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Show HEROIC DEFENSE BV littni WAR CnUUKM'i .NT.KNT HBADQU ARTBRB, Sunday, Mareh M. On thi Fns'er Sunday, under br:pht sunshine which Is breaking through the ptorm clouds, the fields of Prance are strewn with death. A year ago it was the Bame round the old city of Artols. for it was m La-.ter Sunday, April 2, thai we began the. battle of Arras and lought over that ground which a aain our battlefield, and It iraj a great anthem of gunfire which rope up to the bky on Easter morn M would be unwise to exaggerate the enem's losses, and I find It very difficult dif-ficult 10 get an exact idea of them, but it seems to mo certain that since that Thursday mornlnc. when they launch ed thejr offonslve ten days ago they have reached figures so high that the enemy command must he deeply anxious anx-ious as to the morale of iheir men and the oulcomo of this dreadful Kamblo with fate. In spite, loo, of their progress pro-gress over the old Somme battlofieldn those barren and blasted slopes where I hflrA I. n At h in fr . I . . -. .1 only our vast graveyard and one wide stretch of hideous lifelessncss, they have failed so far in their ambitions and thoir plnns. Their intention was to break our armies to bits by the enormous weight of their onslaught and by piercing between the gap to cut off masses of troops, whole divisions and whole brigades, bri-gades, so that we would bo absolutely undone In that they failed, Apatt from all regrets at having had to fall back at all and at having suffered losses lor which there is mourning in our hearts, because so many splendid men of ours have fallen on tbe field of honor, that terrible field of honor v. hirh will be watered with tears for all time we may at least rejoice that by th skill ol our flqhllng officers and tho steady courage o; our men our line iras brought bark unbroken, and that all the way bark to our present position posi-tion the enemy was never able to strike through and roll up large forces It is true he has taken many pris Qnera, nnl sp many as he claims, hut (hey were remnants of rear guard and isolated bodies and broken com panics, not complete units or anything like a group of units, divided from ihej rest ol our army. Yc now havu knowledge that the attack on Arras was prepared on a scale of enormous strength by di visions in depth preceded by bombardment bombard-ment as gTeat as that which fell upon any part of nur line on ihe morning of March 21. and that the enemy had determined de-termined to capture not only Arras it self, bin Vlmy ridge. It was the berole resistance of our troops that defeated this furious onslaught and destroyed by enormous losses to Ihe German troops this dark scheme of their high command. Seven German divisions were !n position po-sition north of the Searpe and twelve south in the arc round our defenses of Arras, and I believe their plan was for two divisions to capture tho city, supported bv others following close, while three divisions of slorm troops were to rush through when our battalions bat-talions were heavily engaged and overwhelmed and seize, the heights of Vlmy The brunt of this attack, preceded pre-ceded by colossal gunfire, fell upon our home London troops, and against these boys of ours from the, old city at home, the German tides dashed and broke. By gunfire, machine gunfire and rllle fire the enemy's advancing waves of men were swjpt to pieces, and. I though they came on again and again,' this massacre continued until at last! it must have sickened the high German Ger-man officers, The operations from behind be-hind and attacks died out and the night was quiet round Arras wbJU thf enemy collected bis wounded.. It was an utter defeat, which Will at least check the German effort? around I Arras. |