The Chronicle LEVIN. SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 1917. THE WORLD'S GREATEST BATTLE.

Levin Daily Chronicle, 4 August 1917, Page 2

The Chronicle LEVIN. SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 1917. THE WORLD'S GREATEST BATTLE.

Tho greatest battle of the present war now is in progress, and auguries aiv mailc that it will continue for some weeks. ■ The newspaper correspondents' cabled accounts are just the usual welter of words, from which the reader deduces likelihoods only. Even the official reports—both British and enemy—cbvinusly avoid being as exact as they could have heen made. Sir Douglas Haig, for instance, after recrdiiK: the excellent work of the British forces at nianyi points, states" that "after resisting repeated attempts we, were compelled, after stubborn [fighting,, to withdraw from St. Julion." The German official account, strangely enough, makes no mention of this feat, but it contains a reference to ia B.itish success: "We (the Germans; were compelled to abandon Bixschooto the enemy penetrating deeper in this section." Yet of this success the British official report makes no mention. The moral of these varied statements is that it is futile for the outsider to attach importance to the speculative essays on the progress of the- great battle that are sent from day to day by the novelists at the front, —the l'hiliip Gibbses and the othersseeing that evau the Commanders General are unable or unwilling, individually, to supply reports wliieh tei out tully the state of affairs.