cambria.
The speaker did not venture any
forecast of the future or make ref
erence to the Peace Conference. He
mad plea for a new era OF Anglo.
American comradeship. saying that
Europe, a Jungle of jealousy" be-
fore the war. needed the new world
in the work of reconstruction snC
would fail without its aid.
Philip Gibbs, of London. was taker
to the heart of Washington. Hi.
war lecture was real event