EDITORIAL . FINANCIAL TUTORIAL . FINANCIAL AUTOMOBILES' AUTOMOBILES 3faw gurk ffrifame APRIL 1ÍH7 PART III EIGHT PAGES ^T ni ETGT1T PAGES Sl'NOAY. '2'2, THE GREAT ALLIED OFFENSIVE BEGINS.ARRAS Campaign Since Water¬ The Battle of Arra* German Offensive Is Vlost Significant Perhaps Dislocated loo Is ^n.New British Armies Win Success in Western Trench .End of Trench Greatest Warfare Be Warfare.Will Germans Halt or May Retire Out of France? at Hand

Co jyright 1317.The Tribune Associatioa By FRANK H. SIMONDS Author of "The Great War," "They ShaJl Not Pass" French are now attacking, in the bloody battle of the Aisne, which marked the be¬ have .«con the begin- culminating fury on Easter, British ar .TW« _a5t tert days ginning of the trench war. Eastward of be the most momentous Canadian troops left their trenches ear tt m^neX must the Craonne Plateau is the one weak spot conflict and the on morning on a twelve-mile froi BtM*nmiF* ft t-ie Prcsent Monday in the German position, the point whew in Kuropean history since from the old battlefield at the north end ^ (jjjnificant the Aisne River comes through a wide Waterloo. After a the the Deule River, ^-jlion started for Vimy Ridge, along level plain between the Craonne Plateau the British ar- Hcnin, on the Cojeul, twelve miles sout! yjWinter of preparation, on the north and the hills cast of Rheima, first blow on Monday, east of Arras. ajaj struck their Through this gap a French division pene¬ a week later 1-2 9, before Arras, and The chief obstacle immediately befo: trated during the pursuit after the Battis between Soissons «and ?ka Flinch began the British waa the famous Vimy Ridg of the Marne. It actually succeeded in battle now trama*, to -¦*. ontcome of the a little less than five hundred feet hig separating the armies of Kluck and Buelow, iafml depends the question of peace by rising gently on the west side facing tl and, had it held it« ground, the German lttafjaÜon or by victory. British and falling abruptly into the grei retreat must have been to the frontier. article I intend to discuss Plain of Northern France on the east, V In til* present Unhappily, the troop« were green, the of¬ is now tit« British offensive, which passing this hill the troops of Foch had struggle ficer« inexperienced, and, finding them¬ for another week on! .At» s new phase, leaving in the great battle of Artois in 1915, selves momentarily out of touch with their of the French ut fjetailed di*$cussion op- to be driven back. A hundred thousan supporting troop«, they withdrew. Could is as I write, the unsuccesi m*afist\which just beginning French casualties paid for the French now push up through this gap, 17. in Jun« «Toeidsy, April ful effort in this region May and they would be in the rear of th« fort« of 1915. But this time the attack was ii the TV* Succei»ful Cerman Retreat Rheims, held by the Germans, fort of stantly successful, and in a few hours th Brimont, from which the Germans ha*ra The new campai-gn may be said to have Canadians had reached the crest of th bombarded Rheims during the last two when the Germans 6ave N« ifjfBB on February 6, Vimy Ridge at every point Hill years, and a general German retreat be¬ Ancre. ère ont of Grandcourt along the 140, at the extreme northern end. Mear tween the Vesle and the Argonne would there was Doriu-f the month of February time the British centre.the Canadian be necessary. retirement before the Somme were the left.moved out both banl« i rradual along The Precedent of 1915 «Mitions of the British, and on the IRth of the Scarpe River from the suburb« c «f March this retirement suddenly broad- Arras, rapidly penetrated four systems o We have, then, the problem of the new «yd into the great retreat out of the coun¬ German intrenchments and made an ac offensive. Two great forces of Allies ara try between Soissons and Arras. By this vanee of upward of six miles in the nex striking at either end of the Hindenburg rarest the Germans accomplished three four hours, forcing their way through a line, to which the German« have retreated, flap. They escaped from positions which the old German lines and making a greate A break at either end would compel th« *mà become difficult to hold, owing to the total advance than had yet been made i Germans to retire to the French fron¬ accewful advance of the French anr* the Western trench warfare» Between th tier. A simultaneous break at both point»* kituh during the Battle of the Somme, Scarpe and the Cojeul the British righ might mean the envelopment and capture _ty itraightened *heir line and short- j wing made corresponding advance» am of large German forées between Soissons ted it, saving a certain number of thou- by Tuesday had cleared the west bank o and Lens, for the troops penetrating tmes of troops. And they also tempora¬ the Cojeul River. through these breaks would be moving in a frustrated all the plans of the British direction in the rear of thd lly General Retreat Compelled converging sod of the French to attack between Sois- German armies on that front. a belt of reaisnd Arrss by putting twenty This was the first phase of the Battle o This situation entirely recalls that which sik» of devastated country between the Arras. In it the British took 6ome on existed in September, 1915, when the Brit¬ c_ poiitions of the Allies and the new hundred and fifty guns, many of then ish made their great attack at Loos, co¬ German line. heavy pieces, a vast amount of materia incident with the French offensive in This new German front, which has been and at least ten thousand prisoners. Th Champagne; but at this time the Allies christened the Hir.donhurg line, extended single failure up to this moment had beei lacked heavy artillery, the British army be¬ tlaoet in a straight line from Arras in the effort to get control of the northen was still untrained, and the operation was of fóte Csmbrai and Le Catelet and east end of the Vimy Ridge; but to balance thi: made primarily to relieve the pressure thence ft. Quentin to the Oise River,'and the British had reached the village o; upon the defeated Russians and only with te La Fera through the Forest of St. Monchy, six mile« east of Arras and domi the remote hope of a general victory in _**in to the suburbs of Soissons. On this the whole toward Douai. France. It ia worth recalling also that at nating plain the Battle of the Somme last a* it seemed, and still seems, that the After hours the Germans be year th« forty-eight Allies were to make their German« had chosen to meet the attack compelled at¬ gan to react. The next two days saw t tack in advance of the completion of their .Í the Allies. Their retreat along this desperate effort to regain the Vimy Ridg« preparations because the situation at Ver¬ tat was one of the most successful op- on the north and to break the right flanl* dun had become critical and the city «ition» in military history and will re- of the British lines southward betweer seemed likely to fall if German attention was not at once directed elsewhere. «¦«¦ s model of military efficiency. The Cojeul and the Sensée. Bear in mind thai of and material the We may say that in the new offensiv« *-*è**ttt* prisoners by at this point the British had crossed th« the Allies have had the of choos¬ «¦»were and the Germans privilege infinitesimal, Uind«_nburg line at its point of junctior ing their own time and their own places of .*__». the positions they had intended to with the old trench line and had, in fact attack, save only as the German retreat --_- or not have dislocated co in exactly the manner they had use the of the door, cut the may have may their to figure hinges between ¦PKtsd. By Easter the retreat was prac- door. plans on the front Soissons and of the northernmost Arras. But it is well to bear in mind that *-*-**7 completed, and the Germans could By Thursday the Germans recognized the Germans have also the men and the -*~*a with to the success of their pride that their defeat was absolute, that Vimy material to make an offensive in the Weat *\m-*mm*. Ridge could not be retaken.they had al- if they choose, and that we must watch for a German counter demonstration ence both Pieot« Now Attacked leady lost Hill No. 140.and a general re¬ dash line «_¦.._¦ show« the Hindenburg line at the point of solid line ______¦__¦ shows the front before the German retreat. The dot and Allied armies are committed to their great treat was ordered. Meantime, while the The in the Fattle of Arras to February 18. ¦fctttime Allied strategy had conformed with the old line. The broken line aa m am aa «how« the British gain» offensive. army of General Allenby had been winning junction » «W aew situation. All along Haig and Fire Million« of Men the Battle of Arras, the army of General Fighting **¦¦» had to strike at the ap- is too, that the British planned from the to its for again. It clear, On the other it is Home, to the north, extending told us. As capacity resisting what hand, equally possible r*^a*i moment. Where they had intend- have already accomplished at Arras of .success suburbs of Lens to La Bassée, suddenly we do not know. that the extent the British ai .. «» itrike we do not know, but it was the Germans wholly failed to accomplish Arras las dislocated the whole German became active and began to move east and The three phases of trench attack are **. U eoon as the German retreat began trench battles, at Verdun, and have won the greatest suc¬ plan and compelled the diversion to the im¬ south in an enveloping movement around illustrated by three great of that were w* H would no longer l*e possible for cess in Western trench warfare. perilled front the troops in¬ of Lens. This accent¬ In Champagne, in 1915, the French pene¬ form a of .*« months to attack between Arras the city operation So much for the British attack. Now, tended to necessary part Hin- uated itself on Friday, and very promptly trated the first line of the German de¬ denburg's new attack. If this proves to ""-Wen«, snd that any immediate of- one week later, after another intense bom¬ the Germans began to draw out of Lens fences and were checked at the second. As be the case, then the British have by one ¦*¦**' would have to 1* made either north bardment, the French are beginning to battle and at a stroke wrested th« the of all the lines a it was a failure and single **-«¦ of the extremities of the so-called itself, and evacuation piercing operation attack between Rheims and Soissons. And offensive from the Germans for the rest of between Lens and Croisilles was foreshad¬ came to an abrupt end. The second phase **--*ttf line. This situation the Allied the position they are attacking answers the campaign, and this will be of inesti¬ owed. this time the extent of the Brit¬ is illustrated by the battle of Brusiloff, in mable advantage because it leaves it to th« ^.»-Wri a-üíepted, and chose as their By exactly to the description of the hinge of ish was better known, and two Galicia, last year, when, having penetrated Allies to fix the time and place_of battle. **.< attack the two pivota of the re¬ victory the other door. The key of the position is hundred pieces of artillery and fifteen the Eastern trench lines on a wide front, We have all of us become dulled by fa¬ movement, which were the the Craonne Plateau, wholly comparable to the magnitude of the cam¬ cuentan were the proofs of the he was, after a number of weeks, held by miliarity north of and th« thousand prisoners with the Vimy Ridge to the north. The of this war. Yet it is worth recall¬ Arras, German attacks before he had effected paigns ç***Mr,*.*» east of Soissons. A very success. gro'jnd over which the French are attack- ing that at the present moment not less Plateau, a breach in the Eastern front of the * such than five millions of fighting men are en¬ »ftire may serve to illustrate the Can Brituh Flood Be Stopped? to in*» is the most easily defensible position ( cutral Allies that tho whole front had gaged on the Western front in what must **. The German retreat may be left to the Germans between Argonne and re¬ Ik? withdrawn. The third phase is illus¬ prove the most tremendous and momentous .. The question that was now raised The feature, th« Cra¬ the closing of the old-fashioned in Galicia the Oise. dominating of human Wc are as these lines are being trated by Mackensen's attack struggle history. seeing *J* »W- on it« main« unsolved onne Plateau, is where Bluecher blocked three nations in arms forth door, swinging inward had airead**? in 1915, when at Gorlice he broke the whole putting their ¦. written. The British victory of 1814. and «Before the retreat began the Ger- trench Napoleon in the Marne campaign ultimate strength, the Battle of Arras, victory in Western trench war- Russian system and, penetrating considerable success as it has been for -**0***«.«ormewhat resembled the angle passed any the If the French can penetrate through the th« a behind the Russian line, dislocated must be as ** «ha halves When far««. There had been complete piercing German lines on this plateau thej will British, accepted only the pro« partially open. of German works, whole Russian front from the Baltic to The Western Front lude to the great sumnKr It **8 of all the first system the whole German of tre riche« campaign. completed tha German po- evac¬ cut system remains that it will «%_*""* sole was whether between Rumania and compelled the ultimate possible prove to hart atablad the The and the problem to that we are between the sea and the Meuse, »ni the door closed. Germans had uation of Galicia and the loss of Poland. for the next few days and weeks. We may It is too early »ay seeing been so decisive a victory that German ' and Cambrai the .**^k was directed at the La Basse« end of trench warfare, but the sudden British and French advance north and plan« will have been permanently dislo- hinge« line which would At the problem in the Battle of see the British stopped permanently on a the a rearward present will take on the character of cated, but, having recognized that ..*.. which swung on th« Vimy constructed in the and success of the British in sweeping through south pincers posai* 1^ the British flood now Arras is whether it will terminate new German line between La Bassée we must "* -*--*¦ aerve to withhold on the whole German centre be¬ bility, equally recognize the po». Craonne Plateau. as ad¬ four or five miles of German trenches on closing through the broken dike. This re¬ second^hase, which it has now entered, Cambrai, or we may see the British sibility either of a German counter attack attack was one of the most pouring a front of twelve miles must at least sug¬ tween Lens and Rheims. a line did Brusiloff's attack, or if it will be suc- vance -ro forward through Douai, before Arras, such as the Germans madsj 1|*»*tuhú mains still a problem. That such pounding In 1915, after the Battle of -Màtianl* of the whole war, and the a -reneral German retire¬ gest that heavy artillery has found an an¬ September, in Galicia last year, or a successful exist, extending from behind Lens to icessful as was Mackensen's and compel and thus compel opera« the meaaure of the achieve- doea Meuse thence swer to the trench warfare and that we the Marne, the French and the British tion such as the Germans attained in En» ^.J-Uin of Cambrai and known as the German retirement out of France. Theit ment to the line of the and ."Britiah in a new the outakirt* the oí were halted, along the front that the n ar_a last year, s Ij» making army. British had two possibilities are to be borne in mind. westward to the city of Lille. J *are seeing approach opea fighting j ( ' ¦.»«.wítbí-irnt which reached it» Drocourt-Quéant Una, report*