Just why
it has not been used so far is a mystery, the solution of which can be
found only in the brain of Sir John French. But it is known to be in
France and is there for a purpose.
From Loos to Arras the French have undertaken the most ambitious and the
most successful offensive movement made in the west since Winter set in.
The entire French line along this front of twenty-five miles, taking the
Germans by surprise, has gone forward a distance varying from one-half
to two and a half miles. The attack was launched at an extremely
opportune moment. The Germans were, in the first place, extremely busy
in the north at Ypres, and were making every effort to drive that attack
home. The probabilities were, therefore, that the line in front of the
Arras-Loos position was none too strong, and that such reserves as could
be spared had been sent north. Then, again, it would tend to divert
attention from the Ypres line, and so relieve somewhat the pressure on
the British lines at that point.
The objective of the French attack seems to have been the town of Lens,
which is the centre of the coal district of France.
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