Taken somewhat unawares by the suddenness of the German assault upon their lines near Soissons, the French were forced to give back.  They braced immediately, however, and the succeeding day regained the ground lost in the first German assault.

Then the Germans made another show of strength at Verdun, southeast of Soissons.  General Joffre immediately hurled a new force to the support of the French army at that point.

Meanwhile, as the result of the German assaults upon Soissons and Verdun, in an effort to lessen the pressure being brought to bear by the French in Alsace-Lorraine, there had been a lull in the fighting in the latter regions.

Word from the eastern theater of war brought the news that Russia had a new big army advancing upon the Germans in Poland from the east, threatening to outflank the army that had penetrated to within fifty miles of Warsaw, the capital and chief city of Poland.  This, it was taken, would mean that Germany would either have to retreat within her own borders into East Prussia, or else that troops would have to be dispatched from the west to reenforce those in the east.

In this event there was little doubt that General French and General Joffre would immediately order another allied advance along the entire front.

News of the utter annihilation of three Turkish army corps in the Caucasus by the Russians also cheered the British, French and Belgian troops, as did news that the Russians had cleared the way for their long-deferred invasion of Hungary, and, ultimately, of Austria.

So far, from the Allies’ point of view, the one big disappointment of the war had been the inaction of the British and French fleets.  True, several engagements of minor importance had been fought, chief of which was the sinking of a German fleet of five ships by a British squadron in the waters of the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Argentina.

But the fact that the German fleet, although blockaded, after five months of the war had not been destroyed, was causing considerable adverse criticism in England and France.  Several German sea raids—­by cruisers and submarines which had successfully run the blockade—­had caused condemnation of Great Britain’s naval policy.

In spite of the fact that only in one instance had such a raid resulted in any serious damage, the British Admiralty had been roundly censured.  Germany’s policy of “whittling down” the British fleet, so that the Germans could give battle on even terms, while by no means successful thus far, had nevertheless considerably reduced the size of the English navy.  Some of her first-class cruisers, and one formidable dreadnought had been sunk.

The French fleet in the Adriatic and in the Mediterranean had been equally as inactive, although a squadron of British and French ships even now was attempting to destroy the Turkish fortifications along the Dardanelles, that a passage of the straits might be forced.  So far this, too, had been unsuccessful.