la:n"d and avater 
October 3, 1914 
whon that pressure jwsses a certain limit, if or when 
A E is jiressecl back through a sufficient angle by the 
advance of E V, tlic Avhole German main line B C 
■would be so imperilled that it would at the worst find 
itself involved in disaster, and at the best compelled 
to retire ; for its main communications are only pro- 
tected by this right Aving A B. 
But meanwhile exactly the same thing is being 
attemjited the other way round at the further or 
eastern end of the line, and here the enemy from 
C D is apparently trying to press back the French at 
G K, and get behind //leir line and compel them 
to retirement as an alternative to disaster. 
There is no need to consider in detail this week 
the operations reported upon the main front between 
the Oise and the Argonnc. The notes of last week 
give in sufficient detail the various sections of this 
line : the ridge l)etween Craonne and Noyon ; the 
great rolling plain country north of Eheims and 
stretching on to Argonne. And in those notes it 
was sufficiently sliown that neither had the German 
defensive yet been considerably pushed back, nor the 
Allied offensive appreciably advanced. 
village of Kogent I'Abbosse. The Prussian Guard here 
attacked with peculiar violence, but their counter- 
oiTensive was repelled by the French. There is no 
indication that the hills of Kogent I'Abbesse were at 
any moment occujjied by French troops, but it is 
evident that there Avas a desperate attempt made to 
break the French line at this central point, and that 
it failed. 
Further to the east, again, that line of railway of 
which 1 .spoke last week between Bazaucourt and the 
Pass of Grand Pre over the Argonne, and the approach 
to which by the French marked so imjwrtant an 
advance ten days ago, was saved last Friday by a 
German counter-advance before which, according to 
the official French co)im/a/irj/fe, the French troojis gave 
gi-ound at first. They later recovered the belt that 
had been lost, but no more. Following the French 
official co)iiiiuiniqu6 of Wednesday, September 30tii, 
very slight changes on this main front may be 
expresssd in the following sketch, where the dark 
line shows the Allies' front on Tuesday last, and the 
dotted line its jjosition a week earlier. They are 
almost identical. 
Cotnpel^iz 
BKKTCa SUOn'lNO THE V£BT SLIOjn' CHAXOES JSFFBCTED OX THE MAIN FEOXT DURINQ THE PAST WEEK. 
There is this Aveek nothing to tell but the 
continuation of that tale— save that there has been 
.some appreciable advance upon the western end of the 
long line in the hills above the Aisne. For instance, 
a very heavy battery of German guns just above 
€onde was silenced by French and English fire on 
Saturday last; and at the moment of writing a 
telegram from Paiis affirms that the quarries of 
Autreches, the galleries of which have served for one 
of the strongest positions against Soissons, are in the 
hands of the French. But Craonne was still held, 
when that message came through, by the Gei-mans ; 
and the advance, such as it was, upon these hills of 
the Aisne, was not as j-et definitive in any way. The 
plateau was not yet carried. 
In the second part of the line, the forty miles 
that run behind Eheims and in front of the Biver 
Snippe towards the Argonne, very desperate counter- 
attacks were repoi-ted, of which the official French 
commnmqfcj of last Sunday states that they had 
every appearance of being launched with the determina- 
tion of settling the gi-eat battle before the beginning 
ot this week. There was particularly violent fio^htiu"- 
just to the east of the limip of hills connected with the 
We may take it, then, that at the moment 
of writing, and so far as the official statements 
carry us, the deadlock between the region of IS'oyou 
and the Argonne continues. Each line is held by 
the other. 
"With the turning movement upon the west, slow 
as it has been in its progress, there has been progress, 
but of a chequered kind. It has been interrupted by 
a counter-offensive, only checked during the last 
tlu-ee days. 
Ten days ago in the official news upon which the 
last notes Avere based the French Avere at Lassigny — 
or rather had reached the heights to the east of that 
town towards Noyon. Three days later— that is, a 
week ago — they were here met by superior forces, 
before Avhich they gave ground. But this retirement 
Avas compensated for by work further north. Here 
the French, having taken Peronne much at the same 
time as they entered Lassigny, held it against a A'ery 
fierce counter-offensive, abandoned it again, and in 
the first days of this Aveek retook it. In this renewed 
advance the official report tells of guns and prisoners 
captured upon the failure of a rcncAA'cd German 
counter-offensive ; but from the same soui'ce we leam 
2* 
