October 26, 1916 
LAND & WATER 
trenched lino of Tuzla. then the Danube stands for an 
indelinite time as an obstacle between the northern and 
the southern sections of the Alliance in the East. 
The Roumanians, should they lose the bridgehead, 
will of course, destroy the bridge itself, but having done 
that they can no longer possess the power of turning the 
obstacle of the Danube, 
There is another aspect borne by this superiority in 
munitionment, which the enemy now clearly enjoys upon 
the eastern front. It is the advantage it gives him in 
any attempt to cross the Danube. The crossing olaces 
are few and closely watched ; his numbers for su h an 
attempt seem hardly sufficient ; but the one ss ntial 
factor of difference is the power of covering u h an 
operation by a mass of fire to which the reply would be 
inadequate. It is a very real threat as things now stand and 
it would be a very stupid piece of policy or criticism 
tiiat should try to hide it from opinion in this country. 
Meanwhile we must, for the steadying of our judgment. 
keep the converse truth well in mind, that this superiority 
in munitionment and calibre is balanced by an.inferiority 
in men. With the exception of the artillery, there has 
been hardly anything German in the army in the 
Dobrudja, and the forces acting on the Carpathians 
are not in the main German citfier. Less than 30 per 
cent, in that region are German. In the Dobrudja 
certainly less than 5 per cent. Austria and the German 
Empire are, at this moment, of all the belligerents the 
most exhausted in men ; that, and the rising western 
power of munitionment, arc the decisive features of the 
war at the present moment. 
The two intact forces, the two great reserves of man- 
power, which have as yet not suffered exhaustion in the 
East are the Roumanian and the Bulgarian. But we 
must always remember that the continued offensive 
based upon Salonika holds not less than eleven Bulgarian 
divisions. So long as that pressure is continued, whether 
there be movement upon the map or not, only the lesser 
half of the forces south of the Danube can be upon the 
banks of that river or in the Dobrudja, which extends 
that line. 
The French Sector 
T dealt the week before last with the British sector 
upon the Somme, and showed how the characteristic of 
this sector as to three-quarters of its length at least, was 
the creation, to the disadvantage of the enemy, of a great 
salient already as sharp as a right angle, which may be 
called the salient of Beaucouit. We saw in that article 
how no very considerable further advance north of Le 
Sars would put that salient in peril. I propose in what 
follows to deal with the southern half of the great offen- 
sive curve, that is, with the French portion of the line. 
The present front of the I'Vench from Sailly-Sallisel 
in the north to Chilly upon the south is in direct length 
31 kilometres, or just under 20 miles. It is cut by the 
Somme in the neighbourhood of Peronne into almost exart- 
ly the proportion of one-third to two-thirds. One-third 
being north of the river and two-thirds south of it. But, 
though for the sake of clearness in communiques dis- 
tinction is made between the forces to the south and to 
the north of the river, the problem presented to the com- 
mand on either side is essentially one. The two main 
points of support, the artillery positions which are the 
pillars of the whole line stand upon either side the river, 
and support each other and the ground between them and 
to the north and to the south of them ; and success 
upon either side of the stream would immediately react 
upon the conditions on the other. 
These two main defensive points of the enemy are the 
Mont St. Quentin on the north of the river, and the hill of 
Villers-Carbonnel on the south. 
I will first describe each of these positions separately. 
For it is only upon the comprehension of both that the 
whole line can be grasped. 
Of the two the Mont St. Quentin is the most important, 
and I W-ill therefore take it first. 
The hill bearing this name is that rise of land which 
stands north of the town of Peronne and is enclosed upon 
the north by the little stream of the Tortille, upon the 
south by the town and the marshy valley of the little 
Cologne beyond it, and on the west by the flooded valley 
floor of the Somme, with its canal beyond. To-day the 
