GENERAL FOCH'S TASK

Marlborough Express, Volume L, Issue 223, 30 September 1916, Page 2

GENERAL FOCH'S TASK

, LIE OF THE LAND

(From H. 'Warner- AH&n; representative of British. Press Avjth French Army.) •■ .-. '. . ' ;., '■'; -.- .'.'•.■.■■.■.•.;. ■ .', .'. .•.''■;-.• '' •• : -..''' ■ ■' August '5. In the Somnie offensive the French battle-t'ront' is, •■ ■ about .teu miles m length.; It runs; as, the oonmiuniques ha'vo jvhoAvn, froni the district of Hardecouifc, north of the Somme ? .'where it joins ap' with the British front, to a, point a mile or two ?outli of the main road ' between. "Amiens and St. Quentin. This ' road proA'idcs a striliing landmark in the southern section on tho .French', oxtrome right. It follows a course that is absolutely direct edst and .A^csft, as if it had been! .draivn- Avjtli v ruler, until, after oi-os^ing the French trenches, it disappears; in onemy tetlitory. The lines of big trees that fringe it can be followod for , miles, and. seem to resemble * those perfect straight lines in ", which the geo-p-apher-delights', rather than a road in the building of which a thousand j)ractieal difficulties iia.ve had to" be

faceil

A view of practically the whole French battle hvont can be obtained from a j.>oin-t ,of vantage that I havi> just visited in. oloso pirpximity to the lines. On the extrein«9' right ..the horizon line is formed byv tho wooded hills that lio near Choulnes and-which rise to a height, of about ,350 feet. In the foreground the^Qiir.try' is almost a i olain, broken only by .lo(v rolling liilh, with smiaJl'woods o.nd villages nestling in the 'hollows. Consequently, as a rule, the villages are concealed by. the green copses that surroundj them. ■

A DARING MAXCEUVRE,

Tlie character of tiie fighting in this sector both north1 and >-outh«? tb.e Amiens-St. -Quentin road is conditioned by the abundaneo of fortified woods and villages. Hound Fay, Estreps and Soyeccurt the French' artil-

li«ry have had to demolish not only the German underground fortresses on the villages, but also the little woods that .'gave, cover to the most complicated system of entrenchments. It [ii for this reason that progress on the right wing' has, relatively speaking, been slower than that further north. South of ths high road, the main object of the French Command was to protect the advance on the north of that road, and thas object was accomplished by a brilliant piece ot "tactics. : At the moment of the. .first assault the French line in. the neighborhood of Foucaucourt was facing east. The troops left their trenches in an east-, erly direction, and as they advanced on. Fay and Estrees swept' gradually round, pivoting; on -their starting point, until they were facing due south along-, .the Amiens-St> Quentiri road. This movement was carried out with complete success, in spite of the obvious danger of a counter-at-tack on. the flank during its execu T tion, and . the ' positions, which were exposed to a German assault from . the trenches, •.vhicli they still held south of the gap opened by tho French advanced, were held despite the enemy's artillery. The new French, line thus formed was exposed, on. the one hand, to fire of heavy guns at a <3istanee, which were able to concentrate their shells on a limited and well-de-fined target, and, on the other .hand, to an enfilading fire from the German batteries in. the routh. ■ ■-~ This brilliant and daring manoeuvre guaranteed' the French centre from a flunk attack during its advance, and its success was "indispensable, to the. progress of the centre. On July .20. the results thus obtained were fortified and consolidated by the capture of part of Soyecourt and other &tror.gly organised positions to the . south of ,tl;.e high road in . the; direc- , tion of Verniand-Ovillers. ■ ' .' . > Further north, in the French cehtro the -country is less wooded. Hills aro still low and rare,, and villages are numerous. Hero the main redistance -.'which ■-the [French" had to .overcome was that made by the enomy in his village fortresses. Puch sir-all woods as' there were have been torn to pie'eas by shell.fire, and only exist in the form of bare trunks.rising''from a chaos of shell holes. The '■.villages themselves have been razed, to the ground, and the ruins of Dompiorre, Beoq uineourt, Asseyillers, and Horbecourt are almost' as..shapeless 'and unrecognisable as the. ■ ruins .of Troy or Carthage, and far more so than those of Pompeii. In the-direction of Flaucourt the ground begins to rise, and. then falls ■away towards tho.east.-.to rise again in ti series of small hills, just above ib'Pi So^mrne. The most important oi these hi noclvs, which lie north-west and. south-west of Biaohe^, is Lit Maisonette, captured by th© French on July 30. • In '..this'- sector the artillery preparation had been particularly successful, . and/, ihe. nature .of the .ground lent itself to a rapid advanw once the village fortresses had been Hotted out 6f.existeh.ee.; Aftea- Flau:court had.'been taken,'on July-3, the Germans were driven back on their last line of • defences on the left bank of the Somme, that is to say, the small hills mentioned above.

THE FRENCH LEFT.

The French'left had to work along the river in liaison with the English,

and its movements had necessarily to be co-ordinated! with the advance, of [.the troops-south-of the .Somme. The country bere is more •■hilly, ai'.d village!* are less plentiful. ■It was, of coiirse, visible from the point from which I surveyed the right and centre, .but to appreciate fully its, con- [ figuration it wasnecessary to observe [. it-from.another angle further north. i ■.' From the Bois de Moreaucourt, which is one of the highest points ion the soiltheni bank, the lie of the country further north is clearly visible It consists of a. series'of bare downs, dotted hero and there with small woods, which their trench organisation are distinctly, suggestive of _ the Champagne Pouillouse. In this district,,,with its. far-sca.tte3'e<l v'iUai^es. the defence is bound to depo.nd mainly on a series of trenches, and it is in this open country that! thp. French] advance above Curhi and Hem has taken place. The villages of/Maiiropas'and Clery-are the two j;roat bastions on which, the German trench system is based. - Further south, on lhe banks of the .river,' the.country is entirely diffex--ent. Tho downs fall more or less;abruptly to the river, and the road skirts impenetrable marshes," some half a roilo broad. In these circumstances the question of communication between the two banks of the ,Somme. becomes of great importance; a.nd the only interest in the posses^ sion. of Frise is that it is situated in such a way as to command the loop of the river, which, possesses a bridge across the marshes. 'This bridge, called La Greriouilliere, lies exactly opposite .Frise across the base of tlie, loop. At this pt>int the Somme flows first north, from Friso, then at.Curlu ■titriis ■• suddenly . south', enclosing a. promontory of swamps. When la*si January the Germans captured the village of Frise, their press aj>nounced, that this; 'success represented a serious advance. As a matter of I

fact, at that moment Fris© was perfectly useless to ■'•them,1 as it was'also to the French. Once at Friso the Germans simply found themselves face to face with the marshes, across which all passage was. absolutely impossible. On the south the hills rise- very sharply from Frise. so that ft could not possibly form a base of operations for an attack in the. direction of Herbecourt. The French could regard its loss with equanimity, sine© C'urlu and Hem were in "German hands, and consequently it was impossible .for

them to use La G'renouillers -bridge, which readies tho northern bank, bocw'eeh. these two villages. This brief description of the conntry forming tho French batt'e front may perhaps siimce to throw some light on the^ probable course of future operations. The French are undoubtedly handicapped by the line of marshes that divides their positions, but their successes up to th© present have ensured, to them the most important meanst of communication between Iho two banks of the ?ommo west of Peronne.