The success of our troops was all the more remarkable as, according to corresponding statements made by prisoners, the French had prepared for a great attack against our positions on the Argonne front on July 14, their national festival day. _The text of the German official statement published July 16 is as follows:_ French attacks delivered yesterday and the day before to the west of the Argonne Forest failed in the face of the North German Landwehr, who inflicted large and sanguinary losses on the enemy in bitter hand-to-hand fighting. We captured 462 prisoners. Since June 20 our troops have fought continually in the Argonne and to the west of that forest, with the exception of short interruptions. In addition to the gain in territory and booty in materials a total of 116 officers and 7,009 French prisoners has been reached up to the present. On our front which joins the Argonne to the east, lively artillery battles are in progress. Attacks made by the enemy in this region were repulsed without difficulty. _In a dispatch from Berlin, dated July 16, by Wireless to Sayville, N.Y., it is reported that in the news items given out by the Overseas News Agency was the following:_ German military tacticians point out that the German victory in the Forest of Argonne, in France, is of special importance, as it shows that the connections toward Western France are gradually being cut. The large amount of war materials captured by the Germans in the last battle illustrates the importance attributed to the positions by the French commanders. The French, however, were unable to resist the terrific offensive of the Crown Prince's army. [Illustration] Gallipoli's Shambles Allied Operations Around the Turks' Fortress of Achi Baba The subjoined narratives, official and semi-official, show clearly the formidable nature of the Allies' land undertaking in the attempt to force the passage of the Dardanelles. It will be noted that Compton Mackenzie, the novelist, has temporarily replaced E. Ashmead-Bartlett as the British press "eyewitness" on the peninsula, and that General Sir Ian Hamilton's reports have for the first time begun to appear. A notable sketch of his career appears in the Atlantic Monthly for July by the pen of Alfred G. Gardiner. A poet and a man of romantic ancestry and taste, experienced in commands in India, in Egypt, and in South Africa, General Hamilton was called by the late Lord Roberts the ablest commander in the field. For his qualities of daring and inspiration, as well as for his coolness in directing the complex movements of the battlefield, he was chosen for this most dangerous and bloody of enterprises against the German-officered Turks.[4]