HOPE IS HIGH AS
FIFTH YEAR DAWNS
'VKI —■
(By William Philip Simms, Unite
Press Stuff ('orrespondent. Copy
right, 1 !*1 S. by United Press)
WITH THE BRITISH ARMIES 1!
THE FIERI). July 1— On this fror
three big tilings loom up out of th
year which began the middle of lus
summer and ended the middle of this
Haig’s offensives In Flanders and a
Cambrai.
The decision to brigade American
with the British.
The German offensive.
Each will havo a large place in th
history of this war.
Although at that time there was m
such thing as a generalissimo on thi
western front, there was somethin!
approaching unity of command, and I
had been agreed between British am
French that certain general pollcle
should be followed In the allied ol
fensive of 1917. Without going inti
detail, the tactics of the Franco-Brit
ish commanders were almost precisel;
those of Hindenburg and Rudendorf
this year. That is, an offensive wai
to be turned loose in a particulai
place, and if this came to a standstil
another offensive should be gotten uii
der way as quickly as possible some
where else.
Arras Fiyht Starts
So, on April 9, 1917, the battle o
Arras began. A few days later tin
French attacked between Soissons ant
Rhcims. The storming of Messlnei
ridge, came next, and after this th<
push in Flanders and the drive againsi
Cambrai.
The Flanders offensive was aimec
against the high ground east ant
northeast of Ypres. against Passcbeti
daele, Roulers and tha U beat baser
on the Belgian coast. Had these beer
taken Germany's position in Belgium
would have been precarious and bet
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 linest
fighting men who ever pushed a bay
onet failed to reach their objectives
only because it was a physical Im
possibility to cross the bog.
Of course progress was hopelessly
retarded, losses were heavy and the
campaign season ended with the cap
ture of Passehendaele. The Germans
wi'io not seriously incommoded. On
(be other hand, British troops, who
had to tight rain and mud quite as
mm ti as itn other enemy, were very
tired.
‘ Still, tiller a pause, the Camtira!
surprise u a sprung on the Germans.
And tills was a surprise, tile Gormans
themselves notwithstanding Person
lie I believe (lie war might have
been elided then and there tiad Hie
,, 11 ii not In en dog tired at tile end
of a long, hard campaign, instead oi
being ul the start and fresh. For
the tanks, hundreds of them, broke
completely through before the panic
stricken enemy realized what was go
ing on. in front of tin- British itilan
tr> lay (anibrai and the wide-open
country All that was needed was a
strung, i're.-h army to exploit the
broach. The whole German front
might have been rolled up.
Hut *’*••* and that's the whole
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 dan
gen us salient.
Rumors of Offensive
About this time rumors of a great
German offensive against the west
front began to take form. The Hus
sian collapse hail become practically
complete anil a front which hail re
quirt'd seventy-six German divisiom
to hold down disappeared. Kveu at
the time of t'ambrai German division*
were arriving from Russia, and fron
that moment on the kuiser’H armlet
ill the west grew bigger and bigger.
A little over a year ago there wen
but 128 German divisions on the west
ern battle held lly February of thb
year these had grown to 181. Only
fifty live divisions were left in Hus
sis. two others being in the Balkan
and three in Italy, a total of 241.
The German offensive which begut
Mari ii 21 was not a surprise In an;
w . ’intsoever While in Switxerlani
during thu latter part of January
learned that tbo offensive would com
monco shortly after March 1 (depend
ing upon the weather and other con
ditions lor the exact date; that i
would corns In the country southwari
of Arras; that the Germans would tie
pend largely u^on gas; that this gat
was not now, us the raw-head and
I s i O'-V
1 bloody-bones scare mongers and Ger
i man propagandists Insisted, but that
It had been used both at Cambral and
» in [taly; that a very short artillery
t preparation would be made; something
Dot the approximate number of troops
t | available; that a big effort would be
made first against the British and then
t against the French in a drive toward
Paris, which city German military
< leaders Insisted must bo taken; and
; a lot of other Information along with
! this, all of which and more, of course,
i the Intelligence section of the British
: army had found out the same as I.
> This Is not swank on my part f slm
‘ I ply state these facts to prove that Sir
Douglas Haig knew when, whore and
Dhow Hindenburg’s offensive was tom
I j fng.
i1
British Extend Lines
, Not very long before the offensive
|began an unfortunate thing occurred1 •
| The fortunes of war necessitated the
1 taking over of more line by the Brlt
\ ish. Formerly the British line ended
.'near St. Quentin Now it was ex
tended as far as La Fere, and before
the troops got fairly Into their new
| sector Hindenburg's blow fell.
Against the long. Ihtn British line,
reaching from the river Scarpe to the
Oise, at 1st Fere, was hurled the
t mightiest force ever seen In battle.
Along this fifty-mile front three army
groups swept forward at dawn, tinder
cover of the mist These were the
Seventh array of Otto von Velow, said
to he the ablest army commander Hin
denburg has; the Second army of Von
der Marwitz and the Eighteenth army
of Non Hutier. together ntimberfng
more than eighty divisions, of which
forty-one divisions were osext in the
I first day's attack. Opposing the enemy
were the small Tbfrd Brtfi.sh army
under Sir Julian Byng of Camhrti
fame, and the smaller Fifth army, cm
der General Gough, worn down hi the
campaign mentioned amf ropy thinly!
spread out.
No soldier* on earth ev«r went!
through such »n ordeal as did the]
Hritiah during the seven days follow
ing the start rX that offensive. Ooij
March 23 the en<ony crossed the Tor i
' tilie, and for a moment It seeniwl that j
1 they might succeed in separating the
French and British armies, which (
joined up just south of this p din. lull
the gaps were closed and tile (Tilth
army went on retiring, with the Third
army falling hack in order to keep in
each. To the soufii the French lien.
Foyelle, with superb skill, kept the
gups closed arourut Ham. Am-hIc. j
Fhauny. ltoye and Moyons
On the Somme came another erili-j
oil moment. Here again, had the
Hermans been so clever as they like to[
believe themselves, they might have
broken through; but again the. gap
"as closed. On [he 2ath tile enemy
toko Mantinpulch and Courretidte. j
and Albert wus entered on the Billow
ing day. Init by Oils time Heneral,
Focti had been made generalissimo in
(■barge of ali opera lions on the west
1 ern front, the French had moved,
-northwestward as far as Morenil, on
| tin Avre, permitting Haig to thicken
his line .and ihc offensive was
In ought to a standstill [n all. eighty
four divisions had been used by the
Hermans out of a total of some 200
divisions then identified in the west
The drive fn Flanders came a few
days later, on April !'. II started in
a small way against the Portuguese,
just south of Armentieres. and two
1 British divisions on their flanks By
! their unexpectedly rapid advance in
| the center, crossing the river I.ys at
I Hac-St. Maur and pushing on towards
I Bailleul. a dangerous situation was
created for the British and the Her
mans knew it. So they quickly flung
in more troops to enlarge the breach
and. the following day, struck at Mes
slnes, north of Armentieres. This
city was deluged with gas and
“pinched out ”
As on the Somme, the Germans un
der Von Arinin and Von Quasi, by ad
vancing against the British First
army (and the French, who had come
upi, towards Hazebrouck, which soon
i became their objective, forced a re
tirement of the army to the north,
the Second, which had won Pus
-, hendaele. From the Ypres salient,
now a dangerous pocket. Hie British
fell hack with practically no losses, to
Ypres it seif. This w as heart-breaking
for the men who had won this ground
I In 1917. hut the war had now become
a struggle, not for towns und villages,
i but to out maneuver and annihilate
- armies
The Drive for Parle
On May 27 began the drive for
i'arls, just as everybody who had eyes
to see had expected, n continuation
of Hindenburg's fundamental plan to
crush the allied armies and force a
German peace on the woild.
But the great decision to brigade
Americans with the British and French
already bad become effective. We first
knew of it, in confidence, as far back
as January. Now II was a reality.
The result is jrr ought to be. that the
allies may fall back here and cede
ground there, (tut slowly ami surely
Hindenburg's armies must dwindle,
while the allies forces grow. Fight
ing men from the United States are
pouring in. And despite the worst
which yet may happen, to quote a
square-jawed America* f have Just
been talking to, "nothing in God's
worM can save the Bathes from a
hiding that w ill last them for the rust;
of time!"
The British have taken some hard'
, knocks during the past year and have’
gone up against some bitter dlsap-i
pointments. hut there Is not ®nw who,
does not get mad as a wet lien If
anybody suggests that the uIiAms are
losing the war
Just as during those terrible-dhya:
of the retreat from Mods, if you sthrt
the cry, “Are we downhearted?”' the
British w-m shout back iu deaftttlhg
shorus:
"No-o-tvo!"
__
BRAVE FRENCH CORPORAL
M MERITED REWARDI
—
WITH THE FRENCH ARMIES,]
July 2!^—Corporal Antoine Vial, ini
peace tamer a pennant, with a little!
farm nearri.yonr, tiu» Jam received the*
military medal for hie share in break
ing up it mid conducted in the Ar
gonue by* sevent y German soldiers |
and three ’ irfflcers. He hilled seven I
of the sewitty-threw; inclnding two of!
the officers*
Antoine war lying; in am advanced!
poet. listenings when the raid began.
The Germans approached m Indian
tile, and befisre-'they wore renilv aware
that they had' been noticed Antoine
had picked <<1T a number of them
One of them, however, hurled a
grenade that woumfad! him in both
cheeks and behind the ear. In re
taliation he shot his assailant dead
The Germans then sought another
route to the French lines, but were
met with a flrfc-so murderous that they
ieft fifteen more dead, lost several
prisoners and (1 fed in disorder.
-«-——
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