October 26, 1916 
LAND & WATER 
down the side furthest from the French and hidden from 
them. 
These two heights, then, the Mont St. Quentin and the 
roll or lump of Villers, are the two elements of the position 
which the French arc chietiy attempting to turn. Their 
action against Ablaincourt the other day and against 
(jcncnnont behind, has not only for its object the creation 
of a salient at Chaulnes, which may ultimately compel 
the abandonment of that point, but also and more the 
obtaining of positions so far round the hill of \'illers that 
the gun positions there shall be exposed. 
The effort against the Mont St. Quentin is even more 
important, and it is here, far off as the point is, that the 
importance of Sailly-Sallisel comes in. 
The two villages combined under the hyphenated title 
of Sailly-Sallisel (they made up together in peace a com- 
munity of less than 800 souls and were under one Mayor, 
forming one Commune), are in shape exactly a T. Sailly, 
a string of houses stretched along the main Peronne- 
Bapaume road, forms the cross of the T, Sahisel along the 
side road running to the east forms the stem. 
IV 
1 
Peronrte 
BlacKes 
e Maisonette 
'S.azT^s az WOO yds- 
6 
The French, at the time of writing, are in occupation of 
Sailly, that is, of the houses along the main road. They 
have not yet taken Sallisel, but they threaten it, and 
when they take it the wood <jf St. Pierre Vaast to the south 
will be untenable. The Germans have already begun to 
withdraw with great difficulty, and with heavy losses in 
material as well as in men, their guns and their posts from 
that wood. 
The wood is a large one and in the very heart of it the 
Germans established not only a considerable number of 
batteries, but also before the great offensive had developed 
or while it was beginning, and when the place was still 
far from the most advanced lines of the Allies, very large 
shelters containing great bodies of men. These, I beheve 
replaced a big group of huts which had stood in the wood 
during all the earlier part of the year. To compel the 
evacuation of all this material and of the greater part 
of this garrison is in itself a considerable step, and the 
occupation of Sailly has protected it. But the move 
upon Sailly to the north of the wood, the advance from 
Bouchavesnes to the south of it up the ridge and ulti- 
mately the occupation of the wood itself, will have conse- 
quences far more serious for the enemy than a mere with- 
drawal of men and guns, expensive as that operation has 
already proved to be. For when Sallisel is taken beyond 
Sailly, when the wood is in French hands, and the summit 
of the rise in front of Bouchavesnes is crossed, a wholly 
new tactical disposition will arise in this field. 
Sailly-Sallisel and the wood of St. Pierre Vaast and, 
south of the wood of St. Pierre Vaast, the ploughland 
east of Bouchavesnes, all of them stand in a line upon a 
ridge and come down over the far side of that ridge. It 
is the ridge overlooking the little river or brook of Tor- 
tille. But when the French shall be in full possession of 
that ridge ihcy will look dircclly upon the now hidden 
gun positions behind the Mont St. Quentin. 
The Germans liave recently made new emplacements 
for their guns above and behind Moislaus, so that the 
whole valley of the Tortille is swept by them. But though 
that will gravely interfere with infantry work further 
east, it will not prevent observation from the ridge 
against the Mont St. Quentin ; and when full direct 
observation is obtained the gun positions behind Mont 
St. Quentin will no longer be tenable. 
The moment the Germans guns now hidden behind 
Mont St. Quentin have to be withdrawn, the country to 
the south, that is the sector the peril of which we have 
described, will be exposed. It will only have the positions 
behind the Hill of Villers to support it, and if these should 
be exposed at the same time as the Mont St. Quentin by 
the French advance, the whole of that sector falls. With 
its fall the sharp salient thus produced at Chaulnes will 
be no longer tenable : neither will Peronne ; and, should 
this plan be carried through without too great a delay, 
there must inevitably be a rearrangement of the whole 
German line upon this front. But such rearrangements 
are not easy matters to effect in the face of a successful 
enemy who has command of the air and great superiority 
in fire. Of such moment is the action now in process for 
the complete possession of Sailly-Sallisel and the whole 
ridge upon which it stands. 
From the above summary it will be clear that the 
French are thrusting at four separate points, success upon 
all of which combined would have the full result I have 
just described, and success upon any one of which greatly 
improves the chances of success upon its neighbour. 
These four points are Sallisel, the ridge between Bou- 
chavesnes and Moislains, Barleux and the sector Berny- 
Genermont-Ablaincourt and Pressoire. In the latter 
sector, which is of great importance, and which its dis- 
tance from the region of the British work has somewhat 
withdrawn from observation in this country, the French 
ha\'e been exercising very great pressure during the last 
few days and that successfully. The line is roughly 
defined by the high road from Chaulnes to Berny. 
Berny has been carried and Ablaincourt, after a serious 
struggle, is completely held. So is Pressoire. Between 
Pressoire and Chaulnes is a long stretch of wood which 
covered the latter town. It was occupied at the end of 
last week. But the German batteries behind the hill of 
Villers are still covered and will remain of full effect until 
the French have mastered at least another two thousand 
yards of the belt in front of them here. 
If Barleux, which is very strongly held indeed, should 
be carried, the effect upon Villers would be much sharper 
■ and more immediate. It is doubtful whether with ruins 
of Barleux in French hands, the batteries behind Villers 
could hold at all. The French would then have before 
them no more than a thousand yards of falhng ground to 
cover, at the end of which Villers is certainly turned. But 
the importance of Barleux has been long grasped by the 
enemy ; in fact, it is obvious. It has not only been very 
heavily strengthened upon the spot, but the great pro- 
portion of the guns both behind Villers and the Mont 
St. Quentin are detailed for its support and for the plaster- 
ing of the ground immediately behind, should it fall. 
The German units in front of the French here, sub- 
jected as they are to an extremely severe strain, are con- 
tinually renewed, but we are able to establish their com- 
position not later than ten days ago. The whole front 
down as far as Barleux is or was held by seven German 
divisions, none too strong a concentration for a front of 
14,000 yards. 
There originally stood upon the north of their line, 
down as far as the southern edge of the wood of St. Pierre 
Vaast, three divisions — the 51st of Reserve and the two 
so-called " new " di\isions (which are really only fragments 
of older depleted divisions pieced together, as we saw in a 
former article), the 213th and the 2r4th. The line was 
prolonged to the south in front of Bouchavesnes by the 
