1 v "
BRITISH OFFENSIVE AT
YPRES WILL END THE
SEASON'S
CAMPAIGN
After Three Years British Are
Retaking Ground lost to
Germans Early in War,-;
THE YPRES BATTLEFIELD
CONDITIONS ARE ALTERED.
Three MUUoa British Troop om Of.
f .salve la Berloa Where Tlttt Xna.
area Tktuiat Toufht VUantly.
9 m' ' ' .T
By Frank H. Simonds
(Cprrlgbt, 1917. bj Hia Tribune AMOcLtkw
IN THE present article I desire to
discus in detail the latest BritLsn
operation from Tpres eastward, a
logical and natural extension of Che
two earlier operations, which are
themselves phases of th great British
campaign of 1 1 7. To do this. It wit!
be noccssary to examine at consider
able length the main geographical and
strategic circumstances of the Vpres ;
region, so frequently mentioned and i
no little described in current battle re
Ports. .To start at the beginning, there .Is
between Langemarck and the Lys rlrer
at Warnetoft a lS-mile front of good
ground tliat is. solid ground over
which armies can advance. North; of
Langemarck: the land Is low and
swampy and has been flooded since the
battle of the Yser, In October, 1914,
when the Belgians opened the sluices
and thus halted the German advance
on the Yser front. South of Warneton '
and on the right bank of the Lys the
forts of Lille and the city and Its
suburbs make any' advance difficult,
arid to the difficulties of ground . le
added the obstacle Incident to' the cer
tain destruction of this great JTrttizh
city should the fighting approach;!'..
What the Germans have done in St:
Quenttn and - Lens they" would cer
tainly do In Lille.
Between Warneton sn fcaaremarek
An offensive, therefore, ' which had
as Its main' strategic purpose to move,
down the Lys valley and thus turn the
Germans out of their position along;
the Belgian coast from the Yser to
the Dutch frontier would necessarily
have, to pans through this sally-port
between Warneton and Langemarck.
Its advance would be from west to
east and, progressing thus, it would
cross one after another of the rail
roads and highways, themselves run
ning north and south, which are thj
msln lines of . German .communication.
More than this, such an advance would
push a wedge Into the whole German
front In Flanders, quite analogous -to
the wedge driven into the German lines
along the So mine In the great battle
of last year.
Thus,, long before the allies moving
down the valley of the Lys arrived a l
tifoent. the Germans would have to
Withdraw o.ut.'of the whole of coastal
Handers.es they had to drawvout of
the 'great Noyon, Salient ; this 'spring,
While the French sijAvBrJtish were, still
outside of Perbnne and Bapaume.
Mereover, Just as Bapaume and Peron
r.e were the Immediate objectives of
tlfe-Komme "push." Houlers and Menin
ern end of the ridge as far north as
Hollebeke, where the Ypres-Commlnes
canal, connecting the Yser and the
Lys, cuts throilgh t v .
mu for Oreat AttaJtv
But this was. only a preliminary
step. It was a necessary preparation
for the main attack,' but3 this main
attack necessarily had - to be made
north of the Comtnines canal and sloug
the) Menin and Roulers roads. From
June to Augpst the preparations for
this great operation went forward. In
this time all the great mass of muni
tions had to be accumulated, roads and
railroads built, guns concentrated, and
thia work was completed by July 31,
whlph saw the opening of the second
phase In this British offensive. "
This time the operation was from
4he north side of the old Tpres salient.
Precisely as the Germans from the
Wytschaete-Messlnes ridge commanded
the Yores salient from the south, they
r swept it from the north on the Pilkem
ridge south of Langemarck, It was
necessary ; to clear away this' side ot
the salient, too. This was done in that
attack of July 31 and the succeeding
day in which the British, with the
aid of a French armyi. on their ex
treme left, pushed across the Yser
canal and took Steenstraate, Het Saa,
Pilkem, - Bixschoote and ,Bt, Jullen.
These positions, after some counter
attacks, were finally left in .British
hands, and the allies now held a line
from the' Yser canal, where it enters
-the marsh district, as far east as the
northern environs or St. Julien, which
corresponded roughly with the ' line
held by the same allies, when the first
battle of YDres-beran. They had. in a
word, abolished the Ypres salient, andf
from' the flooded districts .south or
Dixmude to the Lys below Anen-
tieres the allied line can practically
straight, while at the northern ana
southern extremities that is, about
Pilkem and Wytscbaete the high
ground was whoUy in their hands.
Difficulties Encountered.
The left hand black line shows the British 'front before) the first, offensive. In June, 1017. The right
han black line shows the Anglo-French front at end of the third offensive, 10 days ago. Shaded
portion shows the ridge which, from Messines to Passchendaele, is the immediate British objective.
are the immediate goals of the present
drive. Once the British are at Menin
and . at Roulers, the Germans to the
north and south, along the coast from
Ostend to Zeebrugge and In the ever
deepening La Basse-Lille salient, will
be in a dangerous position, although
their fronts remain unshaken on either
side of the entering wedge.'
The Topographical Situation
So much for the larger Strategy.
Now for the immediate geographical
circumstances. East of Ypres rather
less than two miles rises a low ridge.
It runs in a general direction from
northeast to southwest, and its south
ern extremity is Just due south of
Ypres. It is not more than a hundred
feet above the surrounding country
and the rise 1 so gradual that it does
not- suggest real- height at any point.
This ridge carries a number Of villages
familiar to all leaders of the war ftewa
of the past three years. These, are j
Messines, vvytscjiaejeHoxiebekb. Zan
devorde, .. Gheluvelt, Zonnebeke and.
Broodselnde' North of Broodselnde It'
narrows Jvery.rapidly to a point at the
also: familiar'- village of Paschendaele
the Yser, rapidly dropping to tho
great marsh to the west of Ypres.
Eastward from the ridge flow other
little brooks, which enter the Lys.
They are much shorter -than the
streams of the west, but on neither
side are the watercourses more than
mere brooks, obstacles to military
operations only - In the wet season,
which, however, is pretty constant m
this unhappy region.
Campaign of 1914
In 1914. when the British first came
to the Ypjres district, they were ad
vancing toward the north and east
and along two main highways that
which goes from Ypres to Menin, the
famous Menin road, and the Ypres
Roulers road, which passes Just south
east of Langemarck. But their main
push was along the Menin road, and
when they were brought to a dead halt
by the new German drive for Calais
they stood along the ridge from Brood
setnde right down to Messines, holding
all the little Tillages along the crest
which I have mentioned. From Brood
setnde their line extended at right
angle to Langemarck, . behind several
Actually this ridge is the-watershed I of the little brooks-which flow west
between- the" Yser andvthe , Lys. . Down A to the Yser.
ih wnuy lopini-ireHirn juunw xww um ni uo.li.io ot vh m ww- i hev -were how off th rldo-e and th
a number of UttU streams which enter ber and November. 1914-the British qI ii.
tions. and observation points from one
were pushed westward off the ridge
from Broodselnde all the way through
Wytschaete and Messines, except for
one little strip from Gheluvelt to Zon
nebeke; but from Zonnebeke to Lange
marck their line was pushed back very
little, Indeed. This fighting trans
formed the Ypres sector into a very
disagreeable salient, and the Germans
on the ridge about Messines and
Wytschaete looked down upon Ypres
and swept the rear of the British and
their lines of communication- in all
the salient.
Second Battle of Tpres
In the second battle of Ypres ln
April and May. 1915 the battle In
which poison gas appeared, the Ger
man attack was about " Langemarck,
and, having broken, the French colonial
troops, who held the line about Lange
marck and 'to the west, the Germans
came south until they reached the Yser
canal at Lizerne. They even passed.
the canal at the crest. of their push.
This advance necessitated a,, new ad
justment of the lines, and the Brit
ish were compelled to draw back along
their whole front between Langemarck
and the Menin road, giving up Zonne
beke and all but the barest foothold on
the ridgei. To all practical purposes
boxes." in the argot of tha STommy
and prepared shell holes, details In
Hindenbargs ""elastic" defensive.
It was against this system that the
British launched their last offensive
of September 19 and SO,' and in this
offensive they -took all the works of
Importance in this system on the whole
front attacked. . Their advance was
nowhere over a mile deep, but It car
ried them thrbugh the German second
line, as the August operations had car
ried them over the first, and.lt was a
much more clean-cut and Immediately
successful operation than that of the
previous month, comparing favorably
with the recent French offensive oper
ation at Verdiin, which made an ad
vance of about the same distance over
a front but little broader. .
There remains between. tile British
and the possession of the 'whole ridge
from. Broodselnde down to Messines, a
mile ahead of them, only the ' third
system of German trenches on the sec
tor from the Menin road to the
Roulers-Ypres railway Just north of
Zonnebeke; and this system, too, rep
resents all of the ground lost by the
British In the first two battles of
Ypres which has not yet been recov
ered. On the British staff map this
German system is Indicated by many
trenches and redoubts, -which follow
the western slope of the ridge, just be
low the crest, from Broodselnde, Just
east of Zonnebeke, through Reutel,
west of Becelaere to New Kruiseecke,
east of Gheluvelt on the Menin road.
Zonnebeke and Gheluvelt are fortified
bastions In advance of this system,
which must be captured - before, the
main position is attained and con
quered. So also is the famous Polygon
wooas the western edge of which has
already been passed by the British
advance,
With' luck the -British "will have
something like four weeks more of
fighting weather; the first battla ol
Ypres lasted rather longer, up to the
middle of November, in fact, but Its
summit of the Bapaume ridge, and
were In a position to push on irrto
that town and break the southern end,
or-reentrant, of the Bapaume salient.
had the Germans chosen -to stay. A
German retreat from the Flanders
front upon Courtrai and' Roulers
might easily follow a. British success
this fall, as it did la the Bapaume sec
tor this spring.: . -
Meantime, attention should be fixed
upon the front" between the Roulers
railroad and the Meninj-oad. Here the
last fight of the carflpalgn of - HIT
will probably be fought on the ground
that three years ago at the very same
time saw -the bitterest phases of the
first battle of Ypres. Then the Germans-outnumbered
the British five to
one and the British fought without
heavy artillery or high explosives. To-'
day the Germans are outnumbered and
outgunned. Then a thin line of Brit
ish Infantry fighting with rifles
against machine guns and field pieces
against heavy artillery blocked the
German road to Calais; now the Ger
man line with equal desperation- is
seeking to block a British army aiming
to push eastward through the Ypres
sally-port and. cut off the Germans
from the Belgian coast.
Here is aemeasure of the fashion In
which the conditions of the world war
have, changed in three years. Instead
of 100,000 British, there are today
nearly 3,000,000 in France and at least
15 times as many on the firing line as
Field Marshal .Sir John French had at
Ypres. And it' is rather an Impressive
evidence of British obstinacy and
tenacity that now, after three years;
they are retaking the ground the Gcr-
mans captured In the opening months
of the war. A victorious British army
advancing over the ground, on, which,,
the -Old Contemptible" stood and
died, holding ; a new Thermopylae. Is
one more evidence of the sraaxlng Jus
tfee of the comparison of the Brttou -
to the bulldog, . - .
Inquiry Into Alleged
Milk Trust to Begin.
XUinols Attorney General Bays Xridsnce
Seised Wm Se Pat Before Oread
Jury la XT ear rnture.
Chicago. OcO 6. (U. F.)-The coun-
ty grand jury will -start Us investiga
tion of the alleged milk trust. It was
indicated tonight. v
Attorney General Ernndage, at whose
Instigation State's Attorney Hoyne
raided the offices of the milk dealers'
association and several dealers, said
he would be ready to place the evi
dence before the grand jury - as . soon .
as James H. Wilkerson, Hoyne's as- 1
sietant, returns from Washington.
Wilkerson Is expected Wednesday.,
Wflkerson, Brundage Intimated, .
would be In charge of the anti-trust
proceedings.- He is the man, who, as
United States district attorney. Secured
the 1 29,000,000 fine against the Stand
ard Oil company. '
We can deliver green or dry slab-
wood In any quantity promptly Alhina ,
Fuel Co. Broadway 3000. A-1144. Adv.'
But from the Ypres-Commlnes canal tT"?! as en8d h t
Br5
at Hollebeke to the' foot of the rldga
near GravenstafeL . north of Zonne
beke that is, along the whole center
Of the Ypres sectors-all the high
ground, all the ridge, still-remained in
German hands, and this was the por
tion which was essential: all the other
operations 'had , merely been prelimi
nary, work on the two flanks to clear
the way for an attack in the center.
While the Germans held the PiMcem
and "White Sheet" ridges it was not
possible to push forward in the center.
because the advance would be , en
filaded by German gunfire from the
flanks and all British concentrations
could be observed and reported before
they had passed Ypres and while they
were still further than German
reserves were from the actual firing
line.
By the middle of August, then, the
allies had restored -the situation on
their flanks which had existed at the
moment the first battle of Ypres had
opened, in October, 1914. In a sense
this is what the French achieved In
their first Verdun offensive, in Octo
ber, 1916i when they retook Douaumont
and Vaux; but when the French retook
these two vital positions they limited
their effort to this objective arid the
enemy still held all the nearby heights.
The successive drives, tnat in jecem
ber of last year and that in recent
weeks, completed the task. But it Is
well to remember that the Frenoh
were merely seeking to disengage Ver
dun and not preparing any great offen
sive. Thev - were satisfied when they
had reoccuoled all the Important posi
tions from Hill .304 to Fort de vaux i
which had been in their hands before
the German attack of February, 1916.
. bosses Are Enormous
About Ypres, on the contrary, the al
lies were seeking a far more ambitious
objective, and they regarded, the June
and August operations as necessary.
but relatively minor, preparatory
day of November, and only the aensa
uonai cnarge of the -Prussian Guard
along the Menin. road from Gheluvelt
supplied - a really important detail In
the fighting after November began.
.,- What Bemai&a to Be Bone
The problem that remains then Is
whether in the month of fighting
weather . they ' have reasonably surely
to couni on me .oriusn wiu do aoie to
get over the crest of the ridge from
Broodselnde to the Menin road, ajtront
of perhaps five miles. If they do, then
the spring will see the British holding
all the important high ground in the
sally-port between Langemarck an'd
the Lys, save perhaps the tip of the
ridge about Passchendaele. In the
same fashion, by the coming of spring.
this year, the British held all of the
This-
Handsome
Boot
end of the ridge to the other. And this
situation endured down to June of the
present year.
At this time the British, having de
termined to make their main offensive
for the year In the Ypres district, were
faced with the immediate problem of
the ridge. Before they could move at
all it was necessary to drive the Ger
mans off that portion of the ridge
south of the Menin road and crowned
by the villages of Messines. and
Wytschaete, because from these posi
tions .the Germans commanded their
rear and all their lines of communica
tion from the Yser canal at Lizerne
all the way round to the foot of the
ridgo at Wytschaete.
Thls was done in the battle which is
known to the British army as the
battle of "White Sheet" ridge, and
this battle marks one of the most snr
cessful British operations on the tech
nical side in the whole war. comnar
able with the several French attacks
in the Verdun sector, which alone rival
it in brilliant correlation of artillery
and infantry tactics. In this battle
the British captured all ofthe south
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Because it i -the artist himself he
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- 9
FRETFUL BABIES
NEED A LAXATIVE
When tout baby is cross and fret'
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and that a mild laxative is. all that is
necessary to make it comfortable and
happy. Inactive bowels are the cause
of as much discomfort to children as
to older people, and unless the condi
tion is promptly relieved is very apt
to develop serious illness.
For children there is nothing that
will act more easily than the combine
tion of simple laxative herbs with wen
sin that is sold in drug stores under
the name of Dr. Caldwell Syrup Pep
sin. It does not gripe and is free
from . opiate or narcotic drugs, is
pleasant to the taste,' and positively
effective; children like it and take it
readily. '
If you have never tried this simple,
inexpensive remedy, set a bottle of
Pr. Caldwell's Syrup Pepsin from
your druggist and have it in the house
to use the next time any of the chil
: dren seem out of sorts. A trial bottle
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writing to Dr. W. B. Caldwell, 456
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lata aad Morrises Btreets
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From 0 1 eS O ? :?Day
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MunkpalcarBBeeectto dee. Motor
fu meets principal trams ana steamer
thrusts. When they were over vthe
British pn the operative front from
Julien to Hollebeke looked up the
slopes of the ridge to the - positions
which they had held in the' opening
days.of the fighting- in this region and
had only tflven up completely in May.
1915. after the gas attack had broken
In the northern end, or- reentrant, aa
the soldiers say, of the Ypres salient.
On the large scale map of the Ger
man front In this sector made by the
British staff from airplane .observa
tion, a copy of which General Maurice,
chief of military operations, gave me
in London in the winter, there are in
dicated before the British Une of last
autumn three systems of trench lines,
separated by soiaething like a mile,
the first running along the foot of tne
ridge from St. Julien down to Holle
beke, passing through the hamlets of
Frezenberg, Westhoek and Klein Zille
beke. Practically all of this line was
breached In the fighting of August,
when Langemarck was taken, but It
was not for many weeks that the Brit
ish were able to surmount it, and some
of the fiercest and most deadly fight
lng of the war has taken place in this
first system. This is revealed in the-
weekly British casualty lists, which
show a total loss of 70,000 in three
weeks ending August 17, weeks In
which there was no .great drive, but
merely the "dlngdong" of local opera
tions.
Iterations .Renamed
By the first of September, we may
say, the British had surmounted this
first German system from St. Julien
to Hollebeke; they had touched the
foot of the ridge, which lay before
them from Gheluvelt, on the Menin
road, to Zonnebeke, on the Tpres
Boules railway.
The British had before them now a
second system of defenses stretched
across some of the most difficult
country on the whole western front, a
Country- of small woods and little
ponds, hiding solid farmhouses whicn
lent themselves to f ortirication". To
Lthese woods, ponds and farmhouses !
the British "Tommy" and his Canadian
and Australian comrades had given fa
miliar names, although some of the
more considerable patches of forest
kept their, old names. Polygon wood,
the largest belt of .woodland, famous
in the first battle of Ypres, retained
Its. name, as did Nun's wood; but
Glencorse wood, Inverness forest, with
Dumbarton lakes nearby, signalled the
presence of Britons and Scots, while
Toronto farm, Quebec farm. Abraham
heights and even Kansas Cross testi
fied to Anerica, as did Ansae, Helles
and Galllpoll farms to Australia,
"Fill Boxes" ! Abound :
This second system was an Inex
tricable tangle of underbrush, marsh,
ruins It bad endured three years, of
sftening, and only those who have seen
the battlefields of the Somme or of
Verdun can even conjecture what aucb.
a country really la : like. Roughly
speaking, this line covered Zonnebeke
and Gheluvelt, which; were behind It
and between It and, the 'third line,
which lay along the crest of thesmain
ridge. This operative front was ap
proximately seven miles broad from
St. Julien to Tower Hamlets, a redoubt
southwest of Gheluvelt; It was de
fended by the old-fashlone&rredoubts
and fortifications of the Somme time.
now become obsolete, but it was also.
defended by a deep network of little
ieement, forts for machine guns .pill
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