AN ECHO OF VICTORY.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 309, 29 December 1915, Page 4

AN ECHO OF VICTORY.

In view of the contradictory reports that have reached us about the nature of the Allied position at Salonika and the prospects of defending it, a great many people will be relieved to learn oh General Castelnau's authority that it is already practically impregnable. General Castelnau, who is now acting Com-mander-in-Chief of the French armies, is reported to have .said that if the Germans attacked Salonika they would meet the same sort of reception as lie gave them at Nancy; and . those who have studied the history of the first months of the war with care will realise that, barring accidents, this means that we need have no further apprehension about the safety of tho Anglo-French expeditionary force in the Southern Balkans. We can sympathise with the pardonable pride that comes out in Castelnau's reference to Nancy; for the victory that he won there' more than a year ago was one of the great turning points in the war. While Joffre was still uncertain precisely where tho German blow would fall, he was compelled to distribute his forces widely along the eastern frontier; and the gap between Toul and Epinal, two of the strongest frontier fortresses, was guarded by the Army of Lorraine. For various reasons which do not concern us now this army in the first week of the war crossed the frontier and moved towards Metz; but it was surprised and outnumbered, and at Morchingen it suffered the most disastrous defeat that the French have experienced since the war began. However, in spite of this error the French troops were not disheartened or demoralized, and when the army fell back into the Gap of Nancy they soon showed themselves able to hold their own against Germany's best fighting regiments. Nancy, the old capital of Lorraine, is a beautiful town of 120,000 inhabitants, but it is not a fortress. General Joffre, with Pau and Castelnau, had surveyed the position carefully, and they had decided that the Gap—the open space intentionally left for field manoeuvres between Toul and Epinal—could be best defended by holding the heights known as the Grand Couronne, which practically surround the town. The plateau of Amance m particular is a commanding elevation trom which .veil-directed artillery fire could cover the only easy means of approach. The Germans arter their victory near Metz advanced rapidly on Nancy, and on August 22nd their assault began. We need not weary our readers with details of the hideous slaughter that followed. For more than two

weeks, day after day, the Germans' wei. urged forward, usually in massed forma! ' tion, against these heights, manntd hv powerful army, and defended by the W 1 field artillery in the world. At last September 6th, the dnv on Which'iT . sreat battle on the Marne bean th Kaiser gave orders that the Grand Couronne must be taken "regardless I cqst." It must <be understood that th? reason for this decision was that all tat movements of the German armies had t be concerted, and this attack on Nanc* ii it had succeeded, would have turned the French right wing and driven it in upon the French centre at the moment when yon Kiuck made his desperate attempt to cut the French armies i n two. Under the eye of the "War.Lord" who had come to Nancy to witness's triumph, the Germans advanced at their parade step with bands playing. The French did not fire a shot till the enemy were within three hundred yards- and then followed a terrible scene of carnage The French officers in command counted seven successive assaults upon this impregnable position, and they owned that they were sickened by the slaughter. At last the Kaiser, in a fit of desperation ordered his famous White Cuirassiers to charge the French lines; and this act of madness was a fitting culmination to the unspeaicabfe. folly of the attack. On September Bth even the Kaiser had to admit that the position was hopeless, and.at last the German army began slowly and Sullenly to retire toward the frontier at the very moment when the collapse of the Crown Prince's army in the Argonne, and the outflanking of yon Kluck on the extreme right ensured victory for the Allies on the Marne. Well may Castelnan look back with pride to his great d)?ys at Nancy; and the Allies will have good cause for satisfaction if at Salonika they can deal as deadly a blow at the enemy as Castelnau dealt the Kaiser's men when the army of Lorraine saved France on the heights of the Grand Couronne.