ESTABLISHED 1866. The Marlborough Express PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING "THURSDAY, APRIL 12, 1917. THE GOOD NEWS FROM FRANCE.

Marlborough Express, Volume LI, Issue 85, 12 April 1917, Page 4

ESTABLISHED 1866. The Marlborough Express PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING "THURSDAY, APRIL 12, 1917. THE GOOD NEWS FROM FRANCE.

The strategical importance of the quite brilliant advance commenced by the British on Monday, and still in .progress,' cannot well be overestimated. Tlie new* .advance is on the north of the.country affected by the advance which threatens Cairibrai rand St. Quentin, and the mere fact that; it .could : be made imperiiling the safety of the positions recently gained ap Bkpaume arid Perbnne proves conclusively that the British'forces are now superior, both 'in numbers aiid in art'illerj; provision, to those at the' command of the German generals. An.'.'.entirely newfield of 'operifitions .has .now been opened'up, "re"ttder'irig it less and less for the enemy to concentrate his ,strength^ at ;iny one point' of his ■ fronts arid threatening, indeed,, to crumple up his line without any hope of re-formation. The main battle seems to have raged between Lens :and- Arras,. and t^ie successes already gained have secured very substantial advantages for the British. For months past the enemy' 'has been bombarding the Arras plain from the Vimy Ridge, which, by the way, was captured ~ ,by our - French Allies in 1915, about the same time as our hrmy was engaged 'afc: Loos. The " Frerich. however, were .- -then • unable to preserve the advantage gained, and- retired from the ridge, the stormirig of which by the splendid Canadian troops appears to have been one of the most dramatic scenes of the great conflict of the past few days. Now. that the British are; in. possession of this eminence they will, .we may make certain, move up their, heavier guns into .a position* which will command the" plain upon which stands the ancient and important city of Douai. The ivedge already driven into tlie old .Ger,man front to the south, . between Bapauriie and Pei'onne, the wedge which now threatens to cleave the German front between Cambrai and St. Quentin, has, it willbe. seen by a reference to the_ -map, been considerably widened. If its northern end can be driven in much further, not only; phall we soon \ witness the recapture of Douai, but j the enemy's position between • that place and Lille will be in such perilous case that there is good hope of his being, compelled to clear out of the ancient capital of French Flanders, and one of the most populous and important of ■ the French seats of in dustry will once n^ain proudly display .the national Tricolour. The captures ,of guns, treiichmortars, and maehinc-jKuns. the rapid occupation of one fortified villaceafter another, and tho substantial

captures of prisoners, all <r.o to prove the irresistible arid Tnarvellously rapid character of the British move forwnrd. Tlie German front still, it is true, bulges out westward rather heavily to the south of Ln Fere, but the progress made' by the British south-east of St. Qi^ntin.bi'ds fair to •press the enemy's lir>« bnck to, sunh an extent that hn will have to fight hard to retain T/ion. Laor once captured by the Al'ies, it should not be Imijr before the, lom>:-sufferins: city of Rhejms vn\l be telieved frori the

puriaatory of the frequent bombardments directed nwainst ?t ■ bi , the Huns. Everythiiifr points to further suocesse^ of a very , mbe+ant.isi.l nature.,being gained by the British all .along the line Imld by them. The

(•'anccer to <vhich t'^e enen^v is row exposed outside Lille, a,nd, outside Lilfe. is non* so (rivo.t thijt he mav_ be tempted to withdraw some of his divisiors from before Rheims i in the Cbanmn.o-ne a;enera.lly. \But snch wi+hdra-n-al e«n be carried (ut only at the risk of his hjivinp; ti '•ope with nn equally rfeter^ined French offensive on ' the Urmer Meuse. and phonld the British suoeeed in ca.p^i'rin<J' Donai as well "•s Cambrni arrJ 9t. Oueritin. the'Wo latter of which nlaces may be regarded ps doomed., the milwa^"ommunictions of r.he Gern-ans will: so. liacV»d rbo"t th'n'f, they ivill find it well-nigh impossible, to*'play tfiejr.old rrsxnie of rap id I v transferrinir; divisions from one point to jipother on their front, on the principle of, +he shuttle moving backwards and j forward across the-'Vom.. Altosrether,*the news from the Western front this week has been of an eminently satisfactory ' ,;,.'-natur«, nnd, jnust have "rentJv cheered the /hearts of the French:-

The theory tut ' ihe German Threat was merely a "retirement" falls fro niipces wher>. we read of fr^e enemy's beinc; forced baeV so rapidly and of Ills Vmis; comnelledto tafc^ uv new oositions. winch, so there is go«d reasons for belief, are insufficiently Drcoared against the attacks which tho Immediate future must witness; Tlie enemy boasted lonpr and loud tlinf. his fortified emnlacements on hio Western front were practically iim>refi;nable. His riress, following the lead jxiven by,the TCaiser», ..declared the Battle of the Somme.tb be Over, and -:'that , the practifistl gain therefrom to the Allies was nil; Von.-Hindenburg went on

his tour of inspection, and selected the new line of defence beyond which no French or' British soldier could, he confidently assured the Cologne Zeitung's representative, possibly go. What now of all these proud boasts, these ingenious but mendacious "explanations,"' these vainglorious vauntings of alleged irresistible strength ? The fortified villages have been captured, a hell-storm of shells has pulverised the trenches and made the casemates a chuos of crumbling bricks and mortal';. The Battle of. the Somme is now" proved to have b.een far indeed from bringing no practical, advantage to the Allies. It paved the Vi'ay for? and made possible the new advance; it swept btlck the enemy from strong to weaker positions. As for Hindenburg's famous new line, already it; is being pierced at more thafe one point, end must inevitably, in due time,'. suffer the same annihilation'\as its predecessors have done. j The tide of success is turning faster and faster' in favor of the Allies; the final collapse of Germany's military power is being brought nearer and nearer. Such can be the only true inference to be drawn' from what i.^ now happening on the Western front/