Equally important was the lack of muni tions. It did not cease until the Ministry of Munitions was created in July 1915, with Mr. Lloyd George. at the head. His influence with the labor unions was great, and he induced them to waive some of their restrictions on industry. He well said that if the British and French armies had been as well supplied with shell as their opponents they would have been able to drive the Germans out of France and Belgium by mid-stunmer in 1915. No story of the campaigns on the western front is com plete without full recognition of that other ounpaign in Britain herself to bring her re sources of men and things into as full state of service as Gertnany had at the beginning of the war. It was not fully accomplished until late in 1916. While it was going on the men in the fields of Flanders had to mink time, relying to a large extent on the efforts of the French to- enable them to hold what they had, Not that the western front was quiet throughout the year 1915. On the contrary, it saw some severe encounters, most of them initiated by the Entente Allies. They were all based upon an imperfect realization of the changed conditions of war. They were begun with the idea that vigorous action would en able the attacking party to break through the enemy's line of defense and produce conster nation in his rear. They all failed because there were not enough artillery and trained soldiers. These failures, however, had their uses. They taught the leaders what mammoth efforts had to be made, and they contributed their parts to the necessary work of wearing down the German morale and man power.
2. France in Aid of Russia,— During the winter of 1914-15 and early in the following spring the French conducted several isolated cainpaigns that had an important influence on operations in the East. For France was a faithful ally and it had long been ag:reed be tween her and Russia that when, in that great war which both nations had expected, Germany flew at one the other vrotdd strike her in the rear. As soon, therefore, as she turned from the first battle of Ypres to the eastern front, France proceeded to carry out her promised part and by severe blows forced Germany to use reserves which otherwise would have been sent to the East. To this process Joffre, speak ing to a careless inquirer, gave the name enih bling.0 But he was under no delusion about the situation. He was fighting as he had to fight to bring relief to a hard-pressed ally. More than that he would not undertake.
France had lost heavily in the campaigns of 1914—some estimates putting the figure at nearly 1,000/000—and it was evident that the end was not yet. Wise policy demanded that the strength of her armies be conserved to meet the great blows that would come in good time.
The first of these isolated operations was undertaken in Aleace in December 1914, while General von Hindenburg was making his as sault on the Bzura-Rawka Enc. A feint was made along the western slopes of the Vosges Mountains, and in the extreme southwest, oppo site Miihlhausen, there was an advance witil the.
town of Thann was reoccupied and the village of Cernay, the key of Mahlhausen, was threat ened. After long-continued'fighting the French took iflartmannsweilericopf, from which they could see the great manufacturing city, not more than 10 miles away. 'Farther they could not go. Malhausen remained in German hands: but 350 square miles of Alsatian terri tory, Including several villages, were redeemed from the hands of the Teuton and the tricolor was unfurled in their market-places. In this fighting much of the success was won by the Chasseurs Alpin, who descended the snow covered mouritain sides on sitis.
Another effort was the attack known as the battle of Soissons. It began on 8 Jan. 1915,just as the Hungarians were demanding German aid to repel the Russian movements in Bukowina. At Soissons the French held the town, situated on both sides of the Aisne, and the flat meadow beyond with the foothills, while the Germans vrere on the ridges that marked the beginning .of the northern plateau. A weak division, about 12,000 men, held the French lines and was ordered on the 8th to take two hills that dominated the plateau in the region east of the town. They carried out their orders with good effect, but the Germans brought up two corps and counterattacked with great energy.. Heavy rains had come in the interval, and the flooded river had carried away two of the three bridges by which ammunition and reinforcements could be forwarded. Thus cut off from succor, the French troops were hopelessly outuumbered and forced to escape as well as they could: By hard fighting the major part escaped to the -south bank, losing 5,000 men and a considerable number of guns. Encouraged by their success the enemy now made a determined attack in mass against Soissons itself. 'Here the bridge was intact and the French brought&reinforce ments and repelled the assault. Gentians spoke of the battle of Soissons as a great vic tory. It was an unsuccessful French offensive which involved German losses of nearly 10,000 men and resulted in a German advance of one mile on a three-mile front It was fought be tween 8 and 19 jan. 1915.
A third attack was delivered in the Cham pagne region during February and March, at the time when van Hindenburg was winning the battle of the Masnrian Lakes. In Cham pagne the battle line ran east and west between R' heims and the Argonne Forest. Behind the German position from five to eight miles ran a railroad on which the army was accustomed to bring up the supplies for a long sector. If it was cut the German transport service would be seriously tveakened and it might become nee essary to reorganize the line of defense, Gen eral Joffre's purpose, therefore, aside from drawing reserves away fmm the East, was. to reach this road or bring it within effective range of his artillery.