WESTERN ATTACK.

Taranaki Daily News, 31 January 1917, Page 5

WESTERN ATTACK.

GERMANY'S ONLY HOPE. PREPARING A STUNNING BLOW. VICTORY OR DEFEAT. A SUPREME EFFORT ON WEST FRONT. Received Jan. 30, 5.5 p.m. London. January 20. The Telegraph publishes an article by Lieutenant Puau\", who was formerly alitor of Le Temps, but is now attached to General loch's staff'. lie points out 1 that the old tradition regarding winter quarters no longer exists; also that. Germany's internal condition will not permit her to await the Entente's exhaustion. She is certainly feverishly preparing for a great effort, as her only hope of victory is a stunning blow. It is useless keep'ng back troops for the autumn, owing to the spectre of iamirie, U e must either expect victory or a confession of defeat. Germany must lose the game if she fails to obtain a satisfactory decision before June. Lieutenant Puatix rejects the idea of German offensive at Salonika, Italy, or towards Petrograd. Only the West front was left. The difficulty was to say where the offensive would start, but certain indications suggest that Germany will immediately and simultaneously employ all her available troops. There would be a decisive objective and a supreme effort .voiild be made. Germain' mar attempt to break through the Anglo-French junction. One thing was certain, thoughj Verdun was a surprise tins will not be.

LE TRANSLOY OFFENSIVE.

GERMANS SURPRISED. A STUXXIXG BLOW. Received Jan. 30, 11.40 p.m. London, January 31. Mr. Philip Gibbs, in a. brisk narrative of tho. surprise attack at Le Transloy on Saturday, says the objective was (lie important slope running to a ruined village ,before which picked enemy troops were strongly entrenched. The whole operation was carried cut with astonishing ease, 3.70 amazed Normans being bundled into London omnibuses and taken to internment camps before they quite realised that an attack had commenced. There were no wire entanglements, only one or two shivering sentries. The Germans evidently believe that the British -are equally anxious to remain in peace and quietness. There was no preliminary bombardment, but at 5.30 there was a terrific crash of artillery, and the Britishers scrambled over the snow-clad ''No Man' 3 Land." It took four minutes to cross a hundred yards of frozen quagmires, pock-holed by shell hole'. No Germans were above ground, and when the British reached the enemy line the utter .lifelessness of the place was curiously uncanny. Not a single machine-gun spat bullets of death, and when the dug-outs were challenged the Wurtemburgers came up dazed. The officers explained thiit they thought it was a morning strafe, and had no idea of its being an attack. They asked, "How did you get here so quickly?" A few Germans found time to recover from the stunning blow and fought pluckily until they were over-powered. The British went on another 500 yards I and dug in in frozen ground. Others took possession of the dug-outs. Our artillery smashed the counter-attacks, thanks to having absolute observation of the German movement from tho •higher ground won in the Sornme battle. FURTHER BRITISH RAIDS. ' EXE MY THIRD LIXE EXTIvRED. Received Jan. 30, 7.15 p.m. London, January '29. Official. Field-Marshal Sir Douglas Huig reports:—We raided the lines north-east of Armcnfferes and reached the third line, destroying the dug-outs and killing many there and also in the trench <>s. RECIPROCAL ARTILLERY WORK. ■Received Jan. 30, 11.*20 p.m. , London, January 30. A communique states that there has been reciprocal artillerying and grenading on the, section Hill 304, and on the left of the Mcuse. There has been longrange artillerying at Lorraine. A GERMAN REPORT. A. and N.Z. Cable Associatign. London, Jan. 29 A German official report says: We repulsed three English waves with heavy losses north of Armentieres. Repeated French attacks 011 Hill 300 were unsuccessful. ENEMY REPULSED BY FRENCH. A. & N.Z. Cable Association and Renter. London, Jan. 29. A French communique states: Gern.an attacks at Hartmann's Weilerkopf Were easily repulsed. Our aeroplanes bembed the railway stations at Athics. TRANSPORT OF GUNS. London, Jan. 29 The ground is deeply frozen on the West front, enabling the transport ot Icavy guns, which have been held up during the mud period. WHAT WE HAVE WON 1 . THE GREAT RESULTS OF THE SOMME. (By Filson Young, in the Daily Mail). What exactly is the result to date of the Somme offensive? Has it really succeeded, or has it been, on the whole, .1 failure? And my very earliest impressions were on the whole depressing . The ground over which the advance has passed is such a scene of hidcousness and destruction as surely has never been seen in the world before Add to it the sum of priceless lives lost and wrecked,. and you may well wonder what possible ehalige. of a lintof a'little bit of the map of Francs can possibly be worth it. v

the horrors of such a series of battles, neither does it show all their fruit and advantage. And as one daily learns more, looks more closely behind the veil of mero ugliness, mere ncgativeness, mere disgustingness, that lies over the whole tiling, so one begins to understand, not only the price that lias been paid, but the profit that has been reaped. I will not exaggerate it or attempt to estimate, its effect on the war as a whole; that is all guesswork. But T will state as simply as possible what I believe to bo the actual advantages gained. T. Strategic Advantages.—The two main objects of the Somme jll'ensive were to relieve Verdun and to kill many more of the enemy than he could kill' of in. Both were achieved. Verdun was not only relieved, but the French armies were able' to resume tho offensive and pu.ih forward their line. As to losses the Allies have put out of action more than a class and a-iialf of the whole German army; all the men, t'nat is to say, effective and non-effective, who join the colors during at least a year and a-half. 11. .Moral Advantages.—When you have not gained a material victory it is best to be silent about moral results; they amount, in an affair of this kind, to precious little if they are not backed up by solid practical achievement. But in this ease, where we gained the two main objectives of the attack, they are to be regarded as very considerably enhancing the value of its success. ' The Germans opposed' to us on the Somme front suffered in courage and determin- | ation as the battle went on. Again, this is not surmise; it is I proved, and is confessed by themselves in a thousand documents in our possession. The reason is not that they were not brave and determined men, but that they experienced the effects of a continuous artillery assault from a greater number of guns, liring an enormously greater amount of 'high explosive than was ever employed before by any army in the world. We knew all the divisions opposed to us; we know how often every one of them was in the front line; and we know the difference between their vigor of opposition on the second and the first

occasions. Thev fought heroically, but they could not stand it. This kind of shelling was utterly new to them; and its result 011 them was, 1 • haps, new .also in their experience—i. was demoralisation. 111. Advantages in Material.-One of the objectives of an attack like this is to destroy tho enemy's material. We achieved that also, to such an extent that towards the middle of the battle lie had to begin to economise. We have orders in our posession, taken from captpred officers, forbidding the constant calling for barrage fire on the part of divisional commanders, owing to tho rapid using up of artillery ammunition. And there are five—in some places ten—British shells waiting to reply to one German shell that comes across. IV. Advantages to our own Armies.— These, both moral and scientific, have been considerable. Our infantry, once they knew they had the guns backing them lip, showed a spirit keener and finer than they 'had ever shown before; as the, advance continued their whole tone -changed. Whatever they suffered themselves, they knew that Brother Boehe was getting, and would continue to get, worse than he was giving. And in the contentment of that thought they fought, and knew that they were not fighting in vain; suffered, and knew that they were not suffering in vain; died, and knew that they were not dying in vain. Finally, the New Army was tried and proved. The Sommo is the battle of tli.! New Army—it is their victory. It was the achievement of an Army hastily extemporised, ;ncn and officers alike, from "11, nation of shopkeepers"; it was opposed t/> the most highly organised Army in the world. And it won. There, simply put, are the main advantages of the .Somme offensive. It: disadvantages, its countless individual tragedies, nne all know; but we were prepared for them, we offered them, to gain these real and, as wo all pray lasting things. Writing on the ver\ ground, among the very groves of that sacrifice, I can say that T believe il to have been well worth while; and I 1 have given my reasons. The New Army is now (for men learn quickly in sueli ii trcVneudous school, and the lives ol armies are short) a veteran Army; tht pack has been blooded; and it will do geratcr things in the days to come. There is only one thing that realh depresses Tommy, atid that is strife and warfare in England. It does not interest him to read of political battles All he asks is that you should leave the ''strafiing" to him, and let liiin feel that, if nowhere else 011 tho tortured earth, there is peace and unity at home