After eighteen days of fighting of unparalleled fierceness the Germans have not yet succeeded in accomplishing their first aim to destroy the Allied armies in Flanders. The original success obtained in breaking through between Peronne and Cambrai has been ex-plaited to the utmost, and despite the fact that Allied counter-attacks have resulted in reducing the width of the original gap, the enemy have been able to rush large forces through to the Channel where they have succeeded in reaching as far north as Boulogne, and possibly Calais, though there still seems to be some doubt as to whether that port has also fallen, leaving, if that proves to be the case, Dunkirk, Ostend, Blankenburg and Zeebrugge in the hands of the Allies. Thus while the German thrust is proceeding along the channel coast, the German high command in an attempt to destroy the Allied armies which are surrounded on three sides, are making heavy attacks between Bapaume and Cambrai, where it is claimed they have reached Vimy, and along the River Escaut between Tournai and Courtrai in an endeavour to split the Allied forces into three. Should they succeed in their attempts, which up to the present have been firmly held by the Allies, it would force a general retreat, especially from the Cam-brei-Valenciennes front, and possibly also from Bapaume. To counter this and to endeavour to effect a junction between the encircled Allies, and their forces on the Somme, the French are reported to be preparing a counter-attack northwards from that river. That at the time of writing had not then been started, and it may be some days yet before the Allies will be able to wipe out the gap which was made early in the German onslaught, in which event the forces under General von Reichenau operating along the Channel coast will be cut off from the main German armies, and stand in precisely the same peril as do the Allied troops in Flanders at the moment. A brief message from London states that the situation is increasingly grave, though from the various communiques which have come to hand it is clear that the battle is not yet lost, and may never be.
Indeed the great gallantry with which the Allies are resisting, the enormous slaughter which is being inflicted on the enemy troops which are being thrown into the fray with a prodigality clearly indicating the German determination to win this battle at all costs, and the fact that despite numerical inferiority the Allies are able to hold their positions on practically all fronts, provide in themselves ample ground for believing that ultimately this initial struggle will result favourably to the Allies. The various reports which deal with the present battle speak of the similarity between German methods now, and those adopted in the attacks upon Verdun during the last war, when the enemy threw hundreds of thousands of men into the fray and endured a carnage almost unparalleled in history before. In connection with the onslaughts against Verdun it is interesting to remember that while Generals Ludendorff and von Kuhl were strongly in favour of attacking the British, Count von der Schulenburg took the opposite view declaring that "England with her dogged self-confidence is not likely to end the war on account of a /partial defeat of her army." He favoured attacking the French at Verdun in the hope of inflicting such a defeat that the Allies would sue for peace. That failed after a most wanton sacrifice of life, and what the Germans are doing now is in one sense a return to the original plans of Ludendorff and von Kuhl in an attempt to destroy a portion of the British forces, and thus secure a position from which to thrust right into the heart of Britain. So, regardless of the terrific slaughter which the Allies are meting out to the enemy, masses of men are being thrown against defensive positions in the hope that by sheer weight of numbers the resistance will be broken down.
Indeed should the Germans eventually succeed in winning this battle it will be open to very considerable question whether they will not have paid too high a price for it, and definitely have prejudiced their chances of ever again being able to assume an offensive of similar proportions.
Should the expected counter-attack of the Allies result in the removal of the gap between their forces there is every hope that this present engagement will end in a defeat of the enemy, for not only will a decisive blow have been delivered, but the forces which have sped through the gap will in turn be cut off and probably wiped out with the restoration of the Channel ports to the Allies.
That may take a considerable time, and the fluctuation of this enormous struggle will have to be watched with patience and the knowledge that no effort is being neglected to ensure eventual success. Count von der Schulenburg's estimate of the dogged self-confidence of the British is as correct now as it was when he original made it, and should this present battle end unfortunately for them, there can be no doubt about it that they and their Allies will continue the struggle with the knowledge that this battle does not mean the end of the war for them. Apart from the fight which is proceeding on land. there has been a great crescendo in air activities on both sides. What the Germans have been doing behind Allied lines is similarly being inflicted upon them in their rear. Raids have been carried out on German military objectives which to all accounts have suffered grievously. It is too early to estimate the effect of this upon German civilian moral, but it must undoubtedly come as a shock to the Germans, that the supposed wall of fire which was to rise from the Siegfried line has failed to keep them immune from the attentions of the Allied airmen. Consequently to the enormous expenditure of war material which is making inroads of astronomical dimensions into the enemy reserves must be added those supplies which are being destroyed by Allied air action, as witness the fuel tanks in Rotterdam which have been burning furiously for the past four days, and the other damage which has been inflicted elsewhere. Since the Óoregoing was written the news has been received of the surrender of the Belgian army. The gravity of the situation of the Allied forces in Flanders cannot be discounted, but it has to be remembered that this German success does not mean the end of everything, and that the Allies will continue to prosecute the war to a successful conclusion.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.