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Topics of the Week.
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THE FOURTH WEEK
We are now in the fourth week of
the great British-French offensive, and
although we have not secured anything
in the way of sensational successes,
splendid work is being done. There
are no doubt many who, owing to the
absence of the spectacular, follow the
proceedings with little interest, and
thereby do a great injustice to the men
who are fighting so strenuously out
there in the trenches. To the Germans
our troops and our guns are accomp-
lishing the impossible. They have
all along declared that their positions
were impregnable. They did not speak
without good reason. Their trenches
are made on the most elaborate plan.
When bombarded they can retire to
dug-outs 20 and 30 feet below the ground
level, taking machine guns with them.
when the infantry attack begins they
are back in their places. In a great
many other details of defensive warfare
we find that the enemy has taken the
most elaborate precautions against a
successful assault. And yet the
British troops in their area, and the
French in theirs, are capturing these
positions and driving the enemy before
them. There is not the slightest
doubt that at the moment the Germans
are making the most strenuous efforts
to stop the British. During the last
few days the Germans have brought up
further reinforcements of men and
guns. They are not only resisting with
desperation our steady pressure, but
they are now delivering frequent
counter-attacks marked by obstinate
persistence. Their artillery work
appears to be extremely well directed,
and the weight of their fire is growing.
Our enemies in short, though not fight-
ing with any real hope of recovering lost
ground, are straining every nerve to
prevent a further expansion of the
British offensive. They are using
masses of men in their counter-attacks,
and are not deterred by the fact that
time after time their advancing lines
have been broken up without reaching
our trenches. The battle fluctuates
from day to day. Sometimes there is
a lull; sometimes the German troops
fling themselves in vain against our
newly-won positions; sometimes our
gallant soldiers push forward and seize
a fresh point, often at heavy cost.
But, despite it all, the British con-
tinue to make progress. They not only
gain ground, they keep it. Such
places as Pozieres are strongly fortified,
and can only be won yard by yard. On
Wednesday we had the definite news
of the capture of Pozieres, but it had
been in our hands, practically, for
some days. A few of the enemy with
machine-guns scattered about in two or
three houses was all that stood between us
and complete occupation. A
battle like that of the Somme has an …
