THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS FRIDAY, JUNE 8, 1917. THE WESTERN FRONT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16560, 8 June 1917, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS FRIDAY, JUNE 8, 1917. THE WESTERN FRONT.

The modern offensive, as it has been developed and systematised during the present war, is ushered in by artillery "preparations" which have for their purpose the clearing of a path for advancing infantry. The classic illustration of this is said to be the French offensive at Verdun six months ago, when with extraordinarily few casualties our allies swiftly regained positions at Vaux and Douaumont which had been won after prolonged and costly attack by the Germans, in the course of their great assault. This brilliant French victory cannot be constantly repeated, because conditions do not usually lend themselves to such carefully and exhaustively planned local offensives in which a restricted area is swept by artillery fire, and occupied almost automatically. As was pointed out during the prolonged German offensive; the enemy was driven to continue his attacks unless he was prepared to lose the ground gained at such enormous sacrifices, for the defences i of Verdun were keyed together with the advantage of position lying always with the defenders until they were driven from the inner fortifications. On the Front as a whole conditions are entirely different. Experience has taught that a wide and widening breach must be made in the enemy lines in order to avoid the deadly pressure that can be exerted upon a too narrow salient. This in itself makes impracticable such a concentrated fire as that employed by our friends at Verdun, although the general principle of the "preparation" remains the same. In every case, intensive and prolonged artillery "preparation" implies an approaching offensive, bo that we have every reason to anticipate important news from the western front at an early date. For unprecedented artillery work is reported, the guns being heard at Harrow, of school fame, 11 miles north of London, and windows vibrating in Surrey and Kent.

The need for and value of inexhaustible stocks of munition is emphasised by the artillery tactics of the modern offensive. Not only must the enemy front be wrecked and razed at the section to be attacked, but other sections must be similarly dealt with in order to hamper and confuse the defensive concentrations. It was announced very lately that the German lineß from Arras to St Quentin had been subjected to heavy fire. The hearing of gun-fire throughout southeast England suggests that the bombardment has since been taken up from Arras to the sea. The activity of British aircraft in Belgium and Northern France— "dumps" have been exploded, railway junctions damaged, and aerodromes destroyed— the naval activity at Zeebrugge, further suggests a special desire to embarrass the enemy communications and bases in that quarter. Nobody but the actual commanders can know the exact spot where the pending blow will be struck and little is to be learned by the Germans from preparations which cover a dozen possible points. If the Allies were short of munitionment and short of men it would be impossible to launch an attack against which the most complete preparations had not been made. As things are it is not only possible to attack with advantage but it is equally possible for a second, or third, or fourth attack to be launched while the enemy is engaged with the first. If the Russians had applied the expected pressure on the eastern front, Germany would have found June a troublous month indeed.

With or without Russia, the. western Allies appear to be now on the verge of the Great Offensive for which Britain and France have worked so patiently and for which Belgians and French have watched and prayed. After three years, less two months, the Allies are able to meet Germany in the western field not at one point only, or for one day only, but at all points and continuously. During four months the weather may be expected to be propitious for military operations, and it is certain that neither Britain nor France will waste the golden opportunity. France has struck in Champagne at the southern joint of the Hindenburg line as valiantly as the British have struck at the northern joint. When the British commence their Great Offensive, their French comrades-in-arms will be working for the common cause. If they delay their main blows it will only be for strategic reasons.; when they strike them it will be with all their strength for the liberation of France. The summer may not see the end of German pretensions and Prussian militarism, but we may hope that it will see the liberation of Franco and Belgium and the driving of the German hordes beyond the Rhine.