had been taken up under the stress of battle after the retreat from the Marne, and in certain portions did not possess the advantages of terrain that a more carefully selected series of positions might have had. The new line was carefully selected after a close study of the ground, and was chosen with but one consideration in view-defense. It is well to remember, therefore, that the Germans are fighting on ground selected by themselves with consideration only to its defensive possibilities, and that it has been fortified with this end in view. This point is important in arriving at a correct estimate of the present situation and its future possibilities.

THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION

Close on the heels of the German retreat came the revolution in Russia, an event which completely shattered any military plans which Russia may have made for the entire year. In a military sense, Russia had cast herself into the international scrap heap, and had, for a time at least, removed herself from the war just as certainly as though a separate peace with the Central Powers had been arranged. Spasmodic, uncertain moves have been made by the army, one of which promised a success fully as noteworthy as that of last year had there been the same cohesion and loyalty in the ranks that was present when the latter effort was made. But the initial successes were short-lived. Permitting the Russians to continue their efforts along the Dneister, the Germans began to apply pressure farther north in Galicia near the Volhynian border. The Russians did not wait for a serious attack to be launched but vacated the trenches and fled precipitately across the border of Bessarabia. There was nothing left to the line to the south but to do likewise. Here the Germans halted, after straightening out the line southward and reconquering Bukovina. In the north the situation was similar. Almost without a fight Riga was evacuated and the entire line of the Dwina River, before which the Russian army had halted the Germans for nearly two years, was left behind in a retrograde movement toward Petrograd. The islands in the Gulf of Riga were given up to the German fleet, the Russian fleet, unequal to the emergency, making its escape toward Kronstadt.

Thus the situation stands as this article is being written. Germany is not on the defensive on this front. If anything the con

trary is true. But there is nothing to be gained by a further invasion of Russia unless, perhaps, through Bessarabia, which is the gateway to the great Russian grain belt along the Black Sea and to the Russian iron supply in the provinces of Ekaterinoslav and of the Don Cossacks. Here, however, the Germans have apparently given up hope of pushing on and have contented themselves with a show of offensive strength on the northern section of the line toward Petrograd.

VIMY RIDGE

When the chaos into which the plans of the Allies were thrown by the defection of Russia had been somewhat relieved, the French and British in the west began various offensive moves of a more or less local nature. The first of these was the attack on Vimy Ridge south of Lens. This ridge formed what might be termed the northern pedestal of the new Hindenburg line. The offensive against it had been prepared in the late winter before the German retreat had begun. It was a position which had resisted the efforts of the French and British since the fall of 1915 when the first attacks were made against it. Its importance lay in the fact that it dominated the entire plain of Douai, and from it the country stretched out almost level, bringing this German base into plain view. The attack was successful in the fullest measure. Everywhere the crest of the ridge was reached and held, the Canadians, who delivered the attack, flowing down into the valley of the Scarpe River. Almost simultaneous with this attack was that made by the French north of Rheims and in the Champagne. The object of both these attacks was the same-to pocket the German lines between Rheims and the Aisne River and to force the entire German line beyond the Aisne. The map will show how the German line turns south near Berryau-Bac, curving around Rheims to the north of the city and straightening out about three miles south of the city on its way across the Champagne to Verdun. It will be at once apparent, then, what the situation would have been had the French from the Champagne been able to push their lines beyond Moronvillers to the Suippes River and had accomplished the same thing from north of Rheims. These attacks, while gaining considerable ground and inflicting severe losses on the Germans, were nevertheless failures in so far

as attaining their objectives is concerned, although they did succeed in giving the French valuable high ground from which to operate in subsequent operations. Another attack was made by the French in the neighborhood of Craonne with the object of reaching the lines feeding Laon, the southern base of the Hindenburg line. The Craonne Plateau was reached, the French lines being gradually pushed up to the ridge overlooking the valley of the Ailette River, the ridge being crowned by the famous Chemin des Dames. But here the French were again checked; being unable to push the Germans, by frontal attack, down the northern slope of the ridge and over the

valley floor. Late in October still another major attack was delivered with the same object in view, but this time the effort was made to accomplish the desired result by a flanking operation rather than by a frontal attack. The scene of the attack was the angle formed by the Oise Canal and the Ailette River northeast of Soissons, and directly on the road from Soissons to Laon. This attack is in its initial stages as this is being written. The first blow is entirely successful, penetrating the German positions to a depth of nearly three miles and seizing the high ground in the angle from which the German defenses in the Ailette valley to the east can be readily reached.

Laon itself is less than eight miles distant and its approaches are under fire of heavy artillery. It is futile to predict the outcome of this fighting, but the first successes promise well for favorable results before the first of the new year. The main offensive operations have been conducted by the British east and northeast of Ypres. When the British and Canadians held up the German tide which was struggling to reach Calais, the Germans oc

cupied and held firmly the ridge, which runs continuously across the otherwise level low country of Flanders, from Messines to a point a few miles north of the little village of Paschendaele.

THE IMPORTANCE OF MESSINES RIDGE

The importance of this ridge position can hardly be exaggerated. It and it alone stands as a protecting parapet to the main north

and-south railroad system of western France and Belgium, which passes northward through Lille to Ostend, Bruges, and Zeebrugge. It was against this ridge, then, that the British effort was exerted. The first step was in that section of it known as the Messines-Wytschaete section, which formed the southern element of the Ypres salient. Early in the summer, the British exploded a number of deep mines which had been placed under the ridge during the past year, and under protection of heavy artillery fire the infantry stormed the trenches and occupied the crests. Ypres was then no longer a salient. Several other attacks were made, all of which, due primarily to the enormous weight of metal thrown by the British artillery and the accuracy of its fire, were successful. As this is written, the northern portion of the ridge beyond Paschendaele still remains in German hands. The British operations have been greatly impeded by the frequent rains which turned the ground into a morass. But the battles are still raging, with all the advantage lying with the British.

The Italians have given an exhibition of offensive fighting during the year far in excess of anything that their previous efforts had given reason to expect. Breaking their way across the Isonzo from Tolmino to the sea, they stormed the heights on the east bank of the river and drove forward across the Bainsizza plateau. Monte Santo and Mt. San Gabriele, the two most important heights north of Gorizia, were taken in most brilliant engagements and the entire left wing of the Austrian army threatened with destruction.

But while Italy paused to gain strength for a fresh attack, Germany, fearing the destruction of her ally, withdrew about forty divisions of troops from the Russian front and massed them with an enormous concentration of artillery against the Italian wing between Flitsch and Tolmino. The Italian defense crumpled up before the concentrated attack which followed, enabling the Germans to cross the Isonzo at both ends of the front of attack and so enveloped the flank of the line on the Bainsizza Plateau. The result was a breakdown of the entire Italian campaign. The Italian forces were compelled to retreat beyond the Bainsizza, give up Gorizia and their hold. on the Carso, thus abandoning all the territory gained since the outbreak of the war.

Brilliant prospects were held out during the year in the Near East, by a series of unin

terrupted successes of the British advancing up the Tigris River from the head of the Persian Gulf toward Bagdad. Without suffering the slightest delay, Kut, the scene of former disaster, was passed, Bagdad reached and occupied. The Turks in Persia, who had been occupied against the left wing of the Russian army of the Caucasus, seeing their line of retreat (the road from Bagdad to Teheran) cut, broke and fled back from the Persian mountains into the Mesopotamian plain, barely making good their escape before the passageway was completely closed at the Khanikin pass. The Russians came through in close pursuit and without trouble effected a junction with the British along the banks of the Diala River. A continuous line was thus established from the Black Sea to the great Syrian desert. At the same time, a large British force, operating in Palestine toward Jerusalem, arrived before Gaza, throwing out its right flank in the direction of the Bagdad force which was still steadily advancing both up the Tigris and the Euphrates. The fate of the Turks seemed sealed, when the Russian army became infected with the disease of extreme socialism caused by the revolution, broke and fled back into Persia, again losing touch with the British. This practically put an end to the fighting in this far-off field and conditions became stagnated as they were a year before. The Turks are in a bad way. Their artillery complement has been greatly reduced through their successive defeats, and the distances are so great and the communications so poor that it is an exceedingly difficult matter to bring up a new supply. An excellent opportunity had been presented to eliminate Turkey from the war and possibly to seize Constantinople from the east. But the Russian revolution, which had played havoc with the plans of the Allies in another theatre, had an effect here equally disastrous.

On the Saloniki front, matters have been cleared by the enforced abdication of the proGerman Constantine, thus freeing the Allied forces from the danger of an attack against their only line of supply should they see fit to attempt an advance. This in a measure they have done on but one occasion. This resulted in the recapture by the Serbs of Monastir. But after this victory the vast army that is there-numbering now close to a million men-has remained entirely inactive. The demands on shipping in order to keep the