In the western theatre of the war we must once
more record that no operations of importance have taken place, and this though there has been a good deal of fierce fighting. For example, the German wireless reports claim the capture of a French trench north of Arras, and speak of nearly six hundred prisoners being taken. On the other hand, in the Argonne the French communique shows marked progress, and there is confirmation of the news that two regiments of the Prussian Guard of some six thousand men were involved in the repulse inflicted on the Germans near Fertile.. What is much more important, however, than the daily ebb and flow of the tide of war in the trenches is the note of preparation and suspense which in beginning to become audible across the Channel. The Germans evidently suspect that we and the French and the Belgians will move in the early spring. The Allies, on the other band, believe that the Germans, true to tlriir traditional polioy, will, instead of waiting to be attacked, anticipate our movement, or expected movement, by first attacking us.
