10 
LAND & WATER 
April ig, 1917 
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know that it came to a point south of but not as far as 
Juvincourt, that it flowed beyond Loivre to a yioint clearly 
outflanking the bill of Brimont, which is now imperilled, and 
that the first German line from Missy to the neighbour- 
hood of Graonne was carried, while further east the second 
line was reached and carried as well. We also know that 
10,000 prisoners, or so, were taken in this first operation and 
some (so far xmcounted) number of guns and of material. 
More than that we are not told. 
The preliminary bombardment had lasted for the whole 
week and was particularly intense on Sunday and tlie night 
between Sunday and Monday morning. We further know 
from the prisoners taken that 20 divisions were opposed 
first and last to the l<"renc]i upon this front. What we 
do not know is whether the exceedingly important 
promontory plateau of Craonne itself is now fully in French 
hands. If this be held the value of the position can hardly 
be exaggerated. Craonne is the best obser\'ation place for 
10 miles around and commands all the plain up northwards 
towards Lens, just as the \'imy Kidge, ten days march away, 
commands all the plain of Lens and Douai. 
It is unfortunately necessary to wait till next week before 
we can give any full summary of this second chapter of the 
combined AlUed offensive. 
Some Misconceptions 
Let me conclude by remarks rather political in tone but 
useful, I think, at this juncture. Nearly all of our miscon- 
ceptions upon the war in this country arose in the earlier 
part of it from a false conception of the task. Nearly all 
the errors of general opinion to-day arise from the reaction 
against that false conception. It is as foolish to take the 
enemy's deliberately calculated ])ropaganda for the whole 
truth as it would be for hh civilian opinion— (to suppose an 
impossibility) or for a neutral observer to take the Allied 
propaganda for the whole truth. 
The enemy, for instance, is good enough to tell us that 
he had prepared a certain very strong " Hindenburg Line." 
He scattered the term broadcast in his Press, and mucli of our 
Press repeated it as though it were something sacred. Where 
is that line ? If it ever existed at all it raai from Arras to St. 
Quentin. It is breached to-llay. 
The enemy further told himself at the top of his voice (and 
all the world) that his retirement last month to St. Quentin 
was undertaken in order to restore a war of movement. We 
may take that to be true, for it would have been foolish tn 
have misled his own opinion on so important a matter. Bui 
so far from the plan maturing he was followed up at top s,]X'cd 
— far more quickly than he conceived possible. He has been 
hustled without intermission for a month, back and back along 
the whole of his new attempt at a defensive line, and has 
T^HEFMS^ 
had the northern end of it just broken right in, so that he 
does not yet know Where to restore it. 
The enemy tells us that he has by industrial conscription 
and the enslaving of occupied territory, released resources 
which will ultimately amount to a million for the German 
Empire alone before the end of August. We knew that five 
months ago, and it was printed in these columns five months 
ago, but it is equally true that the Western Alliance has 
increased those resources in men and is producing material 
also far more rapidly than he is. 
The enemy told us, his public, and all neutrals, in repeated 
articles, ofhcial pronouncements and notices that his retire 
ment from Noyon had destroyed all hopes of the Allied 
offensive. 
We can judge the value of such pronouncements. I have 
put one of them at the head of this article as a salutary text 
for the wretched political intriguers who have lived for months ■ 
on sensation and panic. 
The whole thing judged soberly is the constant, the gradual 
and the increasing pressure of a superior against an inferior. 
The only two elements of doubt arc the one political, that is, 
the civilian power to stand the strain, the other, what is al- 
ways an element of doubt in any increasing strain, to wit, the 
rate of acceleration. I say all this of course only of the military 
])osition, which, on its largest lines is certainly what I have 
described ; the essential naval factor, of which I know nothing, 
I leave to others. H. Belloc 
Mrs. Allen Marker has a genius for depicting characters out of 
the ordinary and making her readers fall in love with them. In 
her latest novel ]an and Her Job (John Murray, 5s. net), this 
gift has never been displayed to more advantage". The story 
centres on two delightful babes, Tony and Fay, precocious after 
the manner of Anglo-Indian infants. They will rejoice the 
majority of the author'.s admirers, but a few will find even greater 
j)leasure in Jan herself and in Meg. If one fancies a coiisinship 
with Mr. Wycherly and Miss E.sperance may be discerned, it is 
all to the credit of the new-comers. One is inclined to think 
that not sufficient appreciation is given to Mrs. Allen Harker's 
backgrounds. These are etched in with so sure a touch and so 
.skilfully that if the truth were known they would probably be 
found to create no small part of the peculiar charm of her work. 
This fact was brought liome to the reviewer by her descrijition 
of Bombay. It only occupies a very small space ; the details 
given arc few and simple, but so vivid arid true to life is the 
writing that though it were twenty years since the reviewer saw 
that no mean city, it revi\'ed the memory with such force that 
the night following the Orient filled his dreams. This, we hold 
is a rare power of artistry which few writers possess. The 
garden at Wren's End is an equallv convincing picture. 
The Lost Platoon. 
A short story by Centurion, dealing with the original 
British E.xpeditionary Force, and bearing the above 
title will be printed in next week's "Land ik Water." 
