LAND AND WATER 
October 10, 1914 
made a dctcnniueJ effort to push back the Frencli lino 
AVcst of Verdun aud to isolate the fortress upon that 
side. These same forces of the enemy had already 
more than once tried to force that line in the neigh- 
bourhood of Clermont, or rather, in the open country 
betAveen Clermont and Vareunes. But they had failed 
in each such attempt, although they had pushed their 
outposts beyond Varennes itself and, until this week, 
had permanently occupied that town. Their attack 
of last Saturday was made in another direction. It was 
masked by the woods of Argoune fi-om Avhich they 
debouched upon the western side, turning thence 
Bouthwanls and aiming at Ste. Menehould. The Wood 
of La Grurie, through which this march was under- 
taken, lies to the north of the main road that crosses the 
Argonne from Varennes to Vienne by w^ay of the little 
place called La Haraz6e. In diy weather it is possible to 
bring guns and train through this wood (a clay sod) even 
without the use of the great high road between Varennes 
and Vienne, and, if an advance in force were detei-muied 
on, the railway round the Pass of GrandprtS would be 
of gi-eat service. AVc have been given no account of 
the action, nothing more than the bare statement iii 
the Official Conununique that in the result the whole of 
the German force which has taken the offensive was 
tlu-ust back behind the line of the main road, and that 
should mean that Varennes has again fallen into 
French hands. It also means quite certainly that 
for the moment the attempt to invest Verdun is 
abandoned. 
Meanwhile, at the other end of this field, the 
ganison of Toul, which has thrust out an effort north- 
ward during the last week, is holding the southern 
edge of the Eupt do Mad. Of course, if it could 
cross that valley (which is the line by which Thiau- 
com"t, the Gennan headquarters here, is fed, and 
along which its railway runs), or if it even seriously 
fhreatencd that line, the troops at St. Mihicl would 
have to faU. back. We are not told what is passing 
in that neighbom-hood in sufficient detail to judge 
Avhether St. Mihiel can be held much longer, but if 
the advance from the south upon the Eupt de Mad, 
slow as it is, contuiues, it is certain that the advanced 
German body on the Meuse must retu-e. 
THE WESTERN FRONT. 
With regard to the western front, there neither 
is anj-thing communicated which materially modifies 
the situation of last week nor if any such knowledge 
had reached one Avould it be advisable to discuss it 
publicly, because it is evident that upon this front the 
decision of the campaign hangs. The general line is 
public property. The belt, for the possession of which 
the struggle rages, is that of the district round Eoye, 
of the great open fields between ^Ubert and Combles, 
and further north the neighbourhood of AiTas. AVliat 
fortunes that straggle will have we do not yet know, 
it hangs even and it !s largely veiled. Certain main 
facts about it are public property, as that the enemy 
has heavily reinforced the central and southern pait 
of that line between the Oise and the Somme ; at least 
two Bavarian army corps hitherto elsewhere have 
appeared before Eoye. He expects further to rein- 
force it with the troops he hopes to be able to spare 
from Belgium after the success of his present opera- 
tions there. Against this special effort the Gennans 
are making in the line protecting their communications 
and their west or right Hank the Allies are, of course, 
making con-csponding effort?, but of the nature of 
these nothing must be said. 
One thii>g the general reader will do well to 
appreciate when, or before, the curtain lifts and the 
result of the gi'cat .struggle is known, and that is the 
length of this new line Avhich, beginning in skinnishcs 
round Noyon, has developed nearly uj) to the Belgian 
fi'ontier. It is no less than 70 miles ; nearly a week'.s 
march. One main railway line feeds the German effort 
here. It is also their main Ime of communication in 
the whole front between iS^oyon and the Argonne. The 
Allies opposed to them aie fed by a whole system of 
railways and the sea behind that system, and this 
stubborn defence of the Gennan communications and 
this momentous attack upon them is the lii'st of the 
gi'cat railtoay wars of the modern era. The r«//«'«^.» 
are here the chief strategic factor upon our side, just 
as the ra /Arc/ j/ behind the Gennan line 
(Passage deleted by Censor.) 
These two things, the great extension of the liiie 
and the fact that railwa^-s arc the core of modern 
movements in the field, at least in highly develo2)ed 
countries, must have this effect upon our judgment : 
that we must never consider a gi-cat modern fianking 
movement of this kind as presenting the clement of 
sui-prise. There arc conditions under which it might, 
by good luck, possess that invaluable element, but 
those conditions must be very rare. As a rule, the 
moving of such great masses of men over such 
gi'cat distances and by a method of communication 
every yard of which is necessarily known to the 
enemy, and none of which can be shifted or exchanged, 
a method of communication tied vdth peculiar immo- 
bility to certain du-ections, makes everywhere against 
the possibility of surprise. That element of surprise 
stiU exists in modern war. It was very e\ idcnt when 
the Genu anS accumulated so unexpected a mass of 
men to the north of the Mouse before their attack 
upon the Sambre at the end of August. But it will 
hardly be found in the great flank movements whereby 
eveiy modem army will attempt to defeat an enemy 
that is fairly its equal in numbers, material, and con- 
dition of mind. It is worth pointing out that in 
every theatre of the war, not only here in France, but 
yesterday before the Niemcn and to-mon-ow ujwn 
tlie Vistula, this featui'e has or will appear. To break 
a modern line if it be properly held is, as against an 
equal enemy, so difficult, or perhaps so nearly impos- 
sible, that the effort will necessarily be to " claw 
round." On the Niemen the trick was done when the 
sujjcrior Eussian forces got through the woods of 
Augustowo and carried that towTi, and something of 
the sort will presumably be found to decide each one 
of these enonnous battles until the campaign is con- 
cluded. The exception was the lengthy action which 
goes by the name of the Battle of Lembei-g, when the 
Second Austrian Anny was defeated more than a 
month ago by the Eussians. There the line broke, 
but the case was exceptional, for the opposed forces, 
even if equal in numbers, were in no way equal in 
homogeneity and determination. 
[Po474Cv?/>A— Since writing the above the French 
official message of this Tuesday evening (when these 
notes arc made up for Press) has come in and informs 
us that large masses of cavalry acting as a screen 
for new forces of artillery and infantry behind them 
have a])peared in the neighbourhood of LUle and 
Armenticres. The position of these places upon the 
sliglit sketch at the head of this section and the 
relation they bear to the general luie should 
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