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TUTORIAL . FINANCIAL AUTOMOBILES 3faw gurk ffrifame EDITORIAL ? FINANCIAL AUTOMOBILES' ^T ni ETGT1T PAGES Sl'NOAY. APRIL '2'2, 1?H7 PART III EIGHT PAGES THE GREAT ALLIED OFFENSIVE BEGINS?ARRAS Vlost Significant Campaign Since Water? loo Is ^n?New British Armies Win Greatest Success in Western Trench Warfare?Will Germans Halt or Retire Out of France? By FRANK H. SIMONDS Author of "The Great War," "They ShaJl Not Pass" ?TW? _a5t tert days have .?con the begin . tt m^neX must be the most momentous BtM*nmiF* ft t-ie Prcsent conflict and the ^ (jjjnificant in Kuropean history since ^-jlion started for Waterloo. After a yjWinter of preparation, the British ar ajaj struck their first blow on Monday, 1-2 9, before Arras, and a week later ?ka Flinch began between Soissons ?and trama*, to -?*? ontcome of the battle now iafml depends the question of peace by lttafja?on or by victory. In til* present article I intend to discuss tit? British offensive, which is now passing ' ?At? s new phase, leaving for another week ' ut fjetailed di*$cussion of the French op m*afist\ which is just beginning as I write, ?Toeidsy, April 17. TV* Succei?ful Cerman Retreat The new campai-gn may be said to have ifjfBB on February 6, when the Germans ?re ont of Grandcourt along the Ancre. Doriu-f the month of February there was i rradual retirement before the Somme ?Mitions of the British, and on the IRth ?f March this retirement suddenly broad- ? ?yd into the great retreat out of the coun? try between Soissons and Arras. By this rarest the Germans accomplished three flap. They escaped from positions which | *m? become difficult to hold, owing to the ! accewful advance of the French anr* the i kituh during the Battle of the Somme, j _ty itraightened *heir line and short- j ted it, saving a certain number of thou tmes of troops. And they also tempora? lly frustrated all the plans of the British sod of the French to attack between Sois reaisnd Arrss by putting a belt of twenty sik? of devastated country between the c_ poiitions of the Allies and the new German line. This new German front, which has been christened the Hir.donhurg line, extended tlaoet in a straight line from Arras be? f?te Csmbrai and Le Catelet and east of ft. Quentin to the Oise River,'and thence te La Fera through the Forest of St. _**in to the suburbs of Soissons. On this a* it seemed, and still seems, that the ! German? had chosen to meet the attack ?? the Allies. Their retreat along this tat was one of the most successful op ?ition? in military history and will re ???? s model of military efficiency. The *-*?**ttt* of prisoners and material by the ???were infinitesimal, and the Germans ?*__?. the positions they had intended to --_- co in exactly the manner they had ?PKtsd. By Easter the retreat was prac *-*-**7 completed, and the Germans could -*~*a with pride to the success of their *\m-*mm*. Pieot? Now Attacked ?fctttime Allied strategy had conformed ? ?W aew situation. All along Haig and **??? had planned to strike at the ap r*^a*i moment. Where they had intend ?? ?? itrike we do not know, but it was **? U eoon as the German retreat began w* H would no longer l*e possible for ?*? months to attack between Arras ""-Wen?, snd that any immediate of ?*?**' would have to 1* made either north **-?? of the extremities of the so-called **--*ttf line. This situation the Allied ^??-Wri a-??epted, and chose as their **?< attack the two pivota of the re? cuentan movement, which were the ?***Mr, north of Arras, and th? *?*? Plateau, east of Soissons. A very * ?ftire may serve to illustrate the **? The German retreat may be *J* ?? the closing of the old-fashioned ?W- door, swinging inward on it? ?? ?Before the retreat began the Ger -**0***?. ?ormewhat resembled the angle ** ?ha halves partially open. When ?%_*""* **8 completed tha German po atablad the door closed. The ' ?**^k was directed at the hinge? 1^ ??*?. which swung on th? Vimy "* -*--*? Craonne Plateau. 1|*?*tuh attack was one of the most ? -M?tianl* of the whole war, and ^?J-Uin the meaaure of the achieve Ij? ?"Britiah in making a new army. ' ?????w?tb?-irnt which reached it? culminating fury on Easter, British ar Canadian troops left their trenches ear on Monday morning on a twelve-mile froi from the old battlefield at the north end i the Vimy Ridge, along the Deule River, Hcnin, on the Cojeul, twelve miles sout! east of Arras. The chief obstacle immediately befo: the British waa the famous Vimy Ridg a little less than five hundred feet hig rising gently on the west side facing tl British and falling abruptly into the grei Plain of Northern France on the east, V this hill the troops of Foch had struggle in the great battle of Artois in 1915, on! to be driven back. A hundred thousan French casualties paid for the unsuccesi ful effort in this region in May and Jun? 1915. But this time the attack was ii stantly successful, and in a few hours th Canadians had reached the crest of th Vimy Ridge at every point 6ave Hill N? 140, at the extreme northern end. Mear time the British centre?the Canadian were the left?moved out along both banl? of the Scarpe River from the suburb? c Arras, rapidly penetrated four systems o German intrenchments and made an ac vanee of upward of six miles in the nex four hours, forcing their way through a the old German lines and making a greate total advance than had yet been made i Western trench warfare? Between th Scarpe and the Cojeul the British righ wing made corresponding advance? am by Tuesday had cleared the west bank o the Cojeul River. General Retreat Compelled This was the first phase of the Battle o Arras. In it the British took 6ome on hundred and fifty guns, many of then heavy pieces, a vast amount of materia and at least ten thousand prisoners. Th single failure up to this moment had beei in the effort to get control of the northen end of the Vimy Ridge; but to balance thi: the British had reached the village o; Monchy, six mile? east of Arras and domi nating the whole plain toward Douai. After forty-eight hours the Germans be gan to react. The next two days saw t desperate effort to regain the Vimy Ridg? on the north and to break the right flanl* of the British lines southward betweer Cojeul and the Sens?e. Bear in mind thai at this point the British had crossed th? Uind?_nburg line at its point of junctior with the old trench line and had, in fact to use the figure of the door, cut the hinges of the northernmost door. By Thursday the Germans recognized that their defeat was absolute, that Vimy Ridge could not be retaken?they had al leady lost Hill No. 140?and a general re? treat was ordered. Meantime, while the army of General Allenby had been winning the Battle of Arras, the army of General Home, to the north, extending from the suburbs of Lens to La Bass?e, suddenly became active and began to move east and south in an enveloping movement around the city of Lens. This operation accent? uated itself on Friday, and very promptly the Germans began to draw out of Lens itself, and the evacuation of all the lines between Lens and Croisilles was foreshad? owed. By this time the extent of the Brit? ish victory was better known, and two hundred pieces of artillery and fifteen thousand prisoners were the proofs of the success. Can Brituh Flood Be Stopped? The question that was now raised re? main? unsolved as these lines are being written. The British victory had airead**? passed any victory in Western trench war far??. There had been a complete piercing of all the first system of German works, and the sole problem was whether between La Basse? and Cambrai the Germans had constructed a rearward line which would aerve to withhold the British flood now pouring through the broken dike. This re? mains still a problem. That such a line doea exist, extending from behind Lens to the outakirt* of Cambrai and known as the Drocourt-Qu?ant Una, British report* had The Battle of Arra* The solid line _________?__? shows the front before the German retreat. The dot and dash line ?_???_? show? the Hindenburg line at the point of junction with the old line. The broken line aa m am aa ?how? the British gain? in the Fattle of Arras to February 18. told us. As to its capacity for resisting we do not know. The three phases of trench attack are illustrated by three great trench battles, In Champagne, in 1915, the French pene? trated the first line of the German de? fences and were checked at the second. As a piercing operation it was a failure and came to an abrupt end. The second phase is illustrated by the battle of Brusiloff, in I Galicia, last year, when, having penetrated ? the Eastern trench lines on a wide front, he was, after a number of weeks, held by ? German attacks before he had effected such a breach in the Eastern front of the ( cutral Allies that tho whole front had to Ik? withdrawn. The third phase is illus? trated by Mackensen's attack in Galicia in 1915, when at Gorlice he broke the whole Russian trench system and, penetrating behind the Russian line, dislocated the whole Russian front from the Baltic to Rumania and compelled the ultimate evac? uation of Galicia and the loss of Poland. At present the problem in the Battle of Arras is whether it will terminate in the j second^hase, which it has now entered, as did Brusiloff's attack, or if it will be suc icessful as was Mackensen's and compel the German retirement out of France. Theit two possibilities are to be borne in mind. The Western Front for the next few days and weeks. We may see the British stopped permanently on a new German line between La Bass?e and Cambrai, or we may see the British ad? vance -ro pounding forward through Douai, and thus compel a -reneral German retire? ment to the line of the Meuse and thence westward to the city of Lille. J It is too early to ?ay that we are seeing the end of trench warfare, but the sudden success of the British in sweeping through four or five miles of German trenches on a front of twelve miles must at least sug? gest that heavy artillery has found an an? swer to the trench warfare and that we *are seeing the approach o? opea fighting j again. It is clear, too, that the British have already accomplished at Arras what the Germans wholly failed to accomplish at Verdun, and have won the greatest suc? cess in Western trench warfare. So much for the British attack. Now, one week later, after another intense bom? bardment, the French are beginning to attack between Rheims and Soissons. And the position they are attacking answers exactly to the description of the hinge of the other door. The key of the position is the Craonne Plateau, wholly comparable with the Vimy Ridge to the north. The gro'jnd over which the French are attack in*? is the most easily defensible position left to the Germans between Argonne and the Oise. The dominating feature, th? Cra? onne Plateau, is where Bluecher blocked Napoleon in the Marne campaign of 1814. If the French can penetrate through the German lines on this plateau thej will cut the whole German system of tre riche? between the sea and the Meuse, ?ni the British and French advance north and south will take on the character of pincers closing on the whole German centre be? tween Lens and Rheims. In September, 1915, after the Battle of the Marne, the French and the British were halted, along the front that ( the German Offensive Is Perhaps Dislocated ?End of Trench Warfare May Be at Hand Co jyright 1317?The Tribune Associatioa French are now attacking, in the bloody battle of the Aisne, which marked the be? ginning of the trench war. Eastward of the Craonne Plateau is the one weak spot in the German position, the point whew the Aisne River comes through a wide level plain between the Craonne Plateau on the north and the hills cast of Rheima, Through this gap a French division pene? trated during the pursuit after the Battis of the Marne. It actually succeeded in separating the armies of Kluck and Buelow, and, had it held it? ground, the German retreat must have been to the frontier. Unhappily, the troop? were green, the of? ficer? inexperienced, and, finding them? selves momentarily out of touch with their supporting troop?, they withdrew. Could the French now push up through this gap, they would be in the rear of th? fort? of Rheims, held by the Germans, the fort of Brimont, from which the Germans ha*ra bombarded Rheims during the last two years, and a general German retreat be? tween the Vesle and the Argonne would be necessary. The Precedent of 1915 We have, then, the problem of the new offensive. Two great forces of Allies ara striking at either end of the Hindenburg line, to which the German? have retreated, A break at either end would compel th? Germans to retire to the French fron? tier. A simultaneous break at both point?* might mean the envelopment and capture of large German for?es between Soissons and Lens, for the troops penetrating through these breaks would be moving in a converging direction in the rear of thd German armies on that front. This situation entirely recalls that which existed in September, 1915, when the Brit? ish made their great attack at Loos, co? incident with the French offensive in Champagne; but at this time the Allies lacked heavy artillery, the British army was still untrained, and the operation was made primarily to relieve the pressure upon the defeated Russians and only with the remote hope of a general victory in France. It ia worth recalling also that at the Battle of the Somme last year th? Allies were compelled to make their at? tack in advance of the completion of their preparations because the situation at Ver? dun had become critical and the city seemed likely to fall if German attention was not at once directed elsewhere. We may say that in the new offensiv? the Allies have had the privilege of choos? ing their own time and their own places of attack, save only as the German retreat may have or may not have dislocated their plans on the front between Soissons and Arras. But it is well to bear in mind that the Germans have also the men and the material to make an offensive in the Weat if they choose, and that we must watch for a German counter demonstration ence both Allied armies are committed to their great offensive. Fire Million? of Fighting Men On the other hand, it is equally possible that the extent of the British .success ai Arras las dislocated the whole German plan and compelled the diversion to the im? perilled front of the troops that were in? tended to form a necessary part of Hin denburg's new attack. If this proves to be the case, then the British have by one battle and at a single stroke wrested th? offensive from the Germans for the rest of the campaign, and this will be of inesti? mable advantage because it leaves it to th? Allies to fix the time and place_of battle. We have all of us become dulled by fa? miliarity to the magnitude of the cam? paigns of this war. Yet it is worth recall? ing that at the present moment not less than five millions of fighting men are en? gaged on the Western front in what must prove the most tremendous and momentous struggle of human history. Wc are seeing three nations in arms putting forth their ultimate strength, and the Battle of Arras, considerable success as it has been for th? British, must be accepted as only the pro? lude to the great sumnKr campaign. It remains possible that it will prove to hart been so decisive a victory that German i plan? will have been permanently dislo ! cated, but, having recognized that posai* bility, we must equally recognize the po?. ! sibility either of a German counter attack before Arras, such as the Germans madsj in Galicia last year, or a successful opera? tion such as the Germans attained in En? n ar_a last year, s