February 3, 1916. 
LAND AND \\ A 1 E R . 
GERMAN ACTIVITY IN THE WEST. 
By Hilaire Belloc. 
BY far the most important part of the war news is 
tlic suddenly renewed activity of the Germans 
upon the Western front. 
Three or four strong local offensives ha\-e 
been delivered between the end of the great Soissons 
salient and the North Sea in the last few days. They 
have been delivered over narrow fronts, but at the expense 
of considerable mnnbers, and all have failed save one — 
\\itli which we will deal in a moment. 
The policy of these continued local attacks— which 
are not aimed at breaking the line at all, being on far 
too small a scale for that object' — has been already 
described last week. It is the act of a man who, to keep 
a door shut against the pressure of stronger forces outside, 
jerks it forward at intervals. As the system develops 
it has a further object (very often) of concentrating men 
against particular parts of the line in the hope of weaken- 
ing those parts elsewhere where a really strong attack is 
later intended. 
Whatever the policy, the enemy, at this very consider- 
able expense in men, achieved, after nearly a fortnight 
of such efforts, a marked success. It was of the following 
nature. 
►ALBERT 
I 
Zaft Torfion. 
'Ruins of ViUnqe 
of DcmpLfrrr 
The Upper Somme betwcci Peronne and Bray is a 
small, but not fordable, very sluggish stream, winding 
through a belt, from three to si.x hundred yards wide, 
or even more, of marshy ground impassable to troops. 
It was this same belt of marsh which Henry V. crossed 
with so much difificulty, in the great march to Agincourt, 
using the remains of the Roman causeway some few miles 
above the point we are here concerned with. 
At a place where this belt of marsh with the small 
and sluggish stream winding through it, makes a great 
hook (the loop is cut off at its base by the lateral canal of 
the Somme) stands the village of Frise — now of course in 
ruins. Due south of it lies the village of Dompierre, 
now also in ruins. North of the river the line runs directly 
northwards, covering Albert. 
It is in this region that the French and English lines 
met for many months, although there has been a slight 
extension of the English line since last autumn. There 
was, at any rate, an English element present in the forces 
at Frise, when the attack was delivered. 
It will be seen that the forces at Frise and those in 
the trenches just in front of that ruined \'illage had their 
back to the marshy belt of the unfordable Somme, and 
were at a disadvantage on that account if they were really 
hard pressed. Disadvantageous as such a position is, 
in the present war of trenches there is no great considera- 
tion for such points. When lines have been once estab- 
lished- — " crystallised " is the current phrase — pretty well 
liaphazard in the last few days of mobile fighting, they 
remain as the chance of that fighting has left them save 
for an occasional advance and retirement by a few hundred 
yards upon either side, the result of such episodes as the 
one we are examining. 
The German attack was preceded by a very \'iolent 
bombardment over several miles of front from the 
Somme southwards. There followed the attack of two 
or three divisions. All that part of it which struck to 
the south or right of the French at Dompierre was thrown 
back with very heavy loss. In the loop of the ri\'er and 
north of the "canal it was otherwise. The Germans, at 
an expense estimated by the French at something ovei; 
10,000 casualties, occupied the ruins of the \-illage of 
]"-rise and the trenches there lining the river, claiming as 
a result, probably justly, as many prisoners as the French 
took the other day oil the Hartmansweilerkopf, about 
1,300. 
It does not seem that the enemy was able to advance 
from the marshy belt, up to the edge of which he had 
reached, or that he had any success north of the river. 
It will be interesting to note from six weeks to two 
months hence what losses are admitted in this action in 
the enemy casualty lists, when we have ascertained the 
units he was emploj'ing at this point. 
Position in Mesopotamia. 1 
There has been no change in the position of the 
relieving forces held up by the Turks upon the Tigris 
or, unfortunately, in that of (icneral Townshend's dixision, 
which they are attempting to succour. The relieving 
force has been unable to move since the heavy action of 
a fortnight ago. The Turkish trenches up river to the 
West, that is, those containing General Townshend's 
force on the far side, have been moved a mile further up- 
stream, presumably to avoid flooded ground; btit the 
movement is of no effect upon the general situation. 
Meanwhile an error, which should be noted by all 
those who are following the war carefully, was committed 
by the India Office in transmitting the first telegram. 
To this error was due a corresponding error in the Sketch 
Map published in these columns last week. 
The first telegram described the shock between the 
relieving force and the Turks as ha\'ing taken place on 
the position of El-Essin, between six and seven miles 
ea;st of Kut. This is the main Turkish position, and was 
that upon which we were all prepared that the action 
should take place. 
A second telegram from the India Office corrected the 
error of the first and told us that the action had as a fact 
taken place between 23 and 25 miles east of Kut ; in other 
words, upon the line of the Wady, or watercour.se, up to 
which the relieving force reached at the end of its pursuit 
of the retiring Turkish advanced bodies a month ago. 
The Turks appear to have lain upon either side of the 
Tigris and, upoft the left bank or north, were imme- 
diately behind the Wadj'. Exceptional rains had filled 
this watercourse and even flooded the neighbourhood, and 
to this, as well as to the superiority in numbers of the 
enemy, the check received by the British force must be 
ascribed. 
The difference between the first supposed position 
of the action and the second position which we now know 
it to be, is shown in the following sketch. 
The error is not really a material one, for whether the 
relieving forces were checked seven or twenty-five miles 
from its object is of little ultimate consequence. The 
real point is the power of resistance of the enemy, and this, 
unfortunately, appears to be sufficient for its purpose. 
The Italian Resume. 
An exceedingly important document has been issued 
this week in Rome. The public had it last Saturday. 
It has been about three weeks preparing, and it is most 
unfortunate that our Press — with the exception of the 
Morning Post — has not given it more prominence. 
This document is the official account under the 
authority of the Italian Commander in Chief, General 
Cadorna, of the results of the operations upon the Italian 
■front up to the end of the year 1915. 
With regard to the movement of the lines nothing 
need be said because in the first place they have been 
slight — involving not more than the complete security of 
the Italian Plain from in\'asion at least with such forces 
[Copyriglu tn America by " The Xac York American."! 
