LAND AND AVATEE 
October 10, 1914 
maae a actomibed effort to push Lack the ii-cnch 1 no 
AV.^st of VerJun aud to isohito the fortress upou that 
side T'lcsc same forces of the enemy had ab-eady 
nioi-c thau once tried to force that line in the ncij^h- 
hourhood of Clcnnont. or rather, in the open couii ry 
bctwvon Ch-nuont and Varcnnes. But they had failed 
in each such attempt, although they had pushed then- 
outposts beyond Varcnnes itself and, until this week, 
had permanently occupied that town. Iheir attack 
oi last Saturday was made in another direction, it was 
masked by the woods of Argonne from which tliey 
de1)ouched upon the western .side turning tlunicc 
.southwai-ds and aiming at Ste. Mcnehould. Ihe >Vood 
of r..a Gi-urie, through whiih this march was under- 
taken, lies to the north of the main road tliat crosses the 
\r"ouue from Vareunes to Vieuue by way of the little 
l)lacc called La 1 larazee. In dry weather it is possible to 
bring gnus and train through this wood (a clay soil) even 
without the use of the great high road between Varennes 
and Vicnue, aud, if an advance in force were detenuined 
on, the railway round the Pa.ss of Grandprc would be 
of gi-eat service. ^Vo have been given no account of 
the action, nothing more than the bai-e .statement in 
the Official Communique that in the result the wdiolc of 
the Oennan force which has taken the offensive was 
thrust back behind the Ime 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 Yerdmi is 
abandoned. 
Meanwhile, at the other end of this field, the 
gan-ison of Toul, which has thrust out an effort north- 
w ai-d during the last week, is holding the southern 
edge of the Eupt do Mad. Of coui-se, if it could 
cross that valley (which is the line by which Thiau- 
eourt, the Gennan headquarters here, is fed, and 
along which its railway runs), or if it even seriously 
threatened that line, ijie troops at St. Mihiel would 
have to faU back. We are not told what is passing 
in that neighbourhood in sufficient detail to judgti 
whether St. Miliiel can be held much longer, but if 
the advance from the south upon the Eupt de Mad, 
slow as it is, continues, it is certain that the advanced 
German body on the Meuse must retii'e. 
THE WESTERN FRONT. 
With regai'd to the western front, there neither 
is anythuig communicated which materially modifies 
the situation of last week nor if any such knowledge 
had reached one would it be advisable to discuss it 
publicly, because it is evident that upou 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 .ybert and Combles, 
and furth(!r north the neighbourhood of Arras. "Wliat 
fortunes that struggle w ill have we do not yet know, 
it hangs even and it is largely veiled. Certain main 
facts about it are public property, as that the enemy 
has heavily reinforced the central and southern part 
of that Hue between the Oise and the Somme ; at least 
two Bavarian anny corps hitherto elsewhere have 
appeared Iwforc Eoj'c. He expects further to rein- 
force it with the troops he hoi>es to be able to spare 
from Belgium after the success of his present oix^ra- 
tions there. Against this special effort the Germans 
arc making in the line protecting their communications 
and their wc^t or right fiauk the Allies are, of course, 
)naking corresponding efforts, but of the nature of 
these nothing must be s;ud. 
One thing the general reader will do well to 
appreciate when, or before, the curtain lifts, and the 
result of the great struggle is known, and that is tho 
length of this new line which, beginning in skinnishes 
round Noyon, has developed nearly uj) to the Belgian 
frontier. It is no less thau 70 miles ; nearly a week's 
march. One main railway line feeds the German effort 
hero. It is also their main line of communication in 
the whole front between Noyon and the Argonne. Tho 
Allies opposed to them are fed by a whole system of 
railways and the sea behind that system, and thi.^ 
stubborn defence of the Gennan communications and 
this momentous attack upon them is the first of tho 
great railway wars of the modern era. The railways 
are here the chief strategic factor upon our side, just 
as the /•a///rfl_j' behind the German line 
(Passage deleted by Censor.) 
These two things, the gix^at extension of the line 
and the fact that railways are the core of modern 
movements in the field, at least in highly develoijctl 
countries, must have this effect upon our judgment : 
that we must never consider a great modern flanking 
movement of this kind as presenting the element of 
surprise. 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 suck 
great distances and by a method of communication, 
every yai-d of which is necessarily known to tho 
enemj^ and none of which can be shifted or exchanged,^ 
a method of communication tied Avith peculiar immo- 
bility to certain directions, makes everywhere against 
the possibility of surprise. That element of surpriso 
still exists in modern war. It was very evident when 
the Gennans accumulated so unexpected a mass of 
men to the north of the Meuse 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 
yestei"day before the Niemen and to-moiTOw ujwn 
the Vistula, this feature 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 
superior Eussian forces got thi-ough the woods of 
Augustowo and can-ied that town, and something of 
the sort wiU presumably be found to decide each ono 
of these enormous battles until the campaign is con- 
cluded. The exception was the lengthy action which 
goes by the name of the Battle of Lemberg, when the 
Second Austrian Anny was defeated more than a 
month ago by the Eussiaus. There the line broke, 
but the case was exceptional, for the opposed forces, 
even if equal in numbers, w^erc in no way equal in 
homogeneity and determination. 
[Posdscrijjf. — 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 artilleiy and infantry behind them 
have appeared in the neighbourhood of Lille and 
Armentieres. The position of these places upon the 
slight sketch at the head of this section and the 
relation they bear to the general line should. 
8» 
