Show Battle of the Somme i Tables Now Turned By FRANK H. H SIMONDS V VV V Copyright 1916 by the New York Tribune The battle of the Somme opened on the first day of J July ly We Wc have have now the assurance of American correspondents who have just visited the German lines that the attack has failed How far is this an accurate statement both as to what has happened and as asa asa asa a reas reasonably credible forecast of the future The best answer is Verdun The attack there began on February 21 It was asserted by the correspondent of the Tribune who visited the Verdun sector on April 6 that the French had stopped the German attack permanently in so far as the attack was wasa a piercing attack Those French officers whom he saw both in inthe inthe in inthe the Verdun sector and in Paris were agreed in the first week of April that the danger of a German thrust through the French lines had failed Their words were made good by the very sharp check which came to the Germans in thier great effort of April 9 We may say that on April 9 which was forty-eight forty days after the opening of the German attack upon Verdun its failure as a piercing operation was established In a word in seven weeks after they had been menaced by a deadly thrust the French restored what they have since officially described as a delicate situation What they had been able to do actually was to get the guns and the munitions as well as the men needed to hold new lines they had constructed the new lines and henceforth there remained to the Germans the chance to take the trenches to blast their way foot by foot and yard by yard forward at the cost of large casualties and with the only possible profit the exhaustion of French reserves and the depression of French confidence and courage In a very odd way the tables have now turned If you should take the trouble to go back to the official statements of last April May and June you would find the Germans were then saying exactly what the French and British are now saying and the French were then asserting as to their lines in the Verdun sector what the Germans are proclaiming as to their front along the Somme We know now that the French were right and the Germans were wrong We know now that the Germans did not after their April reverse have any chance to get through and they have failed and practically abandoned their attempt We do not know whether the French were correct when they said that the Germans loss was colossal but we do know that the Germans are now declaring that the British and French loss in the similar operation at the Somme is colossal and we read particularly in the French reports that owing to French artillery preparation French losses were slight which is just what the Germans were telling us about Verdun a few months ago We are bound to conclude so far as it is wise or fair to reason by analogy that the German statement that the allied thrust in the Somme sector has failed is correct It has failed as an effort to get through the German lines as the Germans got through the Russian lines at the in the spring of 1915 and as the Russians have got through the Austrian lines this summer We are bound to believe that whatever progress the British and French now make in taking trenches the Germans have had the time to get new lines down to mass new batteries of artillery and can reasonably hope to repeat the French success at Verdun in holding their lines Now ow all all' this has thrown the allies bacK bac pon a second line of argument This again is familiar r. r When they failed to get through to Verdun by their February thrust by their March effort and by the culminating attack of April 0 a. a I the Germans told th the world that the operation had become one of siege with slow methodical artillery preparation and small but steady gain This they did keep up from April to July when the Somme operation compelled compelled com corn them to abandon the offensive at the Meuse Then the Germans asserted asserted asserted as as- they were using up tip the last French reserves and behind these France was wearying of the war and longing for tor peace About the same arguments argument now come como from London and from Paris So far then the two great efforts stand on all fours The German at attack attack attack at- at tack upon Verdun which failed followed exactly the same course that has subsequently been followed fallowed by the Somme attack Its phases were almost identical and there is IB no reason to doubt that the actual result so far faras faras faras as the Somme Somma sector is concerned is likely to be the same It remains possible that the British will get Bapaume Bapaume Bapaume Ba- Ba and the French Peronne Just Justas as everyone recognized that the Germans Germans Germans Ger Ger- mans might ultimately get the remaining remaining remaining remain remain- ing French forts on the east bank of the tho Meuse above the town of Verdun but It has become excessively improbable improbable able that the allies ames will get to St St. Quentin or Cambrai as it was similarly unlikely after April 9 9 that the Germans Germans Ger Get mans would get to Bar le But having now pointed out the similarities similarities similarities simi simi- it Is essential to emphasize the differences between the Verdun and I Somme operations The Verdun operation operation opera- opera and comprehensive tion was a single effort It was the one thing Germany was undertaking to do elsewhere she simply tried to hold on She gambled that she could hold her eastern lines until she had haC won her victory at Verdun Ver Ver- dun She lost the throw and Austria suffered one of the great disasters of the war In consequence Actually the prisoners the Russians report that they have taken are the price of Verdun And Arid Verdun did not fall Now the allies are not simply attackIng attackIng attacking attack- attack Ing on the Somme SemiTic this is not merely a local and desperate attack designed the Germans out of France It ItIs Itis itis to turn Incidentally this It Is more Important im- im Is only as a campaign to hold German reserves In France and permit Russia to continue her great attack The success success suc sue cess or 01 failure of the Somme operation I may be absolute In its own area but It is actually relative In the area of the I war All the bloody battles of Grant from the Wilderness to Cold Harbor and Petersburg were defeats on the battlefield because because- In all of them he failed to accomplish his purpose In Inthe Inthe Inthe the actual field In which he was operating operating operating ing they were failures on the battlefield battlefield battlefield battle battle- field and they did not net in 1864 get him Richmond But they are to be measured measured measured meas meas- I and now they are measured by I their effect upon the whole war and we see that they did exhaust confederate confederate erate crate numbers prevent the reinforcement reinforcement reinforcement reinforce reinforce- ment of the armies before Thomas and Sherman and ultimately make maker possible these victories In t the e other fields which actually settled the Issue of the civil war before Appomattox All this the Somme offensive may not do no considerable part of the tho mission mission mission mis mis- sion of the Army of the tho Potomac may maybe maybe maybe be performed by the armies of Foch and Haig We cannot judge of this as asyet asyet asyet yet nor for many months But we can see Iee where the parallel is good where It is impressive Wo can see Bee that if the Russians get Lemberg and andreach andreach andreach reach the San or the Hungarian Plain if the Italians get Trieste or Laibach If the army of Sarrail returns to the Danube the total cause of the aies will have profited Immeasurably the contribution of the French and British 1 In the west will have been tremendous even if it they do not gain another mile I or another wrecked village The Germans seem seem to be speaking I with truthfulness and bound 1 we are to listen to what they say as to the check to allied purpose in the west so far faras faras faras as this purpose was to pierce their lines We are bound to accept It be because because because be- be cause It 1 Is nothing more nor less than what we all said about Verdun ac accepting accepting accepting ac- ac the French statements and the words of our own correspondents But we must all recognize the fundamental distinction between the Verdun and the Somme operations which lies In the fact that Verdun was an end in Itself and the single purpose on which all aU German effort was WM concentrated while the Somme In fn one phase of a grandiose and arid continent wide attack Whether this continent wide attack Is to succeed or fail fall is a matter that we cannot even guess about because we lack convincing evidence It has hasso hasso hasso so far succeeded tremendously measured measured measured meas meas- by prisoners captured guns and munitions and forts taken prisoners prisoners prisoners pris pris- alone In the ten weeks of ot offensive offensive offen offen- sive sire Is a staggering blow Joined to toa toa toa a loss of men by wounds which cannot be less and may be more More than three-quarters three of a million Germans and Austrians mostly Austrians have gone out of the battle line since June 1 i. The allied losses are apportioned among four nations not two and no considerable ble number of allied prisoners have been claimed by the central powers In the Verdun attack the Germans took less than prisoners and an Inconsiderable amount of material the allied bag at the Somme can hardly be much smaller now But Verdun was all the Somme Is one department of the allied operations When the Germans Germans Ger Get mans were wro stopped at the Meuse Mouse they were at a standstill everywhere the Russians and the tho Italians have kept on for tor days after the check at the Somme was announced from Berlin They are still moving and the Balkan situation grows daily dally more threatening Only by keeping the whole field in Ia mind now shall we be able to estimate rightly the actual situation and escape attachIng attaching attach attach- ing too much Importance to any anyone one department It Is the battle of Europe not the battle of the Somme that Is to be bo considered |