Land & Water 
June 6, 191 8 
LAND & WATER 
5 CHANCERY LANE, LONDON, W.C.2 
Telephone i HOLBORN 28x8. 
THURSDAY, JUNE 6, 1918. 
Contents 
PAGE- 
I 
2 
The HohenzoUern Mill. (Cartoon.) By Raemaekers 
The Outlook 
Battle of the Tardenois. By ft. Belloc 3 
The Jutland Anniversary. By Arthur Pollen 7 
Turkish Conspiracy — IV. By Henry Morgenthau 9 
In an Old French City. By An Officer. 12 
Village of the Future. By Jason 13 
Literary Hoaxes. By J. C. Squire 15 
Books of the Week 16 
The Canadians. ^ (Illustrated.) By Centurion 17 
The Boudoir 22 
Notes on Kit 25 
The Outlook 
WE are passing through the most critical period 
of the war since the battle of the Marne. The 
German Army at the moment of writing has 
reached the right bank of that river and at 
Chateau Thierry is within fifty miles of Paris. 
Whatever may have been the original intention of the enemy, 
the success which he gained last week in Champagne has 
encouraged him to make this his principal offensive with 
the French capital as its objective. Fresh units were placed 
by him rapidly in the firing line, and though his progress 
slowed down with the lengthening of his communications, it 
was not until Sunday that he sustained a serious check. 
What the cost of this attack may have been on either side we 
have not as \'et any means of knowing. But the comparative 
expense by which the offensive and defensive in these 
extremely rapid developments are being conducted is the 
element of supreme interest in the whole affair. 
* » » 
This advance, it must be admitted, has been conducted in 
a masterly fashion, and ha.s j ustified what are known as the 
new German tactics. These involve secrecy of concentra- 
tion, organisation of the attack in great depth so that fresh 
units can come up between tired units whenever a rapid 
advance is possible to carry forward the wave, the special 
training of men for rapidity of advance, short but extremely 
intense preliminary bombardment, and the use at the very 
front of all lighter forms of mechanical weapons, especially 
of tanks anji field artillery. 
The three British divisions which found themselves once 
again in the forefront of the battle, although they had been 
sent to this part of the hne to recuperate, fought with magni- 
ficent stubbornness, and only fell back from their second line 
positions in order to conform with retirements' elsewhere. 
The French are displaying . their usual valour, and at the 
beginning of the week counter-attacked frequently with 
splendid effect. The real criterion of the present operations 
is the extent to which the reserve divisions of the two armies 
will have been employed. As it is explained elsewhere in 
this issue, there is a good purpose in holding a defensive line 
lightly. 
• » ♦ 
The capture of Cantigny by American soldiers was a 
brilliant affair ; small in itself, but important as evidence of 
the excellent fighting qualities of our new Allies. The 
village was carried in a dashing manner, and the troops 
consoUdated their gains with the rapidity and efficiency of 
veterans ; although the enemy counter-attacked more than 
once, he was unable to get back anything. 
London has had ocular evidence that the men whom the 
American Republic are sending over are fine raw material, 
but the Cantigny affair proves they have the making of 
first-class soldiers, for this brilliant exploit shows a high 
degree of training and discipline, and also that mental alert- 
ness to turn an advantage to its best value, which is ever 
the better half of victory. ^v 
Paris preserves a calm and resolute attitude with this 
fierce battle raging within ear-shot. Every night come the 
Gothas, and at dawn big Bertha hurls her shells. There 
was- no respite for Paris even on Corpus Christi day. Her 
serene spirit under tliese trials is typical of France as a whole. 
She places absolute confidence in General Foch, and declines 
to beheve that the foot of the invading Hun shall again 
defile her streets. "The will to end the war," for which 
Germany is now fighting desperately, has no place in her 
mind ; her one thought is victory, however long it may be 
delayed or through whatever trials she may have to pass. 
' The air defences of the French capital have proved them- 
selves extraordinarily efficient. Although on many nights 
there have been two separate attacks, only rarely has a 
single enemy machine been able to penetrate them. The long- 
distance gun is now almost accepted as an ordinary part of 
the daily life of the capital, and people go about their busi- 
ness as thout;h it were not. 
* * * 
The King's Birthday Honours List this year is notable in 
that it contains the first nominations for the Royal Air 
Force decorations, which were specially instituted on this 
occasion. Until the present century no distinction ^was 
made between the fighting forces where decorations were 
concerned, beyond the colour of the ribbon, but in 1901 the 
Conspicuous Service Cross — now the Distinguished Service 
Cross— was instituted as a special naval decoration, and it 
was foUowetl on New Year's Day, 1915, by the Military Cross. 
There is good reason for dividing decorations ; and if 
ever a service had won right to a chstinction of its own it is 
the Royal Air Force. There were two crosses and two medals ; 
all four can only be won for acts of courage, devotion to 
duty, or gallantry when /lying. The penguin has to look 
elsewhere for his honours, which is as it .should be. 
* * * 
The congratulations to Lord Rhondda on his promotion 
in the peerage will have an unusual ring of sincerity about 
them. He has almost achieved the impossible and blossomed 
into a popular Food Controller. He is still constantly 
cursed for the frequent changes in rationing, but as soon as 
the change is found to be in favour of the home- controller 
and consumer the curses quickly pass into blessings, and he 
is extolled as a great and good man. Lord Rhondda, we fepf 
sure, will not take all the credit for this to himself; he will 
be among the first to admit that the nation, as a whole, has 
played the game over- the rationing business, and adapted 
itself cheerfully and wiUingly to the annoyances and restric- 
tions which were inevitable at its institution. 
One curious result of the coupon system, and one which 
will please the new viscount, is that it has placed for the 
first time a premium on big families. The prudent married 
couple who have refrained from giving hostages to fortunes 
or been content with one or, at most, two, find themselves 
irked by the fewness of their/coupons ; but let the quiver be 
full, and there are more coupons in the home than the mother 
requires. And as wages are good, the man with a big family 
can, for the first time, crow over his prudent neighbour. 
As if nature approved of the rationing system, the harvest 
prospects continue to be excellent. More land is under 
cultivation than for j^ears. One has to go back a quarter of 
a century to find the equal of the present acreage under 
wheat. The injury by wire- worm proves to have been less 
than was anticipated, and if the favourable weather con- 
tinues, the British Isles will reap a record harvest. 
* * * 
We have held since the beginning of the war that it would 
have been wiser had we exchanged all interned civihans, 
irrespective of their number. There were obvious objections ■ 
to this course, but we believe the country would have gained 
immensely on the balance, and would have breathed the 
freer if every German had been sent back to the fatheriand. 
As it is, we have derived no benefit by keeping them here 
beyond that we have deprived the German High Command 
of a certain amount of "food for powder"— an almost 
inappreciable amount at the rate powder devours men in 
this war— while we have had to provide food of another 
kind, and thus saved the enemy this necessity. 
On the other hand, while we" have treated all prisoners of 
war, civilian and combatant ahke, with a humanity that 
borders on benevolence, Germany has not hesitated to 
wreak malevolence and brutal spite on British prisoners in 
her power. We are glad to know that every effort is now to 
be made to exchange prisoners as quickly as possible. To 
what extent the enemy will be prepared to respond is doubtful, 
but German prisoners in this country exceed in number 
British prisoners in Germany, so that numerically we have 
the advantage, and we are slowly discovering there are other 
ways in which pressure can be brought to bear on the enemy 
to compel him to conform to reasonable demands. 
