HOW A "BIG PUSH" MUST BE MADE

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2687, 5 February 1916, Page 3

HOW A "BIG PUSH" MUST BE MADE

INFANTRY TO CLINCH THE VICTORY

PREPARING THE ATTACK

Mr. H. Warner Allen.-.special- correspondent of the British Press with the French armies, gives the following clear sketch of the methods of attack and defence in the present system, of ■trench- warfare,• and of tho r.-.eans by: which a "big push" is still possible:—It is only tho infantry assault 'which' can win a real success. In the present situation on the Western front such an assault cannot he prepared for by manoeuvring, but nono tho less it needs tho most careful preparation, and cannot hope for victory unless it'has been planned' with the greatest ;-kill and attention to detail.

The enemy's positions are known , as they Jiavo never been known in , past wars. There are endless stratagems by which cue can observe the enemy's taovements unEeen. Tho first line of barbed wire and tho enemy's parapets behind can usually be seen from ;,the opposing trenches by means of the periscope, without excessive risk. Behind the ground lias been carefully reconnoitred by the aeroplanes and captive' balloons, and most detailed 1 Japs have" been made of the enemy's system ''of trenches. Nothing is more amazing to.Hie untrained eye than the elaborate way in' which aeroplane photographs are fitted together, like pieces of a-jigsaw puzzle, uKtil they form a whole from which not a single little mark . that marks a machine gun or mine-thrower shelter has been omitted.

Sapping to Striking Distance. ; When a general attack has been decided upon at'any given point, the first essential is that the lines' 'throughout the front on which the attack is to tako place should be brought within striking distance. of one another. Infantry may,, with luck, after a very good ar-. tillery preparation cover 30U yards of open country in a charge, but as a general rule the assailants' , treuches Subuld be within 100 or 150 yards 6f the enemy's. . , '-'Y

Nearly always there are points-along the lino where, for some- reason oranother, the. trenches are at'a. considerable distance apart. : Here the 'general in command of the attack must push forward his lines. Trenches arp dug out ..at right angles from tlio existing trenches, or, in other words, sap heads are pushed forward towards the enemy, and then,., when they are near, onough, they must be linked up with'a trench parallel to.the original; lines. Not the smallest of tho feats accomplished in the Battle:of Champagne was the brilliant fashion in which .'the French trenches were advanced almost without, the knowledge of tie enemy. In a "inodern battle, if the enemy's artillery is. awake, reserved .be brought -up through the communication trenches, - where progress is very , slow. As a rule the front-Tine, trenches are not designed to hold those great masses of men which are/.necessary. !if the' enemy's resistance is to be overwhelmed. To concentrate a sufficient force within striking distance great un-. derground fortresses, which are to tho trenches what squares are,,.'to be streets of a city, have' to be constructed, 'A trench, as a rule, is no broader , than the pavement of the average' London street, while these, underground' place d'armes, as the French call, them, must bo at least as broad as a whole.street. Consequently, for - the : shelter, of this men who mass there, huge, earthworks, strengthened by thousands of sandbags, have to be thrown up. . ■_ A.bove "all things, the attack must/bs short.,in duration, and it cannot be made until the barbed wire barricades have been more or less completely de-' stroyed by .'the artillery. • It is also thethity of the artillery to put out of actioiv the enemy's machine-guns, for a'single machine-gun may check, the. rush ', of , hundreds of men and cause many casu< : alties. . .V* ' Tho Surprise. With all this, it is essential to! sur-. prise _ the enemy, for it is almost"; inconceivable that any artillery fire can annihilate his powers of resistance, .if the battle is in any way oh equal terms. Such a surprise ma y in modern times' seem impossible, yet it certainly appears that the Germans were the victims of a surprise in the Battle of Champagne. They must have expected the attack, but they certainly had no. conception of the, development which that attack would take. The, exceptional bombardment was a warning, but they could. not tell when the real assault was to be delivered,'for'there were lulls in artillery fire and the Germans at once manned their trenches, believing that- the time had come/.Then' the French artillery opened again, : and hailed death'on the crowded trenches. There was nothing to show when;'the artillery,'had stopped for good and'had left the battle to the infantry. The Western line moves -but - little) but where it moves it is a gain; . for France, and the Germans have never .recovered more than an insignificant' fraction .of what they lose. The Germans, who have definitely accepted the defensive on this front, have spared nothing to fortify their powers of resistance, but the French liave, as / is. proved by the event, reinforced ' their powers of attack even more .swiftly'. This steady- progression confidently foretells tho eventual break of the German' lino.