PERONNE DEFENCES.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 215, 6 October 1916, Page 4 (Supplement)

PERONNE DEFENCES.

THE DIFFICULTIES OF ATTACK, FAMOUS FRENCH CRITIC'S VIEW

The following article has been specially written for tne Exchange Telegraph Company by the famous French critic, Commandant B : 'Whilst no stagnation is to be fearel on the French front of the Somme, somo days must elapse before great* events are to be looked for. Our Headquarters Staff has certainly not had the intention of taking Peronne by a frontal attack, in view of its triple line of defence, and the boggy patches if the Somme Canal, extending in places to two kilometres. Once this decision is taken, however, it may lie that the axis may change its direction. "The taking of Peronne may perhaps not 'be contemplated by the High ComCommand. impatience must not be felt, even if the taking of Peronne, completed by the capture of Mont St Quentin, while scoring a real success, should not give the liberty necessar' on Cambresis, a3 it is dominated bv the lights of the winding valley anu Aizecourt-le-Haut. A STRONG DEFENCE.

"A strong defence is likewise assured by the northern canal jn course of construction, which is 10 metres wide, an 1 which protects Peronne in the direction of the north and north-west, anl in the north proceeding to Baz'ncourt-sur-Somme in the direction of Anames and Aizecourt, and barring the route from Peronne to Bapaume by way of Mont St. Quentin. Moreover, it was iin this region, or more precisely at Bouchaveshes, wher, m the month of August, 1814, the Brit'sh cavalry and infantry fought a sanguinary battle with Von Kluck's advance guard coming from the direction of Roise.l. I would revert in detail to tliiese past operations, from which one can understand better the terra : n of the operations to come in this region. "It is well to note that the recent and partial Franco-British offensive has already caused twenty-three fortified villages to fall into the hands of the Allies, together with 19,000 prisoners, 104 guns and several hundreds of machine-guns It would seem tha Germans fear a fresh offensive on another part of the front, and are throwing out feelers on the s*idt_ of Pont-a-Mousson, in Lorraine. and in the Vosges. Even on the Verdun front thi? Germans insist vigor i sly, and they do not despair, desp i+ e the difficulties •present before their eyes, to take as a definite pledge the I.'iey Valley. But the wish is far fivn the reality.

FRENCH SURE OF VERDUN. "If the High Command has started an offensive of the Comme. it is because they were sure of the defence of Verdun. If the geographical objectives are the means of arriving at the military end to be attained they are not everything on this occas-on. Because Peronne is not taken immediate lv after the capture of the positions on the west side of it, it wouW be puerile to become impatient.

"At the present tm? the European theatre of war resembles a thick carpet. which the Allies are rolling about slowly in order to fold it. up completely later on. At times certain manoeuvres may momentarily escape their notice, but'that does not prevent the Allies from accomplishng the task to which they have set themselves. This rolling of the carpet will take up some time before it comes to an end. "The British in the Somme sector are methodically continung to straighten out the front of attack in order to bring it into alignment with our own."