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Show THE BIG DRIVE. From the British headquarters in France comes word that tho situation is regarded as ' 1 favorable. " It is a word that may mean much or little, but appearing ap-pearing as it does in an official report which naturally would preserve due restraint re-straint it seems to indicate that at the crucial period of the offensive the outlook out-look ia distinctly bright. But now is the time when the success suc-cess of the entire movement hangs in the scale. .No matter where the British and French struck they were sure to go forward for the first day or two. Preparations Prepa-rations which have been in progress since the great battles at Loos and in the Champagne region last September could not fail to produce at least some encouraging results at the start. In the offensives last September neither the English nor the French made any gains after the first two days. The fighting continued with intensity for ten days or two weeks, but the French and English, Eng-lish, after the first two days, were battling bat-tling merely for the purpose of holding their gains and consolidating tho positions. posi-tions. At that time the English advanced ad-vanced on a front of five miles and the French on a front of fifteen miles. Now tho English are advancing on a front of fifteen miles and the French on a front of ten miles. The French and English have advanced ad-vanced almost twice as far as they did last fall. At Loos the English pierced tho German lines to a depth of five miles at one point, .but were unable to maintain themselves in this salient because be-cause of a bungle in the handling of reserves. re-serves. Consequently they fell back for ; several miles. The average gain of both tho French and English was but two and a half miles. In the present offensive the French have advanced seven or more miles while the English have gone forward four or five and at some points even farther. The initial impetus carried the French into the second line of defenses. Their task appears to have been somewhat some-what easier than that assigned to the English, not only because they were operating on a narrower front but because, be-cause, it is quite likely, the Germans were not so well prepared along the Hue where the French advanced, inasmuch inas-much as all efforts had been concentrated concen-trated on resisting a British drive, a French drive not being considered probable. prob-able. The French and English have made better progress than they did last fall, but not such good progress as the Russians Rus-sians made in their offensive .begun a few weeks ago. The Slav thunderbolt hurled the enemy back fifteen or twenty miles in two or three days at several points and in a -week a wedge had been driven forty miles into the Austrian i front west of Lutsk. Similar progress 1 was made on the other flank in the region of Czernowitz. The fighting in the east and west must not be regarded as quite in the same class. The Austrian defenses on 'the 250-mile front did not compare in strength with those erected during more than twenty months on the western front. Moreover, the Russians have greater reserves in men though, perhaps, per-haps, less ammunition proportionately than their allies in the west. It was possible for the Russians to assume the offensive on a much wider front than that over which the French and English are advancing north and south of the So mine river. In France slower progress must be counted on. The allies must be content to pierce the Teuton lines a few miles and then resist counter attacks at-tacks and consolidate positions before attempting another big advance. The Germans, after the first blow, are able to concentrate their reserves in the threatened area and thus the allies lose the advantage of surprise and numbers. On the other hand the Germans are forced back into somewhat weaker positions posi-tions from a strategic viewpoint and they are deprived of vast quantities of military supplies which they were compelled com-pelled to leave behind when they retired, re-tired, j The allies must now organize them-; selves amid the wreckage caused by their artillery. They must move forward for-ward their guns and immense quantities of shells for further .bombardments, which, to be successful, must be no less powerful than the bombardments that preceded the initial drive. They must move over a country in which the roads have, disappeared, a count ry littered with ruins and debris, churned and cratrred by high explosive shells and rendered immensely difficult of defense because the foe's trenches and entanglements entan-glements have been practically annihilated. annihi-lated. The difficulty of the task scarcely scarce-ly can bo exaggerated, but we are justified justi-fied in supposing that Kitchener's armies have made commensurate preparations. prepa-rations. Whether they have or not will be revealed within the next three or four days. |