The Western European Wab Zone

THE outstandiDg fact during the autumn and winter of 1916
was the marked control exerted by the wet and stormy
weather which is the normal characteristic of those seasons in
western Europe. Day after day, in spells of a week or more at a
time, the soaking rains, wet snows, or dense fogs forced a prac-
tical suspension of important military operations, although local
fighting was kept up. The first snow fell along the western front
in the middle of November. When aviators cannot fly; when
artillery cannot find its objective; when the men cannot move
out of their trenches, a practical standstill is inevitable. Avia-
tors must be able to locate eneniy positions, and their signals
must be visible to the artillery commanders. The latter must be
able to follow the results of the firing. And the ground must be
flry enough for the infantrj' to leave their trenches and to move
as quickly as possible across the zone which is exposed to the
enemy's artillery attacks. Trenches and shell craters filled with
water deep enough for men to drown in are dilficull. if not hope-
less, obstacles in a line of advance, as are also swollen rivers and
flooded lowlands. When the ground is soft, many shells fail to
explode, simply burying themselves in the moist soil. In "fight-
ing weather", i. e., when the ground was dr>- or frozen and the
sky was fair, active operations were always resumed, the gun-
ners "smiling at the stars", as one despatch put it, and the avia-
tors rejoicing in better flying weather. When, owing to storm.
or cloud, or fog, observations are impossible, artillery firing has
to be done by "dead reckoning." and is relatively ineffective.
