immediately following the first attack, the British pushed this new wedge fully five miles into the German lines.

Since these early days the advance has been further extended, but the first blow netted five miles. The Germans were entirely unprepared for any such action as this. The amount and character of booty captured show how completely swept off their feet they were. Nearly 200 guns, some of them of large calibre,

an

enormous quantity of shell, 15,000 prisoners, loaded wagon trains and transports, all of which there was sufficient time to remove or destroy-these are the things which tell the story much more vividly than the official reports.

As this review is being written, (April 20,) the British are in the streets of the great coal mining centre of Lens, in possession of half of the town and fighting desperately for the other half. The advantage now on this section of the front all lies with the British. All of the high ground overlooking the coal fields and the great plain of Northern France now stretches out before them. Douai, which must now become a point on the new line, is in plain sight, with the Germans everywhere recoiling toward it. It may well be, from the desperate character of the fighting, that the battle of Europe is now being fought.

Turkish Armies in Retreat

In the Near Eastern theatre matters have gone very ill with the Turks. Beaten in every engagement by the British, the resistance offered to the Russians in Persia suddenly gave way, and, without

any opposition, the Russians drove for

ward past the Persian frontiers into Mesopotamia and effected a junction with the British, cutting off in the process a considerable portion of the Turkish Army. This junction means the downfall of the Turkish opposition. Nothing approaching this in importance has happened in this theatre since the beginning of the war. It has been a long time coming, and has been most bitterly fought for, but its importance cannot be overestimated. Turkey is more than weakened. She is in danger of dismemberment even before the war closes. A successful revolution in Arabia, an uprising in Syria, defeats in the Holy Land, the loss of almost all of Armenia, the occupation of a great part of Mesopotamia-all these disasters have shaken Turkish rule in Asia to the very foundations. It is questionable how much longer the Sultan can hold out and keep his followers and his army loyal.

Finally, to complete the list of German disasters for the month, German barbaric cruelty and ruthlessness forced the United States to the admission that a state of war existed with the German Empire. America has a potential force of 15,000,000 men, can put up if need be seventy-five billion of dollars, and has the greatest resources for food and manufacturing of any nation in the world. The navy is nearly as large in itself as that of Germany, and if any one factor were needed to give to the world assurance of the solidity and permanence of democratic rule as opposed to autocracy, the action of this, the most pacific of great democracies, has furnished it.

F

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an

The Germans assert that the retirement at three different points on eighty-five-mile front from south of Arras to Soissons on the Aisne, which was taking place in the middle of March and leaving a large number of towns and villages in the hands of the British and French, was part of a definite plan." These strategic movements had been "prepared long ago and were carried out without being disturbed by the enemy, who followed in a hesitating manner." The "protecting troops, by perspicacious and energetic conduct, cast a veil over the abandonment of the positions and the departure of our troops." In the abandoned districts the means of communication useful to the enemy were destroyed.

The Berlin official report of March 22 said that spirited fighting in the district on both sides of the Somme and the Oise had an issue favorable to us," and the next day's report contained the following:

"French troops, which on both sides of St. Simon had crossed the Somme-Crozat Canal, were repulsed by an attack against and beyond those sectors. The enemy suffered sanguinary losses and lost 230 prisoners, as well as several machine guns and carts.

"Between the Oise and the Aisne during the evening hours engagements developed west and south of Margival. Attacks by strong French forces were repulsed with heavy losses under our fire and by a counterattack."

German View of Retreat

An account of the German retirement

given by a correspondent of the Berliner Tageblatt was as follows:

"Till the last moment the exploding platoons remained in the towns and villages to finish the work of destruction, and then fight their way back the best they could. The general system of retreat was something marvelous. Every detachment knew exactly which way to turn. Every column had its way prescribed, and, despite this gigantic movement of man, beast, and truck, there were no blockades, no congestion anywhere, all arriving exactly at the prescribed hour. Messengers rode about to notify the different commands of the time to start, while at the same time gigantic motor cars distributed enormous quantities of explosives to the pioneer platoons.

"Wherever possible, without attracting the special attention of the natives or the Allies, houses were burned down days before the evacuation. Walls that would not fall were exploded when the Allies were in the heat of an artillery fight, suggesting the tremendous effect of their fire. These preparations took many days, but toward the end heavy fogs in the mornings and cloudy atmosphere in the afternoons permitted the burning of villages without concealment. And to think, the Allies never had the slightest idea of what was going on! They never interfered with the German plans of destruction, and never thought of shelling the German lines of communication, while endless columns marched over them. The last I saw was German machine-gun platoons disappearing among the ruins and German patrols taking what little part was left to await the Allies. Slowly, with enormous losses, the hostile hordes are now feeling their way through the dangers lurking all about them.”

Another correspondent's story contains the following:

"The country behind the allied trenches had been covered with a great network of

railways and roads for heavy mortars which would enable them to move divisions and army corps with lightning speed and so concentrate unexpectedly on any weak spot of the German line they might discover while shamming a general attack along the whole front. Day after day German fliers watched the mountains of ammunition and provisions pile up at the British base, to which wellmetaled white roads reached out from the trenches like tentacles of some ghastly monster to suck in the whole world for slaughter and destruction. Billions of dollars' worth of material, iron, wood, and cement, and the labor of a vast army was sunk in this ground between the British trenches and the base. All these gigantic preparations were conducted with truly English naïveté, for any other nation would have told itself that fliers watching them day by day would have long ago supplied the German General Staff with very exact data of what was going on.

"Then all of a sudden mysterious movements began on the German side. Soldiers, taking with them their kits and all other belongings, left the trenches and dugouts. The mountains of munitions grew rapidly less by the efforts of many hundreds of huge mortar carriers, of wagons drawn by eight horses, streaming incessantly, day and night, over the groundless roads which nobody now thought of repairing any more.

over

"Whole villages disappeared night, their inhabitants being concentrated in a few singled-out towns and places where they were comparatively safe and from where they might easily reach their own people when the time would come. Of bush and trees, nothing was left standing that might serve the Allies as cover. Even the belongings were removed from the houses before the latter were leveled to the ground. Night after night the artillery rolled back in an endless chain, followed by regiment after regiment of silent gray war lords. "Small troops armed with machine guns remained behind, however, and kept up a sham of trench war. So well did they succeed in deceiving the British that they often drew the British heavy guns to furious bombardments of what

was already a deserted strip of land. Behind their new positions, ten to fifteen kilometers back, the Germans chuckled when they read in the British reports of the explosions of German munition magazines caused by the never-failing British gunfire. They knew only too well that another village had been leveled, another bridge blown up by the astute German pioneers.

"When finally the British hesitatingly felt their way into what were once the German lines, they discovered between the Oise and Arras a lifeless chaos which baffled all their zealous preparation of many months for the deadly blow that would now fall on the air."

A Successful Retirement

An official report on March 25 stated that "the German rear guards engaged with hostile forces near Beaumetz and Roisel and east of the Crozat Canal fell back after inflicting heavy losses, and that a French attack northeast of Soissons was repulsed." Again, on March 27, a French attack on the west bank of the Oise, near La Fère, "failed with heavy losses." "The German retirement continued to be conducted with the greatest success." On March 31, however, "between the road from Péronne to Gouzeaucourt and the lowland of Omignon Brook the English, in engagements in which they suffered heavy losses, advanced their line for a distance of from two to three kilometers."

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Heavy fighting took place between Arras and the Aisne on April 1 and 2, notably between the roads leading from Bapaume to Croiselles and Bapaume to Cambrai, as well as on both banks of the Somme, west of St. Quentin. The British and the French launched strong forces, which, because of the effect of our artillery fire, flowed back several times, and which only after considerable losses, which included fifty prisoners and some machine guns, gained ground because of our troops giving way, as had been ordered."

In the official report of April 9, describing the first day of the battle of Arras, it was stated that the enemy had forced his way into parts of the German positions. On April 10 the report said:

"In stubbornly resisting the superiority of the enemy two of our divisions suffered considerable losses. The British succeeded in penetrating our positions on the roads radiating from Arras, but did not break through."

The Frankfort Gazette stated positively that the German line had not been broken east of Arras and that the attack did not take the General Staff by surprise, but had been provided for in its plans. Heavy losses were admitted, but, said that journal, "the defense of the western front will cost us heavy sacrifices this year, but they will not be in vain."

The impression sought to be created by the German press was that the battle of Arras was an event of "only local importance, though lamentable in its results." "It had, however, been soon brought to a standstill and did not in any way affect the strategic situation. It was part of the plan of the Anglo-French command, foiled in its intentions of delivering a shattering blow on the Somme front, to roll up the new Hindenburg line by assaults on both flanks, at Soissons and Arras. Both attempts failed."

Field Marshal von Hindenburg, in an interview, avowed his confidence in the strength of the German fronts on the west and east, and expressed a conviction that the submarine campaign would not fail.

"Unfounded" Excitement

The official reports continued to speak of attacks repulsed with heavy losses during the succeeding days of the battle of Arras, but on April 13 the military critic of the Berlin Vossische Zeitung wrote that he had received many letters which proved that "the nerves of many readers are beginning to give way." He dwelt on the "unfounded" excitement which, he said, was spreading among those at home, and he warned the public not to judge the situation from single events, but to take events as a whole into consideration.

in which the enemy suffered heavy losses. From the Scarpe lowlands to the ArrasCambrai railway violent fighting occurred yesterday morning. British divisions in heavy masses attacked repeatedly, but were always repulsed with sanguinary losses. In addition to these British sacrifices, a counterthrust by our troops resulted in the capture of 300 prisoners and twenty machine guns."

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That the fighting was no longer merely of local importance was indicated in the report issued at the end of the first day of the new French offensive, April 16: On the Aisne a great French attempt to break through, with a far-distant object, has commenced after a ten days' mass fire. A bitter fight is proceeding on a forty-kilometer front around our foremost positions."

Finally, the report of April 17 says that "one of the greatest battles of the mighty war, and, therefore, also in the world's history, is in progress on the River Aisne." The report continues:

"In the Champagne this morning fighting between Prunay and Auberive developed, the battle line thereby extending from the River Oise into the Champagne. Our troops anticipate with entire confidence the coming heavy fighting.

"A great French attempt to break through yesterday, the object of which was far-reaching, failed. The losses of the enemy were very heavy. More than 2,100 prisoners remained in our hands. Where the enemy at a few places penetrated into our line fighting still continues and fresh enemy attacks are expected.

"On Monday afternoon the French threw fresh masses into the fray and carried out lateral attacks between the Oise and Condé, on the Aisne. The artillery fight which was continued today leveled the positions and produced wide, deep craters, rendering an obstinate defense no longer possible.

“The fighting no longer is against a line but over quite a deep and irregular fortified zone. The battle sways backward and forward around our foremost

"On the Arras battlefield, as the result of the removal of our line north of the Scarpe, only minor engagements occurred,

material is lost, to spare the lives of our forces and to inflict heavy sanguinary losses and thus decisively weaken the enemy. This was achieved."