6 JANUARY 1917, Page 9

General Mud still controls the situation on the Western front.

But this eminent dispenser of military fortunes has not prevented a fair amount of activity from being displayed. Raids and mutual artillery strafing are more or less continuous. On Thursday week the Germans delivered a strong attack in front of Verdun on a line of about two miles. Broken by the barrage and machine-gun fire, they succeeded in reaching one French trench south of Mort Homme with only a fraction of their force. The Germans, fearful lest they should suffer the indignity of losing all appearance of initiative on other sections of the front, have also attempted two raids at Ypres and Vermelles. Both were beaten off. We com- ment in a leading article on Sir Douglas Haig's despatch about the battle of the Somme.