Show FIRST YEAR OF WAR IN THE WEST the first month and a half ot the western campaign was made up of startling swift moves on september 12 after the defeat on the marne the germans took up defensive positions along the aasne river the ten and a halt months since then have seen a long deadlock the battle line of the aasne and the olse quickly extended northeast to the sea fighting baa been continuous with tremendous losses the general situation has remained unchanged gains of a few miles or one side at one point onset by minor gains tor the enemy in other sectors at the beginning of august the kaiser took possession of the little state of luxemburg and demanded passage through belgium to the pran co belgian frontier permission to pass denied von einem attacked liege august 4 while other german armies passed around the city and swept over the level belgian roads at a terrific rate the little belgian army yielded brus sels and fell back to Antwerp and ghent first big engagement not until the germans had almost reached the french border did the first important engagement take place this Is generally known as the battle ot mons about august 20 28 but at the same time there was severe fighting along the whole line through thionville onville in lorraane Lorr alne and along the in upper alsace which the french had invaded with temporary success this battle resulted in defeat tor the french and english while obtaining some successes in counter attacks on the advancing ger mans at peronne and at guise the was fought the desperate first battle of aprea when the germans buttered enormous losses in attempts to break through the line in flanders and reach calais they succeeded in pushing back the allies only a little and the invasion of silesia by the cossacks finally induced them to desist and send re enforce ments to russia the germans in september had per formed the feat of pushing a salient into the french line south of verdun which terminated on the west bank of the mouse river at st while the french had taken the offensive with some success in champagne at about the same time for the most part throughout the winter the fighting consisted of regu lar siege warfare with heavy artillery combats and mine and counter mine the flooding of the river aasne from winter snows gave the germans a chance to entrap the french troops on the north side of that river in the vicinity of soissons Sols sons for a considerable distance and kill or capture most of them january 14 take offensive in spring with the spring the french and english attempted to take the offensive at several points always preparing the way with tens or hundreds of thou shands of shells they tried joint after joint of the german armor in the the dominating height of was taken and retaken several times in ary charges and finally remained in tho hands of the french the salient of st was also subjected to tremendous french pros sure on both legs the french sue ceedee in gaining a little ground but the germans despite the apparent weakness of the sharp wedge they had driven into the french line could not be dislodged and later succeeded in re gaining some of the territory they had lost the british also reported victories at euve chapelle and hill no 60 in MAP OF CAMPAIGNS IN THE WEST ibe flirt ice la the vel known alie baille boille of charleroy started 20 and resulted la the defeat of the I 1 rench odd they retreated of the alarae where the e ond beneral en barted september 5 the alae of date OB the map how the finlen jut before the battle the hermaa wax broken op and forced bark about a retirement of he whole line the bennan on september 8 in the of their retreat are chown on the map br a berlen of lacht while a row of darkened lod leate the carefully prepared trench line of the alne where they topped and were attacked by the alllen september 13 alloth olden now extended their llari toward the coast I 1 ight ii quare how the approximate admed september 30 ily october IS the leke ine wan complete from the alioto the ea ahe line of september 30 also how the german creat drive into the I genri line acrond ali nt st mablel croinea worda mark he bof of the entrenched irice line where the Kreate rt have taken place ance october 11 french were obliged to fall back rap idly to the line of the river marne on the left the french had with drawn to below paris and the western most german army under von kluck followed the garrison of paris was put in thousands of motor cars and hurled on von kluck B flank the latter was not taken entirely unawares and met the attack strongly but at the same time the army of general foch attacked the german army on von kluck s left and drove it back driven back from paris the germans had begun the battle with five armies in line the with drapal of the two farthest fart aest west now caused the retreat of the third fourth and fifth in that order each in turn finding its flank exposed by the with drapal of the troops on its right at the same time the movement on the east end of the german line was ac celebrated cele rated by a strong attack from the french fortified zone of verdun the german retreat was as orderly as that of the french and had been the invaders took up an ad marable defensive position it ran just north of the aasne river on a series of bluffs then just north of chalons and through the wooded rough regions of the argonne and the hands here with the troops besieging verdun the allies have tried this line in vain ever since both combatants now tried to turn the west flank enormous bodies of cavalry on the part of the french flanders on the part of the french there was largely the desire to link up with the belgians now being attacked in antwerp the mighty siege guns of the germans made short work of the belgian seaport however and it tell en october 9 the remnants of the belgian army retreated along the sea coast and the germans in a final rush reached ostend october 15 line extended to the sea the battle line of the aasne was now extended to the sea the germans hold ing the important french city of lille while the allies dept pres in belgium and partly by the lowlands held the position of the river and canal from october 16 to november 10 flanders whether these should be accounted successes for the allies is doubtful the british suffered enor reous losses and at beuve neuve chapelle bungled affairs to the extent ot shell ing their own men ho had taken ger man trenches in other cases they left gallant little parties lodged in enemy a trenches without supports to be annihilated the next development was the un expected use of poisonous gas fumes by the germans in attacks just north of cypres ypres with this novel weapon they succeeded in taking several small villages and more than compensating for the british gains south of cypres ypres ine losses of the french canadians and british were severe but they sue ceedee in stemming the german on slaught effectively a few miles back from their former position begin sarle of attack the german line makes a salient at though not such a pro bounced one as at st the french now began a series of at tacks on the upper side of this salient to the north of arras expending hun deeds of thousands thou ands of shells they time and again blasted away the barbed wire entanglements entangle ments and concrete trenches held by crown prince rup of bava las men and then charged across the desolate ground for slight gains the fighting centered about the su gar refinery nery of bouchez souchez and the great german work called the labyrinth fighting went on in cellars and tun nels below the earth and the casual ties were heavy the french bent the german line and captured the laby but whether the gains justified their sacrifice in human life Is ques tlona ble in july crown prince frederick V s army attacked in the argonne forest west of verdun and succeeded in gaining several hundred yards of shattered woodland and cap several thousand frenchmen there were rumors that th hermans were re enforcing for another great drive toward calais or paris but the teutonic campaign in the west continued to wait upon the crushing of the much weaker enemy lc poland |