The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED DAILY. SATURDAY, JANUARY 27, 1917.

Gisborne Times, Volume XLVIII, Issue 4458, 27 January 1917, Page 4

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED DAILY. SATURDAY, JANUARY 27, 1917.

The cable messages this morning con-

A False Impression in the United States.

cerning tlie wav indicate that a very

erro n e o u s impression is alleged to exist in the United States as to the situation on the West Front. It is, therefore, a matter of satisfaction that General Maurice has gone to the trouble of placing the real position before the people of America. No doubt during the latter portion of 1915 the feeling became prevalent in some quarters that the struggle on the West Front bore indications of the condition of tilings known as “stalemate.” Rut it is surprising that after the events of last year anybody should continue to hold that a decisive result is an impossibility so far as the West Front is concerned. The fact is that on tljat great Front the Allies have, particularly during the past seven mounths, made striking progress which, however, cannot be properly judged by material gains- Substantial as were, for example, the successes that accrued as a sequel to the operations on* the Somme and at Verdun, it has to be borne in mind that the general effect of the Allies’ increasing activity month after month has, from the point of -view of demoralisation of the enemy been infinitely greater. > It is seemingly, the. ' case that a section of the people of the United States has become absorbed in the events in the Balkans to the exclusion of a true realisation of -what has been transpiring on the West Front. But for anybody to suggest that the whole

war situation must be gauged by the fact that#the enemy has been able to overwhelm Roumania, is quite wrong. The issuer, it has long been confidently asserted, by most experts, will be decided on the happenings on the West Front, and every day it becomes more patent that this is the correct viewpoint. Let us look at the ( position in this way: while the Huns are being defeated on the West Front —no matter if it be but slowly they can find no real satisfaction in the progress that they have made in Rou- j mania. It will assuredly mean that, sooner or later the Huns will have to * release their grip in other theatres of the war and devote more and more j attention to the West Pront. Ihe Hun War Lords are not blind to what is going on along the West I 1 ront every day or rather every hour. They realise, just as keenly 7 as do the Allies, that the day is not far distant when the gravest possible trouble will come'upon them in that quarter. It may, indeed, lie taken for granted that their recent efforts for peace were aimed at securing a cessation of hostilities before the point was readied when they will have to spare every available division in an endeavor to stem the onrushing Allied tide in France and Belgium. r l"heir big push in Roumania, it is now generally believed, was a final move to increase their holding of Allied territory. Unquestionably their real objective " as Odessa, but it is now not widely held that they will make any further headway in the Roumanian theatre. General Maurice has, it is true, merely reiterated to. the New York press the avowed intention of the Allies as far the Western campaign is concerned. It is now left to the people of tlie United States to weigh up the situation anew for themselves. If the whole of the statement had been cabled it is certain that it would have been found that General Maurice directs attention, to the results which have been produced on the West front in consequence of the Allies’ methods. The main aim of the Allies on that Front has, of course been gradual disintegration of the Hun forces, and that they have succeeded and are succeeding in ever increasing degree is not open to any possible doubt. Surely not many people in tlie United States can believe that the Huns will not have to strengthen to the'utmost their forces on the West Front prior to the new big Allied offensive, which cannot be delayed more than another few weeks? ft is well that due emphasis should be given to the point that the Allies intend carrying on the business of the war on an unprecedented scale ort the West Front as well as on the East Front this year, and that it will be their aim to place the issue beyond question at tlie earliest possible moment.