LAUNCHING THE GREAT OFFENSIVE

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2874, 12 September 1916, Page 6

LAUNCHING THE GREAT OFFENSIVE

THE NEW FRENCH TACTICS AVIATORS AND INFANTRY TOGETHER (From .Mr. H. Warner Allen, Special •Correspondent of the British Press with the French Armies.) WITH THE FRENCH ARMY ON TEE SOMME, JULY 13.

Much has been written concerning -. .'the British offensive in Picardy, but so far the French authorities, for military reasons, liavo been unable to allow any complete and detailed account to appear of tho important fightin the French' zono further south. It is in this sector that the Allies have mado their, greatest and most rapid ■ advanco so far as territory is . concerned. The first phase of the battle . lasted from July 1 to July 10. The excitement of a group of men in an : observation ' post above tho banks of the Somme had almost'reached breaking point. Tho - terrific cannonade had slackened for a moment," aud the gunners had lengthened , their fuses. ■:.' Shells were no longer bursting on the 'advanced German lines, which had : been.torn by shell holes out of all re- "'■;. cognition. It seemed that tho moment for the long-expected assault had come, but once or twico before the guns had given a respite to the front 'trenches, and then set to work again '■' with renewed vigour. These sudden ' ~ spells of comparative peace are as try- :'-;. ;ing to tho men on whose shelters and ■ trenches the projectiles, are crashing as the bombardment itself, asevery nervo "J'is straining to breaking point waiting "for hell to break loose. At such mo- - "inents, too, the trenches must be manned in readiness for tho enemy's : .infantry. When tho gunners return to :,■ their old range tho casualties are - •■'• many. For a time there was no move- .: ment to'bo seen in the French lines, -only the butlino of the trenchos aha ';: the barbed wire stakes. The whole -'front seeniod a solitary desert where .//-nothing lived or stirred. Only- in the V. background tho great-clouds of smoke ; . and dust rose from tho second line. At Last i • Suddenly a single figure appeared— a French officer. He stood there motionless for what seemed an eternity of time gazing at the Boche trenches. Then turning round to the trench behind he made a motion with his hand, . and started fonrard towards tho enemy. . At once there roso from the ground behind auo.S&er figure, then another, and another, until a long line 'of men had passed swiftly through the ■:.< French barbed wiro entanglements. In single file they went forward sometimes running, but generally walking at a fairly quick pace.. As they drew out 'from the lines they opened out in ' skirmishing order, and tho scattered vanguard was continually fed by narrow streams of men moving endlessly oiit from the coyer of the trenches. , , ' Simultaneously all along the line the . same movement was taking place. The sun shone brightly on ,the pale blue of -the uniforms and the darker blue of • the helmets. The men had been told ;. ■ that there was to be no hurry- or dis- ■ - order, and every officer was keeping •: his command strictly in hand. Whenever resistance was met with—it might "'bo a machine-gun or an entanglement .oo v a fortified position that had escaped from theetorm of French shell and was still capable of harm—the infantry was -.' to take cover and wait until the guns . .-had swept the-obstacle away.- In the first wave of men the bayonet was the - chosen weapon. Each man carried a i supply of grenades, but tho grenade was chiefly used by the -wave of in.fantry which followed—for nothing is ■"'*;'. : better than tho grenade for clearing a .-shelter of hidden Germans, while in'the trenches themselves the revolver and ~ knifo do deadly work. ' The Germans wero not slow to, per- ■. coive the danger steadily and surely approaching. Word was sent to the .'---.'batteries behind, and a heavy fen do - barrage was opened to screen the Ger- ■' maa line. Tho enemy was using four- '■' inch time shells, perhaps the most dead- '-'..- ly of German projectiles. AVhen they ../ burst these shells give out heavy greeri- ':'."'. ish vapours that cling together and -' retain their cloud shape for half a niinuteor more. The sun striking on these little green clouds played tricks with them such as it plays at dawn 'the mountain mist, striking thorn with ever-changing opalescent colours'. The i ... feu de barrage was powerless to stop the orderly advance of the French infantry. The shrapnel made a certain : number :of victims, and not, a few men owed their lives to their steel helmets.

Heralds of the Air. But the French ndvanco was not made only on tho ground. A fleet of aeroplanes, flying low, went forward with the infantry, marking their every moment and signalling it to the rear. As a rule aviator and infantryman ' on.the ground below watches tne duel . of' French and German airmen very far ; , away. In the great offensive tor the ;' first time aviators, and infantry went into the battle close together, and each infantryman felt that he was in immediate cpmmunication with the aeroplane above his head. Many a soldier, as '■_ he paused for a breathing space, waved . his hand approvingly to the aviator, who was watching, him from above. The '" aeroplanes were only five or'six hundred fpot up, and it was.their duty to warn tho French batteries behind as- to the progress.mado so that the men should . not suffer from the fire of their own guns. ~ The progress of each unit was announced to the aviator above by signals. The kite balloons that wore ; watching th*. battlo from the rear were : often at a loss as to the position of the i'; advancing lines, but the airmen never .-. made, a mistake. To the inoxpres■v: Bible"joy : of the infantry the French shells fell exactly where they were • needed, just ahead-of their lines, and moved steadily forward with their progross. The aeroplanes received plenty of bullets and shrapnel in their planes, but not a single one was brought -• down. When _ tho French reached tho first ' enemy linos they met as a rulo with ' very feeble resistance. The- Germans '] left alivo had been stupefied by the terrible bombardment, and such resist- •;.. nnco as there was always centred : round 1 an officer who had survived. Whenever an officer's cap was seen ■ precautions had to be taken, but tho men who had lost their officers sur--1 yendorcd without a blow. When ordered to go to the French lines they ; .' dashed across the zone in which their ■ own shells were bursting as hard as , they could run, nojv and then throwing up their arms to show that they had surrendered, and diving through •' the barbed wire with the- greatest agility, straining to reach the French ;] trenches. A French officer told mo that one of the most curious sights he ,\ saw during the battlo was a number of German prisoners running down to : ; the collecting stations under cover of a communication trench, while exposed " on tho parapet above tho French* rc~ '■ serves that were being sent up were ."; running along in single file towards . the enemy. _ All the prisoners were : '. not so submissive, and in tho confu- .' sion of the moment one batch managed to pick up a- number of rifles and cartridges. ' With these they began to at- : tack from behind tho men to whom they had surrendered.