The Ensign WEDNESDAY, MAY 15, 1918. THE WESTERN CRISIS.

Mataura Ensign, 15 May 1918, Page 4

The Ensign WEDNESDAY, MAY 15, 1918. THE WESTERN CRISIS.

While the evidence of the last lew weeks indubitably proves that the Germans have paid a ruinous price in hvts for every vard of ground won in tnc Western" theatre, there is no room lor doiiOt in regard to the terrific strain under which the Allied armies ha\e been fighting. .It is certain that tin determining factor in the struggle is not the ability of the Germans to avi i this or that position at a price, hut the strength and numbers of the reserves available on cither side. Latest statements affirm that the Gorman reserves are approaching exhaustion while the Allied Commander-in-Gliiet still has large reserve forces available. Germany is ill placed to enter upon a contest of endurance with the Allies. By calling up in the ordinary way and by combing out she has made much deeper inroads into her man-power than either France or Britain, and she is more than a year ahead of France in prematurely calling up her annual classes ol recruits. She has nothing to set against the vast resources of America but the hope of forcing a decision before they can be brought to hear. As information stands she is receiving no gvoSit assistance in her Western campaign from her allies. And while the lull in the fighting continues every advantage will lie"taken on both sides to amass the reserves. There is evidence of a wide inclination to the belief that a lull is a soporific. But as yet competent critics assure us that Europe is only at the beginning of" a long and tenable fighting period which will last certainly into November, ft was prolonged until eloso oo Christmas, in U>l7. . Says the, Svdnev ‘Sun.’ in warning Australia that the sense' of peril is too easily dismissed; “We only know vaguely and shndderingly, if our minds visualise the coiitest ahead, that a calendar of crimson awaits the world. A sense of distance' might keep us comfortable in mind here, bur we know that science can annihilate distance. The gains of the Germans in France are no less disturbing. when regarded honestly, because of the present halt. An army is like a great beast—as Frederick Palmer wrote of it-—not active and bounding forawrd like a tiger, but alternately sluggish and terribly swift in its movements. lr, gathers itself for a lunge. Out: thrusts a section of it like a huge, shattering, rending claw. That was at Amiens. Out thrusts another section. I hat was at Armentieres. Then the great body which gives the strength to these lunges lias to In; dragged forward from behind the outstretched and gripping claws. Ip come tbi' further supports. ' the heavier artillery, the supply j and all the res; of an army’s hulk. Tim j muscles oi tin* beast are bum-bod and | braced for another Mow. Those whose minds turn more steadily to their connj try's hopes and fears b ill not shrink j from facing the facts, crave thoneli | they be.. In one month the enemy lias progressed half-way JVom his old lines jto sea. Ho has seven mouths (/' go. No danger could be clearer. Yet jibe trouble here is (he lack of realisation. 7 hat; is shown bv (ho fact that recruiting improves in (lie face of growing peril.” ft must he realised, 0 too. that it is a mistake to brand the German with cowardice equal to the erueltv of his official creed. All the laws of j education arc in conflict with simh a : Opposition. If a people is bred for war from generation to generation the natural residf is to breed -warriors. I he world.” says cue Avar writer, “has to recognise the German fighting m.ae’une as a thing posses mV" amazing effi.-aom.y. and must also credit (ho men Ayith the courage, loyalty and sclf-saeri-(ice AvithonJ AvhiVh 'the ’ m-eliirm Avould bp inert. Thr> German ’’deal of ecc is Avieked and lustful, I m t its Avicked. ness does not denrive it of high qnaliHes gf determination, endurance and decision. T‘ v’ty lias his loins gi"dcd, ;, nr| Ids arm is braced to strike. {J,. p. not a feeble and recreant ereaiure. hut a formnlable and cruel fightp,-. and In is led lia - strategists of profound snsi“i ta . In (hsprize such an •■giemv AA-onbl he to risk losing the fight in advance.”