DIGGING FRESH GRAVES.

Bruce Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 43, 4 June 1917, Page 6

DIGGING FRESH GRAVES.

There is a Btriking phrase in one of Mr .fillip Giobs' despatches, illustrative of tue enthusiasm of the German soituer for digging, "Fear," says Mr Gibbs, "is a great general and it makes vue (ierman a'.hard digger. He will burrow.underground while.'our men are scraping the snow away on our side of the line." There have recently been indications that the" enemy was making up his mind to come out into the open, bufc while he has been fighting With desperate recklessness he has been digging as enthusiastically as ever, with me result that he has oeen able to transform the Hindenburg position from' a line of trenches into a wide fortified zone. Apparently ho intends; to dig his way back to the Rhine inspite of the fact that the British artil- ! lery smashes his defences almost as quickly as they are constructed, and in digging new trenches he is merely digging new graves for himself. Also | it is clear that he will have to <-ig even more rapidly in the future than in the past if he is to succeed in keeping the hghting m the form of trench warfare. The latest news from Bullecourt shows that the pressure on the Hindenburg line iB steadily increasing, and the wedge which the Australians introduced is being gradually widened. Hindenburg imagined, when he withdrew; through Bapauuie and Peronne, thatj he was postponing the British offensive for several montns. But the rapidity with whfch Sir Douglas Haig nas fol-j lowed him up has completely upset his calculations, with tke result that he is now oeing forced to defend a half com-,, pleted line, and to throw away Jus precious reserves in doing so.