FRANCE'S HUMAN DYKE ON MEUSE.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 14185, 30 December 1916, Page 7

FRANCE'S HUMAN DYKE ON MEUSE.

10LLED BACK THE TIDE. OF BARBARISM.

By Frank H. Simonds — Received by mall NEW YORK, Oct. 26.

The French victory ■; before; Verdun is a; triumph of that shilling ch^vacter that history kiadstlie \vbrld* to" expect" of the French. It was the defence of Verdun that really surprised all fove the few who knew at first hand/ the spirit, m which France) was fighting the war. Everyone had expected' French brilliance m the charge, but a dogged, sullen, tenadious hanging on — this was what took the world by surprise, took many by surprise) and cost the Kaiser at least half a million casualties and the greatest defeat since trench warfare began. •' > ? What the French have now done has just this importance — it finishes the Verdun chapter by retaking the ground, which the Germans took m their advance thereby putting Verdun itself m .actual danger. Everyone 'now knows that ther» was never, after April 9, any danger of an actual piercing; of the French lines. Everyone knows that, had the 'French been 'driven across the Mouse, aftpr the thhxl great attack failed, Germany w*ould ' mereily have acquired some hectares of French soil.

. BATTLE FOR RUINS. But after April 9 -the "Germans 'kept on,: with the determinatipn to win an apparent moral victory put ; of their • terrible. Verdun venture." :.' : Eveh if • til ere were to be no military • profit, they gambled lives againr.t the moral value' of taking the ruins. of the city of Verdun, ruins without military value, but ruins which, m their/iiariVij- Would constitute the proof of a, technical victory. | And, between April 9' and 'July ! I'^ they made material progress. They pushed the French back into. the inner .lino of- forts. They crowded them back td the very edge of the 'last hills 'above, the ■jVleiipe. Actually, when the-- Somme. offenr-ive began, the French east of the Meuse w^re m their last v flitch; arid i'thegeriefcal im : pression m Paris': was that the Sommo drive was begun ■ earlier than; had been intended because of the critical situation about Verdun/ , Since' that timei,- there has been a gradual* diminution of German numbers/about Verd/lin and a marked decrease; m Germa'.n artillery stVength. The Germans have called men .and guns to.be used to check the Anglo-French advance m Picardy. .\: ,■ . : . IN SHINING FASHION.' On the other hand, the French seem to have increased- ' •. -rather . than * decreased their artillery concentration about Verdun until 'their .superiority, became overwhelming. -Meantime, the;Ge.rmans hung t on to , all the ppsitipna they had captured and thus . retained/ the opportunity, to resume tlieir; attack, if they chose, from the. advantageous positipns that they had captured^ Verdun ..was. thi^,frora. .Tilly 1 onward, still in /danger,* What General Nivelle has now done'is to recpngueir practically ; all .' ot ./-these jpbs-U lions' Jield^ by the* Germans .which Actually menaced the.is&fety.- of. 'the French ppßJtl,on- ap.ove, Verdun :and ,on the. east bank -'!of 'the river. Of .the positions that: were recap'tnre'd jn /jiichshijv mg 1 fashion the. day v :. before -yesterday, Douaumont is thenidst ; important. -Tib is the Germans took,' on, February:. 25 and , having taken. itiJthey, not' unnaturally, believed that they w.QnlU' eiitqr' Verdun., ■■•.-'. THE "IRON CORPS." , . Douaumont Fort stands' on-the highest ground m that entire- circlet of fortified hills about Verdun. For many weeks it was the only breach mad.evby the Ger r mails m the old! line of permanent forts. It gave- them , direct vision' down; upon Verdun, which was, : of i' priceless .value for artillery -■ operations, :,'?she story "^ of how the Germans; -were checked, imrnediatdy after they took Douaumont,- by the wonderful counter-attacks of the 20th Army Corps, /"under General • BalJFourier, has become one of the memorable stories of 'the*" war arid' has earned fof tlie "Iron Corps" a place m hiatroy equal to that of the old guard of Napoleon. But Douauinorit could not be permanently retaken 1 although it -was occupied for a few hours at a much latter date, and it served the Germans as sir' entering wedge. 'tlie gi'punct-\rWch they have now' reoccnptetlj the Fi'etich have restored the. ' situation about yerdUri/'save'iiv'theVeaae'-of VauS Fort, the pnly fort" now -m. J German harids. If they can Ti'old- "Douauriiorit and Damioop Battery, wfiieh : they have -. retaken,' ,we' ; may expect* ! too, that Y aux will succumb at no diatai^t day, and they the'- whole, outer line, of ■'the, old intrenched) cam£ of Vea'diih will be m French hands.". '^- .'''•"' „..'■. VERDUN RESTORED.-; ."' <" 1 This will- terminate the- Chapter which Verdun lias made m the world war, this will make' good, for all time, the glorious work of the French 'soldiers »V-* fording the Verdun fortress. This 'will make the famo'u^-'-plutiSe^'VTljey>-will not pass," an accurate prophecy, 'a.s v- was ■» noble resolve^ v Vei { dun\Vill.theii t becorae m French/ history what -'Sa^ragossiV was m Spain's 1/attla agnjnßtNa|»oleonV •• It is too, early to" draAv' 'broad conclusions from the. Evencli success, evep if t'he gr'o'Uh'd'* g{tinec| "is held. -There i? 'no prospect of ah VojTe t rS!ve. toward ]\£etz. There. Ks' hoi large hope .'-of iii-crusliinp:-in of' the !J3t. ; ' Mi hi el '•position, which must be the : firstf i;? sfcep; What the- French; victory 1 -.meqiis .isj: tliat, -m a few 'minutes, tlie ; French: . have,' retaken almpst 1 all ! the ground 'o^'p'ri'rae military importance which the Germans., took m their months .'of effort at T Verdun. Verdim has 'practically been to the conditr'on of a, bulwark agaiiVsli 'Germai) invasion. A very Jittl© further gain and Verdun will be as •■defensive a .position, as it was before Crown -P.ri nee be^ gan, -m February, his- lierrific attack. ' , ' HINDENBURG'S .HAND, i There Is no ! -my«tei»y ; .- abpiiti the ; s'vip, cess. The Germans have unmistakably under-estimated the French reserves, or. else they have been "so pub to it for reserves themselves, both because .of the Somme drive and their own Rumanian campaign, that they resolved upon the sacrifice of ground before Verdun, which would be , of value only if they were still ',r.ssolye,4: tp; 'jr^sumei ■ ;tlieii v >^.'attacK' upon /the -Jjorraijie towni at a lat'e.iv'date. We may see m this : affair 1 the clear evi-. dence of the decisions of Hindenburg to make saci'ifipes .. m. the , v west ] t^>.-'CQntri-bute>, to. successes, in', t'h'e :sa/tl' '. If -■.'thid be \ne coe, iio one should 'mistake -the, fact Hhat the profit* is with the Grermans.

It is a cheering thing for the French to abhjish a peril and confirm a great national achievement, but m the wide view of the war the Rumanian victories are- far more important to Germany than the possession of those hard- won trenches on the heights of the Meuse. which, at most only opened the road to occupation of the ash heap which was once Verdun. ■ FRANCE'S OWN TRIUMPH. On the other hand, the French triumph is one more indication of the fact that tha French are,, .-as y«t, the only troops that are to be compared with the Germans m the present war. France, as the Kadser said many years ago, is still the chief enemy of Germany, and both at the Somme and;' before Verdun, the successes won by the French, the moment the Germans thinned their lines to th© danger point, are indications of how splendid an instrument the French army is now, after the,, terrible sacrifices and the loss of j two years of constant fighting. I The relief of Verdun is not a success that \y ill counterbalance the German u.nqu»*3ts m Rumania on the military side. -But on the moral Bide it is un indication to the French of their growing confidence, however long the road. Verdun, like the Marne, m wholly a French tiuimph ; neither m the earlier nor m the subsequent success did Franco receive any aid of importance- from an ally, and these two triumphs are the greatest contributions to tho war against Germany. , ' ' THE HUM AN DYKE. Thoso vvho were m Frarce during Ihf loiiK and terrible ai^ony of Verdun will ! boht appreciate what the new success (will mean to ©very Frenchman from the Mouse to the •Py»*enn«\'». •Tho.. second of the labors of Hmriiles has' been performed. The flood of barbarism and destruction .-his. a second ytime, been ihrown back 'from'-, the heart" of France. The human dyke' has., once'''; more held auadrrat the Huns. There wili not be a second outbreak of ' rape, murder and

I arson by, German soldiers under officers lin thp French villages and towns of Lorraine. ;

Half a million German casualties, a Quarter of a million Frencli^casnalties — this is the cost of Verdun, but at a terrible price France has saved Europe again., Saved herself, and at a colossal sacrifice fhe Germans have won nothing. The deesion of the. Marne has been confirmjeiei!. »>.t "Sf-e-rdun. The > dqy of de-liv-eratice may ftill be long iii coming, but the peril of corqucst has been adjo,urned without dato.