LAND AXD WATEE 
October 31, 1914 
The real strcugth of all tliat couiitr}' between tlio 
Ysor canal and Dunkirk is tlie mass of small water- 
waj^s and the nature of the soil. Th.e Duke of York 
failed before Dunkirk in 1793 principally from these 
two obstacles. The great mar.sh south of Dunkirk 
called the Two " IMocrs," great and little, is indeed 
nearly drained by this time ; but great parts of it can be 
Hooded. Further, if it were intended (which I doubt) 
that troops should in the event of retreat stand along 
the small canal that runs from Loo to Furncs, they 
would have, between them and the Yscr, seven or eight 
miles of extremely difficult country which is cut up by 
a perfect labyrinth of watenvays. 
1 think one may sum up and say that an advance 
along the sea coast, even if the Germans should be 
able to make it by bringing up unexpectedly largo 
nujnbers, would be a painfully slow business. It is 
not country the full difficulty of which you grasp Ijy 
the map, though the map tells you sometjiing ; nor is 
it country, which, surveying it under conditions of peace, 
30U can report on easily for conditions of war; and time 
andagain under tlie conditions of war it has disappointed 
those who would occupy it. Most of it is as " blind " 
as any country in the ^vorld. The more eastward you 
get the more difficult your advance becomes with the 
increase of small Avaterways in all directions, and, 
though it is a soil too light to impede an advance 
after rain, it is one in which, especially towards the 
coast, transport sticks through the peculiarly 
treacherous nature of the sand. Tlicrc is only one 
really good road, that along the sea coast behind the 
^and hills, called "dunes," and this road is com- 
manded from the sea. 
But all this is only a supposition in a more or 
less abstract strategical jiroblem. Before any step of 
droojjs, the offensive will pass to the Allies : Avith the 
offensive the initiative : tlie counter-stroke. 
Ko more can be said. But on this battle very 
much depends the immediate futiu-e of the Avar, and it 
has all the marks of a violent effort Avhich, Avhen it is 
exhausted, does not fail stubbornly, but suddenly 
and all together. 
THE NEWS FROM THE ARGONNE. 
The obscure fights Avhich take place all along the 
old line from tlie Mouse and Moselle to the Oise, right 
across north-eastern France, merit more attention 
than they receive from the public. It is natural tliat 
tiie A'ast struggle ujjon the line to the Avest of all this 
between the Oise and the sea, and particularly the 
conflict (perhaps decisiA'c) going on in Flanders at this 
moment, should absorb the gaze of Europe. But all 
that old series of positions, 100 miles long, in Avhicli 
Germans looking south face Frenchmen looking 
north, have this intei-est, that they show in Avhat 
fashion the German line is being "held" — that is, 
pinned. 
\Vhen the history of the Avar comes to be 
Avritton, not the least of its lessons will prove to be 
the power of resistance Avhich modern small arms 
and entrenchment give — even to a short service 
conscript army, with its masses of nearly civilian 
reserves. 
As an example of this poAver, consider the state 
of affairs in the Argoune. We have evidence of Avhat 
ha))pened there, fragmentarj^ indeed, but stretching 
over almost every day of the last six Aveeks ; and in all 
those six Aveeks there has been no retirement upon 
either sideybr more than four miles! 
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.CVATEAU 
MONTFAUCON 
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J^egLoiz of the Arffonne 
VII I 
the Calais march can be undertaken the initiative 
must ^ be assumed by the Germans— their huge 
offensive Ijctwecn Ypres and the soa must succeed. 
It Las not yet succeeded; it seems, at tlie moment 
of AvritJng, to be drooping, and as^ it droops, or if it 
Here you have a sketch of the very small district 
Avhere one may study in detail the kincl of thing that 
is going on along all this chain of entrenched 
positions. 
The main Argonnc Forest — a clay ridge about 
8» 
