The three places which are always
mentioned, which form the points of reference, are Perthes-lez-Hurlus,
Le Mesnil-lez-Hurlus, and Beausejour Farm. The distance between the
first and the last is three and one-half miles; the front on which the
fighting has taken place is about five miles; and the French have been
attacking at one point or another in this front every day for the last
three weeks. It is, therefore, an operation of a different kind to those
which we have seen during the Winter months. Those were local efforts,
lasting a day or two, designed to keep the enemy busy and prevent him
from withdrawing troops elsewhere; this is a sustained effort, made with
the object of keeping a constant pressure on his first line of defense,
of affecting his use of the railway from Bazancourt to Challerange, a
few miles to the north, and of wearing down his reserves of men and
ammunition. It may be said that Feb. 15 marks the opening of the 1915
campaign, and that this first phase will find an important place when
the history of the war comes to be written.
We must first know something of the nature of the country, which is
entirely different to that in which the British Army is fighting.
Pages:
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134