THE DECISIVE STROKE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17324, 25 May 1918, Page 8

THE DECISIVE STROKE

GERMAN BLOWS IN FRANCE. PREPARATIONS OF THE ALLIED AItMIKS. Writing from London on February 1, the special representative of the Sydney Sun sent the following interesting despatch: — No ono can say where or when tho Ger- ! man blow will fall in the west. The t Allied Council at Versailles could not put ; its linger oil the map and decide, "Here— . and here—and here ITindenburg will strike.'" I no it agreed to form an army of reserve, i under General Foch, Clcmenceau's chief i military advisor, and to dig* more lines. • Our men are going over tho top in raids s almost every night, seeking information. : Last night General Birnwood's Corps raided s on a large scale, and brought back 28 de- ' moralised Iluns. Yet no prisoner knows of cprly offensive. Every man is cate- > chiscd, and many ruses, which may bo s described after the war, are used to get - his secrets. But we have no evidence from this source that the Germans are coming - across. What we do know is that liindenburg has massed on tho west front enough , troops to give him a temporary strategic I superiority on any point he chooses. He : brought enough guns also, including l the thousands captured on the Rus- ' S » : , L r ant ' Italian fronts, to out-gun the 5 Allies in selected sectors until they have , rearranged their artillery. We know, too, , that the Prussian rulers of the Central Fowers aro trampling down tho people's ' °PP os Jtion to a western offensive, and that they believe that their own safety depends r upon a triumph this year in the west. Ger- . mm military teaching insists upon offeni sives. And in this case the teaching is 1 supported by the prospect of America's mili lions being ready next year for the heavy work of breaking Prussianism. It seems likely that the Germans will attack Armenticres, touching there the Ausi j- ! Ar an , s ' nght win Si at Rheims, whioh is difficult to defend; and south of Verdun, ; where tho Americans have taken over their , n- r£, t few miles of the front. Does Hindenbiug aim at breaking through, or does he intend merely to take Armentieres and Rheims, shells of cities left within his grasp, as a means of aweing France? The temper of the German militarists shows that he ?P? S ki'eak through. The battle mood of the nation is once again being whipped . up to support immense efforts. "All the battles since December, 1914, have been j only episodes," writes von Salzman in the , V ossieche Zeitung. "They were interludes i to the final decision, which is at hand." It must be that tho German leaders think i a dry rot is appearing in tho Allied armies, and that a strong German offensive will crumple them up. The answer will soon be . given. It may be a long answer, extending over months—an answer in which every 1 division of Allied troops in .France, except [ tho Portuguese and the Belgians, will ham- ) mer homo in turn. Doubtless the Germans 1 will get initial successes. Such are inevit- , able. We shall lose many thousands cf j men in prisoners, and mav be forced back . slowly over wide battlefields. But the last word of the answer will be the prominent word. And all Allied armies swear tJiat it will be flung at a Germany nearer internal collapse, and farther from military victory, than ever before. LLOYD GEORGE'S CONTROL. 1 Germaji attacks will doubtless weld Great Britain into unity. Against the deadliest offensives, on sea and. land, yet launched at the Empire, a united front will be set But for the most the difficulties between the Government and tho General Staff aro serious. The Primo Minister is pushing hard for greater unity in Allied command, and that the British General Staff resents the clipping of its wings, and resents also Mr Lloy-1 George's advocacy of military offensives outside France and Belgium. It is rumoured that the Army Council may resign in a body as a protest against LloydGeorge's and Lord Milner's work at Versailles. Surely nothing short of passionate belief that the army was going to ruin could justify such action by the army's leaders. _Yet the army was never further I from ruin—it is picking up its strength, and will soon be fitter than ever. One has to admit that the soldiers li&.vc chcsea ' to fight the Cabinet, and aro fighting it, on questions which are none of their busi- [ ness. lor all Mt Lloyd George's decisions • have been well within the ambit of the ' civilian control of the Empire's fightingforces. ° ' _TH y prs ajHcs Council has reduced the ' British Imperial General Staff's functions to paltry questions of supply and reinforce- ' ments. All the creator strategical matters ; «e now handled at Versailles. And the supreme strategical body is a group of three ; civilians—the British, French, and Italian Prime Minister*?—who meet once a month • m rooms which have been in turn tho hcad- ' quarters of Napoleon and Moltkc. At the great meeting last week each Prime Minis- > ter summoned to his side a leading Cabinet ' colleague, his Commander-in-Chief, his J Chief of Staff, his military representative ! at Versailles, and all their principal assist- ' ants. But the decisions 'were taken by the j Prime Minister alone. And these decisions | are binding on all the War Offices, affecting the nght there. Turkey. Dardanelles, Bul- | gai-ia, Salonika, Serbia, Rumania, and now Ukraine—all aro names synonymous with » misfortune. There is much heartburning ■ to-day about the treachery of the Ukraine. ! Before the war the Ukrainian leaders were 1 in German pay, and Bolos were attempting ■ to trouble Greater Russia by a Ukrainian rising. But the Ukraine regiments fought well in tho Czar's armies, and until a few weeks ago the Ukrainian leaders encouraged the Allies to think that they were steadfast to the Allies' cause. Their defection has been a painful event in the records of Allied diplomacy. They were to be the rallying centre of Allied sympathisers in Russia. They and Rumania were to hold the Central Powers at bay in the East, 1 whilst the Allies found a way round through Persia with help. Paris, alert and imagina--1 tive, ever attracted by tho hopeful, pledged • itself to the project. The- French Government lent the new Ukrainian Government ' eleven million pounds, and sent a military 1 mission. And now an easy peace has been ! signed with Germany by "the same hands " which accepted the French gold. ' The effect of the Ukrainian peacc is that between forty and fifty Aus- ■ trian divisions are released for other i work. They may hire to fight Rumania; 1 but a Rumanian peace is regarded as asi eared. Will Kkiser Carl consent to his Austrian divisions being sent against us l in France and Flanders? There is nothing to show of them yet on tho west except artillerymen in Belgium. But Hindcjiburg ; is pressing hard for Austria-Hungary to ! do its share in the war. Germany hopes to get bread supplies from Southern Russia, and will force Rumania to open the sea i route, via Odessa and tho Danube. "Die general diplomatic effect of the separate peace will last long after the war, and will make for future wars. For by establishing a nation in between Great Ruesia and the Black Sea, Germany so hems in the Slavs that they will stifle, *and more inevitably towards a war of freedom. INEVITABLE RETREAT. It will be well to remember throughout the year's campaign that tho Allied armies ' in the west will have to boar a far greater i weight than ever before. Do not be afraid when news comes through of reverses; do i not quail when the enemy's claims reach into scores of thousands of prisoners and many guns. For in such battles losses are inevitable. Vast improvements have been made since Keretisky's collapse, but they i are still such as will necessitate strategic retirements. With all their wealth of cement, blockhouses, concrete gun emplacements, and scientific entrenchments, tho Germans went back time and again before our thrusts. Tho Australian soldier is convinced that the German attack cannot be so long ae that of the British in Flanders last- year. Onr men do not- take too seriously Fritz's "punching power." But- by due sacrifice and repetition of blows Hindenburg will be able to take, prisoners and storm positions. Already his men are showing themselves picked for the western fighting. They have had to meet, a number of British minor attacks, and their defensive fighting has not been that of mediocre soldiers. " Behind these stalwarts there have been distributed the greater part of Germany's Ban class —her class of youngest sons. And so it is to be a massacre of youth. Germany may groan urder her own militarism. But, it goads her on. It is one' of those responsibilities which, once accepted, must bo carried to the end. —An impression of detachment, gravity and of the strength of chilled steel (writes Mr G. Ward Price) was what one brought away from tho house of General Diaz, the new head of tho Italian army, when ho received the Italian and foreign correspondents. Hie shoulders are square and strong and he bears them as if stiffened to support, physically, as veil as morally, the heavy burden of responsibility that has ' been set upon him. Tho general's face has a set expression of sternness; neither in play of feature nor in gesture does he show any of tho vivaeit- of the Latin. His movements are few, deliberate, and slow One felt the presence of a man who has cast his whole soul into a mould of iron resolution, to meet a maximum stra ; n, and who, while recognising the eternness of thq ordeal, faces it without diamaji.