September 28, 1916 
LAND & WATER 
I am not exaggerating or poking, fun, I am quoting 
textually from an official German document. 
" J"'y 3rd. — All the Anglo-French attacks were repelled. 
" July 4th. — Violent combats on the Somme. The enemy 
nowhere obtain any serious advantage." 
" Julv 5th. — A slight progress of the English was com- 
pensated by a counter German attack. 
" July 6th. — The struggle on the Somme continues 
without taking an unfavourable turn for the Germans. ■ 
" July 7th. — The solidity of the German troops pre- 
pares a new day of disappointment for the Anglo-French 
forces upon the battlefield of the Somme. 
" July 8th. — Continuation of the Anglo-French offensive. 
All thj attacks broke down with bloody losses to the assail- 
ants north of the Somme, and partial attacks attempted 
south of the Somme had an equal lack of success. 
" July 9th. — Hard fighting on both sides of the Somme. 
The English are thrown out of the Trones Wood and the 
French out of La Maisonette. 
" July loth. — Enemy attacks against the Trones Wood 
and Maisonette break down. 
" July nth. — Hard fighting. On the south of the 
Somme the French developed a great attack which resulted 
in a very important setback for them. 
" July i2th. — New assaults by the French on the Somme. 
The enemy is everywhere forced to retire under the fire 
Oj the German guns, which inflict enormous losses upon 
tkcni. 
" July 13th. — All the efforts of the English and the 
French result in nothing but new checks and new disap- 
pointments. 
" July 14th. — -(I think this date is memorable), re- 
sumption of hard fighting on the Somme. The Anglo- 
French forces gain a few slight advantages on several 
points. 
" July 15th. — Four violent , attacks by the English 
break down altogether. The French suffer similar checks 
with considerable losses. 
" July i6th. — An artillery duel upon the Somme. 
" July 17th. — In the evening and during the' night the 
enemy executes violent attacks, is repelled everywhere and 
suffers enormous losses. 
" July 1 8th. — Upon the Somme, the village of Longueval 
and Detville Wood are retaken from the English. To the 
wuth of the Somme partial a'dacks by the French break 
down. 
" July iQth. — New violent combats on both sides of the 
Somme. On the ivhole front the Anglo-French undertake 
attacks, which are broken at the first shock. To the south 
of the river the French twice attempt to attack in the after- 
noon and three timzs in the morning. They are repelled 
aervwhcre with sanguinary losses. 
" July 20th. — On both sides of the Somme the Anglo- 
French forces attempt d decisive stroke and fail utterly, 
save for certain insignificant advantages. 
" July 2ist. — After their bloody defeat the Anglo- 
French forces give up all attempt at common attack. A 
few partial offensives of theirs are stopped with ease at 
the first effort. 
" July 22nd. — Fruitless attacks by the English in force 
and French attacks south of the Somme which have no better 
luck. 
" July 23rd. — After enormous losses the English enter 
a few houses in Pozieres. A counter-attack turns the 
enemy out of Longueval. A few small enterprises by 
the French south of the Somme break down altogether. 
" July 24th. — The Anglo-French concentrate their forces 
for a decisive effort, after a series of violent conflicts this 
effort is broken and is fruitless. South of the Somme the 
French attacked with considerable forces and are repelled 
with enormous and sanguinary losses. 
" July 25th. — Slight enemy attacks forced back. South 
of the Somme the Germans hold good against French efforts 
to retake the ground they have lost. 
" July 26th. — South of the Somme the French attacks 
breaks down. ■ ■'-■■ 
" July 27th.- — The complete breakdown of the strong 
English attack. 
" July 28th. — Violent artillery duel on the Somme. 
Breakdown of strong English attacks. 
" July 29th. — Violent artillery duel by the Anglo- 
French north of the Somme. The English attempt partial 
attacks without any residt. 
" July 30th- — A new great Anglo-French attack in 
which at least six divisions take pari. The enemy is 
repelled along the whole line. 
" July 31st. — Violent fighting north of the Somme. An 
Anglo-French attack upon Maurepas breaks down alto- 
gether, so does a French attack." 
There you have it in all its glaring crudity. The Allied 
attacks always break down. There is never a success. 
The French and Enghsh are always repelled. The whole ' 
thing is fruitless. There are no results. 
Now I would ask any man of detached judgment, and 
particularly any neutral for whom balderdash of this sort 
is intended, to compare it with a similar calendar put for- 
ward upon Allied authority of the first month of the 
enemy's attack upon the Verdun sector. Offensive for 
offensive and lapse of time for lapse of time, the Anglo- 
French work upon the Somme has been just about double 
that of the Ciermans in front of Verdun. In delivery of 
shell, in number o{ prisoners taken, in belt of territory 
occupied, in numbers of the enemy which have been 
compelled to concentrate per week, in execution other 
than the capture of prisoners, done upon the enemy's 
effectives, the two operations stand in that proportion 
of about two to one. Such a numerical calculation is most 
imperfect, striking though it is, because the Verdun opera- 
tion was begun before the enemy had yet felt the strain 
upon his effectives and before his strength was declining, 
still it is a method of calculation rough as it is and im- 
perfect as it is. 
Follow the Allied calendar, the story as told by the 
French to the rest of the world, for the attack upon 
Verdun and you receive, I think, upon the whole, a 
just impression. Much is withheld of necessity, but one 
appreciates the rapid German advance of the first five 
days, the loss in prisoners and guns, the French standing 
upon the second line of the hills, the loss of the Fort of 
Douaumont, the reaction of the French 20th corps,' the 
new attack on the left bank with all the preliminaries 
for the assault upon the Mort d'Homme ; the loss of 
Forges ; the fluctuating struggle for the Crows Wood 
and for the Goose Crest ; the gradual loss of Vaux at the 
other end of the line, etc. 
Compare a steady vision of this sort with the extra- 
ordinary nonsense which I have just laid before the reader ! 
Is it not just to call such a description of the offensive 
on the Somme " unbalanced " ? I have left out nothing 
which the enemy admits. I have quoted every one of the 
phrases in which the enemy admits any setback whatever. 
And yet the general effect of this amazing calendar is that 
of something written by a man who had not even heard 
of the Allied blow or of its results, and one does ask 
oneself again, with such official German matter before one, 
what sort of audience it can seriously be intended for, and 
whether the enemy has not perhaps made an even greater 
blunder about the general psychology of neutrals than 
he has about that of the French and the English. 
H. Belloc 
The current number of the Cornhill Magazine contains a 
very graphic article by Mr. Watson Armstrong, 7th North- 
umberland Fusiliers, entitled, My First Week in Flanders. 
This brigade of North Country Territorials was, it may be 
remembered, rushed to the front immediately on its arrival 
in France to reinforce the Canadians and the Guards in the 
second battle of Ypres. They did splendidly, though heavily 
punished. M.'r. Armstrong was among the severely wounded, 
he has recovered, and is now back at the front ; he tells a 
plain unvarnished tale which brings home most vividly to 
the reader the first experiences of a battalion on the battlefield. 
From this point of view, it is one of the best things that has 
been published since the war began. 
Another document of this high order is The Retreat from 
Mans by Major A. Corbett-Smith, R.F.A. (Cassell and 
Co., 3s. 6d. net). The -story is told in simple straight- 
forward English, each chapter being headed with a 
quotation from Shakespeare's Henry V., which might 
have been written for the occasion. The composition of the 
First Expeditionary Force, the noblest army that ever left 
these shores, is given, and there is also a useful map. The 
narrative stirs the blood like a trumpet call. Major Corbett- 
Smith realised he had a story to tell that words could not 
heighten, but might weaken, and he has written with a 
restraint that makes this book as brave as an old ballad. 
The famous fight of L Battery R.H.A., at Nery, hard by 
Compiegne, is given vividly, but every page makes a Briton 
proud to be the countryman of the " Old Contemptibles." 
