amage was quite unimportant."

CHAPTER VIII

THE GREAT CHAMPAGNE OFFENSIVE

The day fixed for the opening of the Allies' long-projected offensive
dawned on September 22, 1915. Gigantic preparations had been in the
making. Large drafts of fresh British troops had been poured into
France, which enabled Sir John French to take over the defense of a
portion of the lines hitherto held by General Joffre's men. Defensive
organizations had been improved all round; immense supplies of
munitions had been accumulated; units had been carefully regrouped and
new ones created; all that skill, foresight and arduous toil could
accomplish had been attained. The spirit of the human fighting
material was all that could be desired. In order not to interrupt the
course of the narrative later, we insert here the interesting general
order that the French commander in chief issued to his troops on
September 23, 1915, when it was read to the regiments by their
officers:

"_Soldiers of the Republic:_

"After months of waiting, which have enabled us to increase our forces
and our resources, while the adversary has been using up his own, the
hour has come to attack and conquer and to add fresh glorious pages
to those of the Marne and Flanders, the Vosges and Arras.

"Behind the whirlwind of iron and fire let loose, thanks to the
factories of France, where your brothers have, night and day, worked
for us, you will proceed to the attack, all together, on the whole
front, in close union with the armies of our allies.

"Your _elan_ will be irresistible. It will carry you at a bound up to
the batteries of the adversary, beyond the fortified lines which he
has placed before you.

"You will give him neither pause nor rest until victory has been
achieved.

"Set to with all your might for the deliverance of the soil of la
Patrie, for the triumph of justice and liberty.

"J. JOFFRE."

The general outlines of the plan of campaign may be briefly described:
The British were to deliver a main attack on the German trenches
between Lens and La Bassee, in close cooperation with the French on
their immediate right in Artois, and to hold the enemy by secondary
attacks and demonstrations on the rest of the (British) front, about
eighty miles. The French, for their part, took in hand the two
principal operations--to batter through in Artois and to exert their
mightiest efforts in Champagn