| Show CAMPAIGNS IN THE WEST the first month and a half of the western campaign was made up of startling swift moves on oil september 12 after the defeat on the marne 11 arne the germans took up defensive positions along the aisne aasne river the ten and a half months since then have seen a long deadlock the battle line of the alsoc aisne and the olse oise quickly extended north emt to the sea fighting has been continuous nith tremendous losses the general situation has remained unchanged gains of a few miles tor for one side at one point offset by minor gains for the enemy in other sectors at the beginning of auguet the kaiser took possession of the little state of luxemburg and demanded passage through belgium to the fran 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 brussels els and tell 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 la Is generally known as the battle oi of mons charleroy about august 2028 but at the same time there was severe fighting along the whole line through thionville onville in lorraine and along the in upper alsace which the french had invaded with temporary success this battle resulted in defeat tor for the french and english while obtaining some successes in counter attacks on the advancing germans at peronne and at guise the french were obliged to fall back rapidly to the line of the river rival marne ml arne on the left the french had withdrawn to below paris and the westernmost german army under von kluck followed the garrison of paris was put in thousands of motor cars and hurled on von klucka flank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 clucks left and drove it back driven back from paris the germans had bad begun the battle with five armies in line the withdrawal of the two farthest west now caused the retreat of the third fourth and fifth in that order each in turn findig fand ng its lank flank exposed by the withdrawal of the troops on an 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 an ais that of the french and english had bad been the invaders took up an ad mirable defensive position it ran just north of the aisne aasne river on a series of bluffs then just north ot of chalons and through the Ao wooded oded tough lough regions refi ions of tho the argonne ardonne and the joining hands heie with the troops besieging verdun the allies have tried this line in ili vain ever sl since nee both combatants now tried to turn the west lank flank enormous bodies ot f cavahey cava liy on the part of the french flanders on oil tho the part of the french t there here aas largely the desire to link up tip with etli the belgians now being attacked in antwerp the mighty siege guns of the C germans armans made short work aock ot of the belgian seaport however and it fell on 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 ainne aisne was now extended to the sea the germans holding the important french city of lille while the allies kept ypres cypres in belgium and partly by flooding the lowlands held the position of the river and ca canal n al from october 16 to november 10 was fought the desperate first battlo battle of ypres cypres when the germans suffered 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 to russia the germans in september had bad performed the teat feat of pushing a salient into the french line south of verdun terminated on the west bank of the meuse aleuse 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 regular siege warfare with heavy artillery combats and mine and countermine counter mine the flooding of the river ainne aisne 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 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 in the the dominating height of was taken and retaken several times in sanguily sanguinary charges and finally remained in the hands of the french the salient of st ithiel was also subjected to tremendous french pressure on both legs the french succeeded oed in gaining a but the germans despite the apparent weakness of the sharp wedge abe they y had driven into the french line could not be dislodged and later succeeded in re gaining some of the territory they had the british also reported victories at neuve beuve chapelle and hill no 60 in flanders whether these should be accounted successes for the allies is doubtful the british Britis li suffered enormous losses and at native chapelle bungled to the extent of shelling their own men who bad taken german trenches the next development was tho the unexpected use of poisonous gas fumes by the germans in attacks just north of ypres cypres with this novel weapon they succeeded in taking several small villages and more than compensating for the british gains south of ypres cypres the losses of the french canadians and british were severe but they succeeded in stemming the german onslaught effectively a few miles back from froin their former position begin series of attacks At lacka the german line makes a salient at soissons though not such a pro bounced one as at st mihiel the french now began a series of attacks on the upper side of this salient to the north of arras expending hundreds of thousands of shells they time and again blasted away the barbed wire entanglements entangle ments and concrete trenches held by crown prince rupprecht of baa bajarias varias Ba arlas men and then charged across the desolate ground for slight gains the fighting centered about the sugar refinery of bouchez souchez and the great german work called the labyrinth fighting went on oil in cellars and tunnels below the earth and the casualties were heavy the french bent the german line and captured the labyrinth but whether the gains justified their sacrifice in human life is questionable tio in july crown prince frederick williams army attacked in the argonne forest west of verdun and succeeded in gaining several hundred yards of shattered woodland and capturing several thousand frenchmen there were rumors that tile germans were re enforcing tor 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 in poland |
