L AND AND W A T E R 
October 2, 1915. 
III.— THE FRENCH NORTH OF ARRAS. 
This big Englisli a<lv;uice north of Lens 
(wluc I. was aided by strong' demonstrations north 
of La Baosee there pinning the Germans in front 
of the;ii) had as an immediate effect the relieving 
of i)i-essure in front of the French south of Lens, 
ami the third of tlicse operations, the French 
work letween Lens and Anas, must tlierelore be 
read in connection with the Biitish work just 
related, and the two must be followed upon one 
sketch, such as I have attempted here in 
Sketch V. 
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The towms of La Bass^e, Lens, and Arras 
form a chain neaidy, but not quite, bisected by 
Lens itself. The road uniting these three points 
is between seventeen and eighteen miles long, of 
which not quite ten run from Arras to Lens, 
and about eight from Lens to La Bassee. The 
escarpment, known as the " heights of the Artois," 
crosses this road perpendicularly in the neigh- 
bourhood of Vitry. Up to Monday night the 
British advance to the north had acquired a 
line roughly represented by the dots on the 
above Sketch V., .starting from the line of 
crosses just behind. The French, having in 
front of them troops who could not be heavily 
reinforced on account of the British work that 
was going on to the north, advanced from tlieir 
line behind the ruins of Souchez and Neuville, 
positions they had held since the business of last 
May and secured in the course of Saturday, 
Sunday, and Monday — an advance not so con- 
siderable as the British, and falling just short 
of the main road, roughly corresponding to ti.e 
line of dashes on the above sketch. The new 
line taken up was consolidated, but nothing 
more Avas done. The French had not got down 
on to the ixJain from the escarpment called the 
heights of the Artois. Their furthest point was 
the farm of La Folie, westward of the main road. 
Unwounded prisoners taken in this French 
advance south of Lens numl>ered by Monday 
evening some 1,500. 
IV.-THE BAN DE SAPT AND HOOGE. 
The work on the extreme of the line at Ban 
de Sapt, in the Yosges. and in front of \pi-es by 
Hooge needs no detailed mention, because it was 
only subsidiary to the main operations. They, 
marked no pronounced advance, but fighting upon 
a roughly stationary line, with sections ot 
advanced trenches taken and retaken in the work 
before Ypres. The corresponding work 300 miles 
away, near St. Di^, in the Ban de bapt, has been 
reported much more briefly, and we are given no 
details upon which to build. It is not even clear 
whether the ruined village of Launois, in front ot 
which the French stopped in their big local success 
of two months ago (when they took 2,000 un- 
wounded prisoners), is still in German hands, 
or no. 
THE POLISH FRONT. 
There is some danger lest in the much greater 
interest to us of the new move in the West, the 
situation in Poland should be neglected. 1 havfe 
no space to deal with it in any detail. But, 
roughly speaking, what has happened since the 
German failure round the Vilna salient has hern 
a straightening of the line along the whole ot the 
700 or 800 miles, curiously persistent throughout 
the week. In other words, not only has the 
Russian position as a whole maintained itself, but 
the advanced portions of the enemy's forces have 
been thrown back in places, have been retired in 
others, after a fashion very puzzling to the student 
of the campaign at this moment. No doubt it 
means, in part, that the munitionment of our Ally 
is now upon a somewhat more favourable footing, 
though I do not think that this element should 
yet be too much emphasised. It also means, 
no doubt, that the enemy is, as Lord Kitchener 
.suggested in his speech the other day, finding it 
more and more difficult to bring up his munitions 
as the season advances, and as he finds himself 
more deeply engaged in the wi)der country east of 
the true Polish boundaries. It may also mean a 
lull due to the necessity for regrouping, and this 
provoked by 'the increasing pressure of the 
Russians south of the Pinsk Marshes, which is 
only now being met with any success by the enemy 
after three weeks of failure. 
But to whatever cause or combination of 
causes the thing be due, its presence will imme- 
diately be appreciated by a glance at so simple a 
sketch as the accompanying one, which roughly 
indicates the positions now still held, as contrasted 
with those of about ten days ago. The Russians 
face their enemy in groups lying upon the full line 
of this sketch. Ten days ago the position Avas 
that of the much move tortuous dotted line which 
accompanies it. It is true that the very exag- 
gerated ]K)int terminating at Vileika was due to 
no more than a v.'ist cavalry raid which was 
thrown back within three days of its first develop- 
ment. But a falling back of the enemy in cer- 
tain sections where it was more deliberate and 
