New-York tribune. [volume], October 17, 1915, Image 17

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KHTORIAL, DRAMA,
MUSIC.
Diexv H?qxU .grifante
SOCIETY, FINANCIAL, REAL
ESTATE, AUTOMOBILES
fART HI TSJmt* PA??
SUNDAY, OCTOBEH 17, 1915.
r.RT ill. TWELTE .AGO
4 MODERN CONFLICT---THE BATTLE OF CHAMPAGNE
\ Detailed Hudy of the
Newesl aid Greatest
Frencl Drive.
Hv FRANK -1 SIMONDS.
0( lip Great War.
- idescrfbed w. this rape
.rf]:i-.- i?l the Allied offensive
.?,? v.. ? then commanding
m the
I ? ?
In a I? ;>,:it
- Artois and th? In Champagne, were
? ;_,-..' ' f-.n?ar converging attacks
of Hinder.-UT-g a*.i Mackensen in Poland,
attack! deilgr.ed pdmarily to break in the
Peliih n?ent ar.d If possible to envelop
th* Ru-fiar. srra?- bet-ween the two
tines?! th? Gema? armies constituted.
The Pincer*.
Look.: c si '?' " nap, it will be seen that
_B attack, of the Allies 1b Artois and in
ihirrpaj. e. if pr_j_td home successfully.
would CBt tba r_:'toad lii.es which supply
"f whole German front from Lille to the
Argor.r.e; that th. cutting of the lines
:.earr?*. ? - . ; tS Of attack would
probably ??? jestion of German
? . France. The po?
? elipment of a portior of
?> ',.? ai ai c is plain, but the Rus
aaa camp.-. prstty fair indication!
Irgely incrsaaad scale
?re ?-? ' mporary .ondi
?
New, :,: '? ? ' a] purpose of
Allie. * ;< to thrust the Ger?
mans out of Frai I by direct attack
I the whole front, but by piercing at?
tack* at two points, there are minor ob
?eetives and incidents tails of the pre-r
are of teal value and
ialarart. Tl local sue si ?f the
il operativ ? {BIB for France
? g., the closely
? ?' \ ;?.-. r\ muta eventually
. Lille. In the same1
ess Of the Champagne
: only from its local side.
SiH free relieve Verdun and
?nataa the ar] ? German front betweet.
? \\,
A Modern Battle.
The ? in stances "f the
I make it pos.-ible to
at close range and
with idvantage. that aie lacking in the
- Ight, which is being carried on in a
a battle from
|_ to village. In
1 nampapr.r. on the other hand, the . truggle
? ******* it ir, an open country, al
**at d' - ? ? ition, under condi
arl I i . | tho battles of
'"? thi i .. therefore, the
pagni rly aatisl
' ' ? ?n anything in the
x**** I ' ' BSd ?long the
>i*r and about . | -, tly a year a_?..
?net the Germai - attempted In Flanders
****? French tire - K* m ( hampagno.
?so far the fighl reealla in many particu
??ri the .. -, which marked
the fina! Gen -in the West.
?hw, to understand the operations it is
-atSMary ? deaerlbs the battle
kid, whir'. ?' ... j, utterly pimple.
***nty miles du?? eapt from Rheims the
****** . which cVer much of its
wurse i? the i I 1er Roman road, meets the
* 'v *.?.! ?<-h g'.es straight
"* toward the frontier. The point of
'"kriect.o.'i is the little hamlet of Souain.
- mad forks and the
?m Irai - lead? somewhat sinuously
>n mil'i VilV-sur-To-ir. o, an
*?"' '? " ? ge ?il latel on the tiny
0Ur*'e h. I its junction with
tl* Aline.
A Parallelogram.
At Tourbe the Kheims road meets the
Jjttooal highwaj coming north from St.
'??lehould and also leading through Vou
rs to Dm frontier. Four miles i orth of
asm the Chaloi - road enters the little
*n'' the aou them most point
the Bazancourt-Challergng- railroad.
anille?, north of VUle-ear-Togrbe, the
*?eneh'._:_ road raachei rernay. ?rhars
******* the northern fork of the Rheims
^?n highway. Now, the present battle
comprehen?]?-?! m the parallelogram
^dtt
*hifK l,_,
?a? at ita foui cornera the towns of
*t Ville-sur-Tourbe, < ernay and Son?*
tL. rht n'h'1 flom ( ' r'"*y to Souain il
"* diagonal
yt '*'' l! ' presen! battle opened the
l?nt **" occuPy-n8 ? fr("lt from s"u
?* V'lle-aur-Tourbe, through the little
hVi ?r rather hanilet8 of Perthes-les
^^ ? I*? Me.nila and Maasiges, names j
THE SCENE OF THE RECENT FRENCH ADVANCE.
?4^-av
. M%$? A >?j; -K,?!A*A -A. X i.v NbaaatK
SraJe l ?90 000
i||?? WOODS }(^^Ma?nRoad5}{-Railroad}(== Local Roads)(-Lanes)
a-ar?. ?, .' . I 1" / / /*.._ ll_..l_fl
AA?i he French front on September 24; BB?Un .September J 3 ; (A?Un Uctober 9.
French reports for many months. 1
way between I.es Me.nil. and Massige
tho farmhouse of Heausejour. also \
known in all battle repoits.
On this front of approximately ten m
ihr? French were faring .?ue north, i
flank resting upon the Aisne a little c
of Ville-aur-Tourbe, where contact .
made with the army m the Argonne;
Other flunk rented on the Souain-SomilM
highway, to tor- west of which cont
?a- made with the French arm) cover!
the city of Rbelma. Midway betwi
Souain ami V.Ue*sur* Tourbe the Frei
centre re.-t?-.) ,,,. either i?i?- --f the 1_,
i"_d going due north from Perthes to t
Cernay-Souain highway, which it mel
Tahure, the exact centre of our paralle
pram.
The Immediate Purpose.
Now, the immediate purpose of t
French was to advance until their 1.
flank reached Sommepy and thus cut tl
Bazamourt-Challerange railroad, one
the tare hues on which the Gortnans in tl
Argonne ?leper,d for then supplie.".. Tl
1? ft, therefore, would advance along tl
Souain-Sommepy road. They had fot
miles to go. The right, conforming to t)
general movement, would advance ?m tl
St. MenehouldA'ou7.iers road from Villi
.ur Tourbe to Camay. The centre, for il
part, would move up the Perthes Tahur
road to Tahure. North of Tahure it wool
aim to reach the railroad east of Somtm-p
by various country lanes and roads.
We have, then, looking at the Frene
plans of September 24, a contemplated ad
varice of some four miles, the left am
centre aiming at the railroad, the light a
the town of Gernay, which the railroa?
avoids by th?1 wide ?m v c* that it make
t'iward the north after passing m front o
the hills above Tahure. The succ?s, of th?
movement woulii !>e established when th?
railroad was reached or when the Frene!
??ame near enough to it to command it l?>
their artillery tire.
Firat Attack.
It is necessary now to examine the
ground ??ver which the French had to ad
Nance. Generally speaking tins portion
of th?1 < hampagnt' in covered by scattered
thickets ??f pine and sprue?. th?- soil ia
sterile un?l chalky, the village- ai?- small
and p<jor. The main natural fsaturea BIS
the successive ridges of relatively low
hilli, between which small streams flow
down to the Anne to the east?
N'ow.it was on one of the-r rider"- tb
the French !ia?l established themselves
the terrific fighting of last March, wir
:? thiro weeks' struggle had netted the
perhaps 8 thou* and fee? gain mi a ten mi
front.
The Gei-man Fir.t Line.
Thi i i ?lee which the French held f<
lowed the Souain Ville sur Tourbe hig
way. 'Die German first line vu ? ?t;?
lislie?! something like ? mile t.. the nor!
on aii'itlni- ridge materially higher thi
that of the I- ranch. In addition to U
general line <?f trenches .the Germans ha
oeeUjAai a number of detached summr
and transformed them into veritable fo
tresses. A mile north of Souain on tl
highway il ? little cabin and from th
point tho Herman line ran fairly due ea**
its chief bulwark, that ii for the first 1 i in
wai 'be Hutte do Mesnils, southeast r
Tahure and a mile and a half north of th
Meau'-.'.jour farm, Further ?-ait it reste
iipim Mill 1 Of*, above the Ville-siir-Tourhr
(ernay highway. This line the Herman
had occupied since last March and ha
fortified strongly.
On September 26, after a week of bom
bardtpent. the French suddenly .ame nu
of their lines and swept, north m a groa
wa'.o. They took and passed the fir-t i.er
man line, which had been practically ?I?*
?troyod, captured over a hundred guns o
various sizes and something like 1'2,um
prisoners. On a front of ten mile- the?
moved forward on an average a mile am
a half. But they were now stopped by th?
German .second line, which was still un
Bthaken. In the following days the eapt
wred positions were consolidated, and at
the same time isolated (iermari trenehe?
and forts on the summits of several hill.?
were captured. Counter-attacks seem then
to have ensued and the French contented
themselves with beating these off and
bringing forward their artillery to bom
bar?) the second line.
Second Attack.
It is now necessary to examine the Uer
man second line. This began on the
Souain-.Sommcp*, read half way between
these two towns. Here the Hermans had
?lug themselves in on the tup of a hill
about tabs Navarin farm. To the east they
occupied the very strong Hutte de Souain,
the famous Hill 199 of the German re
I'oits. v?hi?-h was the strongest ?ingle work
of th?* (?ermans. Kastward the Herman
hue ran bouth of the hanii?. ui Tahure,
with a strong fort on the Butte de Tahur
jti.-l t<? ihn north of the village; thin
Iit CSma south toward th?* Hutte ?I" If?
where the Germai- still held B :alien
finally it curved back north toward Cerna
leaving the M,-u-?hi de I hampagnc to tl
French.
(in October 7 the French again too
the offensive, making the main attack
along the Suiiain Sonimepv road Btl
again I Tahur?-. Thej ware immediate!
... i ?fui "n the Souain road and ocei
pied the Navarin farm. Working eai
they a!-'? Bucceeded .n the nexl 'v,o da>
in taking, fire. Hill 199 thai I . th? But!
dc Souain and then the Butte de Tahur
ami the village of the same name. Bu
-till further to tbs east they were lesa mm
.!. and tlir (irniians a week later war
Still holding a salient well to the south an
<?:?. t of the village of Tahure.
Again the French advance came t" i
halt. But it had now covered nearly three
fourth? of the distance that it had to go ti
teach th?? railroad. From the advanc
position in front of the Navarin farm th?
distance t<? Sommepy ia less than a mik
and a hair. From the Hutte ?le Tahure tl
the railroad, due north, the distance i- )">
more than a mil?1.* From the Maison ?'i
Champagne the i ?llaga of I ernay La barelj
two miles. If th?- French artillery could
ba brought forward behind Hill IM an?
the Hutte de Tahure. and if it could r-tm?
lish a supremacy over the German gun*?
in the (.ernian third lire, then the railroad
would ba cut and the chief local purpose
of the great battle achieved.
The German Third Line.
But until the artillery got up and the
German third line had been -ilenced. the
battle r?'inained BBWOtL This German
third line is less clearly indicated than
the others in the reports, because it i- still
ur.taken. Roughly speaking, however, it
follows a ridge a mile and a ?|uarter south
of Sommepy. curving north, that is in upon
the railway, north of the Butte de Tahure
and then coming south east of the
of Tahure. BCTOaa the t'ernay-Souain road,
which i- the diagonal of our parallelo?
gram.
For purposes of defence ??f the railroad
this is the Germans' lust line. Presumably
it is th?1 strongest, although the map would
indicate that the French have obtained
possession of the dominating ridge.- along
the whole front. The chief point of at
, tack, it would seem MWj _ uuld be the r_?i
rood just north of the Butte de Tahur.
where the French are within a mile of th
line, at a poinl where it enters a shot
tunnel. On this front the French have a
ready gained over three miles. Probabi
they will br* ?iblr to cul the railroad I.
their artillen fire, oven if they canne
advance further. Rut renewed efforts t
advance an certain. To Judge f rewj^vacen
event-, (he have a g..o?l chance of me
for 'he French artillery seem- t
have maintained it advantage here fren
the ':*'; and the German u*""'- capture?
. lumeroua.
Number? And I.one?
It i- non of interest to rorisidor the lum
ber of men actually engaged in thi? grea
battle, for, ineasured by all the stand
??trd-4 of the past, this has been a grea
battle. Unhappily this must he wholly i
matter of conjecture. In March the Her
man- a-.-cito?| that the French used '.'?".",
?000 men on this same front and lost ahoul
76,000. The !? ranch estimated the Hermat
force at mo ?ame amount, but made m
gue?; h to German loooas.
I reaumably the French have had awn
men in thi. tight and the Hermans fewer
because the extent of 1- rend? gain indi
ah a he? j superiority in numbers. Thi
German i?*p?>?-1 thai the chief lo--- wa?
in a ?ingle division, that is, about 20,000,
But the i ranch claim t<> have taken about
20,1. dad prisoners, which would
account for at least a division arid would
point t-i the destruction by ca-ualties of at
least an army corps of 40,000. The capt
ure of more than sixty field guns, which
have liace been exhibited in Paris, is also
an evidence of the extent of Herman cUo?
iister.
The Meaning of the "Nibble."
Moasuied by cannon and prisoners capt
i>re?l, the Herman loss was greater than
at the Marne. It ll unmistakably the most
. oi.i-iderable local French success of the
war and the most serious reverse the (.er?
mans have suffered, if only because of the
artillery loss. Unquestionably the (?er?
mans concentrated reserves and sent rein?
forcements to the ?langer point, but it is
doubtful if they ever faced the French in
greatSf than one to three proportion, and
the relative tainene-- of their counter-at?
tack-* seems to indicate that they have
continue?! to lack the necessary numbers.
To estimate the meaning of the present,
the most successful of French "nibbles."
it il ajoaitial to recaJl the .ariier efforts
of the French. The first nibble WBBl of
the Meuse was made on the Aisne in Jan?
uary and ended in a disastrous repulse,
Ground was lost, not gained. The sec.nd,
made on the field of the latest battle, re
-ulted in gains of |es_ than a quarter of
a mile over a l"ng front after three week'
Of effort.
The Third Try.
It wa? only on the third try, made in
May in Artois, where French and British
troop- are tisrhtii?rr together now, tha? the
French made a material ad-.ame. Here
?B a month of lighting they took some
7.000 prisoners an?! a few cannon, gaming
the Loretta ridge and taking Souches, later
lost. But they were not able to advance
upon Lens, which is now, for the first time
under Allied gun.-.
The succe.s of the late.-t venture, the
two successes, in Champagne and in Ar
t"i~. are interpreted both by London and
by Pari- as evidences of the gradual wear?
ing out of German resources in men and
the growing superiority of the Allies in the
Wast in Loth artillery and ammunition. As
tor numbers, the Allie- have had the ad?
vantage in these for many months, but
only with the coming of British masses an
nilvantage enabling them to strike effec?
tively at two separate points. Months ago,
at the time of the first Battle of Cham?
pagne, the British made an attack a little
north of their pre_.nt battleground and,
having taken Neuve Chapelle, were com
rell?-. to give up all active effort for
many months.
Conceivably the new offensive in Cham?
pagne has now been permanently halted.
This does not appear to be the case, but,
accepting German claims to this effect.it
is still possible to see why the Allies are cn
? "iiraged. Their conviction is that precise?
ly as Lee's army before Richmoml steadily
diminished until, to use the commander's
words, it "was stretche?! so thin it broke,"
the German lines in France and Belgium
will be less and less strongly held. If the
present "nibbles" fail to develop into
"drives," if the Allies do not get through
this time, they are satisfied that a "nibble"
will some day prove to be decisive.
I? the Advance Continue*.
On the other hand, if the French in
Champagne are able to get to Sommepy
and the railroad and hold it, taking the
third German line, then an interesting
?hange in the battle lines in the West is to
be expected. _ ut the army of the Grown
Joffre's Newest effort Is
Three Times as Bijc
as (jettysburK.
(Copyright. 1915,
By Ihr New York Tribune.)
Prince, fighting in the Argonne and tOWBI.
Verdun, the railroad is one of two which
are essential to its existence. Conceivably
this army will still hold on if the Fren?*_
cut the Somm?'py line. But a further
French advance of seven miles will bring
them to the other line, the Vouziers-Neuf*
ehfttd line; if this is cut, then the Crown
Prince must go back.
Precisely in the same way further
French advance from Sommepy will im?
peril the flank of the German army which
Miren Rheims and is resting on the forte
north of that city. The retreat of the
German army from the Sommepy line will
open thle army's flank and will, if much
continued, say for three or four miles,
compel the Germans to give up the forta
they have held since their retreat from th *
Marne and end the year long agony of
Rheims.
Behind the Anne.
It will st.il! be possible for the Germar ?
to reform behind the Aisne, from Berry
au-Bac to Vouzlers, and their centra! BS J
tion, south of Laon, will not be imperil!" 1.
but it will be untenable if the French .. ???
able to cross the Aisne about Bethel, which
is on the route the ( hampagne armv ..
following.
Actually the French are seeking to
drive a wedge between the German armlet
north and west of Rheims to the Oise ard
those east of Rheims to the frontier. A
they advance they will cut two railroad*
of immediate importance, the lines serving
the Crown Prince. If they arc able to con?
tinue they will cut the lines along the
frontier between Alsace-Lorraine and At
tois and Flanders. Once this 1-, accom?
plished the whole German position in
France becomes ...tenable and 4r t___
i mans will have to go back to ***a Belgian
! frontier.
At the same time the Anglo-Briti?h ope
ation in Artois is striking at railroad-?
which directly feed the armies in Irai -e.
If this succeeds the Germans will have to
quit France altogether and go back !?: a
defence line based on Namur, Brussels an?l
Antwerp.
Bigger than Gettysburg.
But all these things are in the future.
What is of immediate inter?s' is that the
battle now going on in (hampagne is big
ger than any battle of the last century,
has already beeOOM a struggle three times
bigger than our own Gettysburg an?! in it .
decisive phase i?> being fought upon _
front not BMKh wider than that which sa v
! Lee's last great offensive fail. Germa'i
estimates 0_ French lo-ses make lh?.n
larger than Meade's armv. French itate*
[manta of prisoners taken show a tigme
! larger than the t?.fal losses at Mead?, am
'? Lee. and the artillery captured exceeds the
?number that either \merican army
possessed. German ofti-tal statement?, have
I fixed the Freneh force at TOO.OOO.
Far the observers of the struggle the
immediate interest must for the-piesent Im?
the fate of the village of Sommepy and the
railroad that serves it and supplies the
frown Prince. After three weeks of
fighting the French are within a mile of it,
.They have won more ground than at Bay
other time since the end of the GermaB re
' treat from the Marne; they have won their
greate-t local success since the war ??f
trenches began. If they take Sommepy
they ean claim a genuine vietory.
But even this success would not give the
'lie to the main German claim that the
i French have not succeeded m piercing the
German line. They have airead-/ forced
it back by steady battering, and a con?
tinuation of this forcing for a few weeks
i more would imperil th?- whole German
I position in France. It must be remem?
bered that in the modern ba'ttle. it takes
weeks instead of days to get a decision.
,The enemy's position is pounded to pieces
by artillery and his first line taken. Sat
. he has a sei-ond and a third, and the proc?
ess must be repeated indefinitely. The
only chance of a success of the old-fash?
ioned sort is that his ammunition fails and
! that he is unable to replace losses. Then a
! breach will !??? ma?le in his front. This
I happened at the Dunajec. when th?* Ger
?___.! defeated the Russians.
This time has not yet come; the German.?
nay that it will never come. The Allies
believe that it is in sight aiul |w.itit t.? th?
recent suec?.- in Champagne as proof
that the Germana are waaheaing. But the
pi oof must be found in the later B_-BB__
of the Battle of Champagne, which is ?till
going on with unditninish?.! violence and
| with no present sign of ?leci-ive French
'?-_>?r..nt..