LAND AND WATER 
October 3, 1914 
wlipn tliat pressure passes a certain limit, if or when 
A B is jn-essea back through a suftitieut angle by the 
advance of E F, the whole (iernian main line B C 
would be so ini]5erilled that it would at the worst ilud 
itself involved in disaster, and at the best compelled 
to retire ; for its main communications are only pro- 
tecte<l by this right wing A B. 
But meanwhile exactly the same thing is being 
attempted the other way round at the further or 
eastern end of the line, and here the enemy from 
C D is aj)parently trying to press back the French at 
Cr H, and get behind their line and compel them 
to retirement as an alternative to disaster. 
There is no need to consider in detail this week 
the oix'rations repoi-ted upon the main front between 
the Oise and the Argonne. I'he notes of last week 
give in sufficient detail the various sections of this 
line : the ridge between Craonne and Noyon ; the 
great rolling plain country north of Eheims and 
stretching on to Argonne. And in those notes it 
Mas sufficiently shown tliat neither had the German 
defen.sive yet been considerably pushed back, nor the 
Allied offensive appreciably ad\'anced. 
village of Nogent I'Abbesse. The Prussian Guard here 
attacked with peculiar violence, but their counter- 
offensive was repelled by the French. There is no 
indication that the hills of Xogent I'Abbesse were at 
any moment occupied 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 I spoke last week between IJazancourt and the 
Pass of Grand Pre over the Argonne, and the approach 
to which by the French marked so important an 
advance ten days ago, was saved last Friday by a 
Gennan counter-advance before which, according to 
the official French com w unique, the French troops gave 
ground at first. They later recovered the belt that 
had been lost, but no more. Following the French 
official communique of AVeducsday, September 30th, 
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 position a week earlier. They are 
almost identical. 
SKJ;TCH SUOniSQ the VKUY SLWIIT CHAXOES EFrSCTED ON THK MAIN FUONT DURING THE PAST WEEK. 
The 
liere is this week 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 
Coude was sdenced by French and English fire on 
Saturday last; and at the moment of m-iting a 
telegram from Paris affirms that the quarries of 
Autrechcs, the galleries of which have sensed for one 
of the strongest positions against Soissons, are in i\\(t 
hands of the French. But Craonne was still held, 
wlien that mes.sage eame through, by the Geimans ; 
and the advance, such as it was, upon these hills of 
the Aisne, was not as yet definitive in any way The 
plateau was not yet carried. 
In the second part of the line, the foiiy miles 
that run belnnd Phenns and in front of the Piver 
buippe towards the Argonne, veiy desperate counter- 
attacks were reported, of which the official French 
commumqu, of last Sunday states that they had 
tTo?oKS •'"'!,'^ '^""^' ^T""'^'''^ ^^-^th the deteinnina- 
o thf ; oi"'^''n' ^"'"* 1^^'ttle before the beginning 
1-ustln t .no" f T T^ y^^^^^ violent fighting 
jnst to the east of the lump of hills connected wHh the 
We may take it, then, that at the moment 
of writing, and so far as the official statements 
cany us, the deadlock between the region of Noyon 
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 
three days. 
Ten days ago in the official news upon which the 
last notes were based the French were 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 which they gave ground. But this retirement 
Avas compensated for by work further north. Here 
the French, having taken Peronne much at the same 
tune as they entered Lassigny, held it against a very 
fierce counter-offensive, abandoned it again, and in 
the first days of this week retook it. In this renewed 
advance the official report tells of guns and prisoners 
captured ui)on the failure of a \-enewed German 
counter-offensive ; but from the same source we leam 
