German move

Enemy’s losses on both fronts

How long will the war last?

A serious shock, a pronounced success, even a lull in the fighting provide opportunities for discussing the momentous question, “how long will the war last?”

Advantage is taken of every chance of the kind and the interest the particular question arouses may thus be gauged.

Of course the critics do not agree either upon the period still to be covered or upon the signs which are to be vouchsafed us.

Paris, Wednesday: the French eyewitness, continuing the narrative of events from the last week, says the powerlessness of the Germans to profit by their alleged great success at Soissons at the beginning of January continues to assert itself. There has been no attack made by them and they have made no progress, their artillery fire has inflicted no damage with the exception of the destruction of a little blockhouse.

With regard to the operations at La Creute, the Germans opened with an artillery bombardment which improved in severity until the barbed wire defences and parapets were wrecked a serious losses incurred.

Reserve companies were preparing to intervene when under the heavy rain of shell and bombs the roof of the quarry where they had taken shelter partially collapsed and imprisoned them where they stood. The enemy took advantage of this incident to deliver a violent attack against the entire zone under bombardment and turned his efforts particularly to La Creute.

The enemy suffered heavy losses, the first units launched to the assault being entirely annihilated but this attack, violently sustained, succeeded in capturing a portion of our trenches.

In the evening our infantry, despite its severe losses retook all that had been lost during the afternoon but their defensive value had been destroyed by artillery fire and they were recaptured by the enemy.

At midnight we made another counter attack but unable to depart from the wood, maintained ourselves in it and decided not to further attempt to regain the trenches.

The two days’ fighting cost us 1,000 men in killed and wounded. We found on the field more than 800 Germans dead and the total loss of the enemy may be reckoned as 4,000 men.

Our troops behaved very bravely despite the discouragement they must have experienced by the collapse of the ground in which many of their comrades had been buried.

No doubt the cavities and the impossibility of reserves arriving in time to take part in the fighting were the cause of the relatively high losses.

Apart from this affair nothing else has occurred in the shape of infantry attack but the artillery duel has been almost continuous.

In the region of Perthes a series of attacks were developed, our artillery stopped many of these at their source, all our positions were entirely maintained.

On February 3 the enemy made three attacks on our positions, two of which were repulsed and the third permitted the enemy to occupy part of our advanced trenches.