THE GREAT TUG-O'-WAR ON THE WESTERN FRONT.

NZ Truth, Issue 508, 13 March 1915, Page 5

THE GREAT TUG-O'-WAR ON THE WESTERN FRONT.

Sir John French, m dispatches, described the great "tug-o'-war" between the Allies and the Huns: "The operations m which we have been engaged embrace nearly all the Continent of Central Europe from East to West? The combined French, Belgian, and British armies m the West, and the Russian army m the East, are opposed to the united forces of Germany and Austria acting as a combined army between us. The value and significance of the role fulfilled since the commencement of hostilities by the Allied forces m the West lies m the fact that at the moment when the Eastern Provinces of Germany are m imminent danger of being overrun by the numerous and powerful armies of Russia, nearly the whole of the active army of Germany is tied down to a line of trenches extending from the fortress of Verdun on the Alsatian frontier round to the sea at Nieuport, east of Dunkirk (a distance of 260 miles), where they are held, much reduced m numbers and morale by the successful action of our troops m the West. '

The heavy black line m the above map shows approximately the present Western Battle Front. The shaded line stretching: towards Paris marks the German invasion last September, when France's capital city was seriously threatened. The Battle Front on December 1 is shown m the. small inset map* •by' 1 a heavy black line. *- .- - . .-..-.. . -..-<■ . a; ;- „',. -