Last Sunday the French made an important advance. They went
forward on the whole front from Hardecourt to Hem, captured the entire system of German trenches, and reached the fringes of Maurepas. Since then they have not only beaten off all counter- attacks, but have advanced a little further. Nor is that all. At Verdun on Wednesday they turned the tables on the Germans in a successful offensive which brought them eight hundred prisoners and ten machine guns. One cannot have much hesitation now in saying that Verdun, for what it is worth in itself as a position, is saved. The Germans came very near to taking it before the attack on the Somme began, but it is now too late. Their continual efforts at Verdun seem to be directed to proving to Germane at home that the battle on the Somme has made no difference to them —that the capture of Verdun is still in near prospect. Thus we see that even so highly scientific a body as the German Great General Staff may be -betrayed into extraordinarily unscientific strategy. The need to provide eye-wash is so much a part of the German system of government that the provision is a first charge even upon the Staff 1
