CURRENT WAR TOPICS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXX, Issue 37, 18 May 1916, Page 5

CURRENT WAR TOPICS.

The British line in France, of which our men now form part, has lengthened southwards by slow de* grees until, from a 30 or 40 mile stretch in Flanders, it now covers 90 miles of the western front. It is true that the whole front measures nearly 500 miles, so- that the French still hold more than five times the length of trenches that the British do. But that is not quite a fair comparison, for in the British part of the line are included two of the principal ranger belts. If the French have to defend Verdun, and attack, or resist counterattacks in, Champagne and the Argonne, the British have to hold what was, before Verdun, the hottest spot of all, the Ypres salient. And upon them now descends the duty of resisting German encroachments upon the ground won by the French about Souchez, as well as by their own countrymen about Loos, in the combined Artois advance which aimed at Lens, at the time when the famous Champagne offensive took pla,ce. Moreover, if this very suitable “jumpingoff” ground is used for another Allied offensive, the British will have to bear the whole of the burden.

It is interesting to trace the gradual lengthening of the Jlritish hne in the west, as well as the gradual strengthening of the forces that have held it. In October, 1914, just after the hurried extension to the sea, Sir John French had no more than 140,000 men under him, and held no more than 40 miles of front. The coastal section of ten miles or so was held by Belgian troops, stiffened by French. Then came some French cavalry, and below these, at about Bixschoote, the British line began. It ran as far down as Givenchy, except for a space in the middle, which was held by more French cavalry, and it linked up on the south with Maudhuy’s tenth army. From this time on the British line was gradually strengthened, as division after division crossed the Channel. But it was not lengthened for a long while. Early in 1915 the total 'of British troops in France and Belgium must have approached half a million men, yet the line was little altered ; from Dixmude to the point of the Ypres salient lay French troops, relieved at intervals with British cavalry, and from Ypres down to where, crossing the La Bassee Canal, they linked up with Mudhuy, British forces alone held the line. Hitherto the allied armies in the west had been divided into a northern and a southern group* one, under Foch, covering the ground between Nieuport and Cornpiegne, and the other j under Dubail, being responsible for the southern half of the line, as far down as Belfort. But in March, 1915, there was created a third group, between the others, and De Castlcnau was put in charge of it.

By September of last year Sir John French had taken over another thirty miles or more of the Western front. The British line now extended as far down as a point due west of Lens, and, after a space held by a French army under D’Urbal, on again from Arras to Albert. By this time Sir John French must have commanded nearly a million men. Towards -the end of March last, there seems to have been another extension, in which the stretch of line held by D’Urbal was taken over. This stretch—the Souchez sec-

tor it may be called—included, besides Souchez, Neuville St. Vaust, and the famous Labyrinth, for which there was such fierce fighting during the struggles in Artois. This new'stretch was taken over, probably, rathesooner than had been inteniu !. in order to sot free French troops; and uur indirectly help in the defence of Verdun. The British line now runs right down from the Yser to the Somme, though all we can say of the nnm-er of men behind it is that it cannot «e less than a million, and may he a good deal more. Unless the system of, a tripartite, division of the front has been altered, Sir Douglas Haig’s forces come under the direction ol General Foch, who commands the Northern army group.