"EGINNING OF END."

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 14285, 30 April 1917, Page 5

"EGINNING OF END."

MAJOR-GENaiRAI; LEGGETSYIEIW

MELBOURNE, April W. Ma-jO'ivGeneral J; G*- ' Leg^e*, C.M»G^. GLBij Chief ' of? tli*- Cbmmoiiwealthy Gen eraJ Staff, who left Australia;) m IMay. 1915, to combiahdHhe-Ffrst" Australian Divis.io;n , at. the Dardanelles, ; and. who has; syice se^'ved "■ with • distinction both , m Gailipoli: and Fiance, ...returned, to, Mel-, bourne, tofday. .fi.fi-... fifi. ~fi fit. ••■ -Thterriewed!,. lie. expressed the .opiiuon that -..the,, present, successful offensive ' o« the' Westei'n front marked, the bifeg-is*-* 11 *^ of th!e:',*end^jf6r . the 'Germans. ;He .wa* convinced- that, the German? resistanct would be- broken .by., June,' and he hardly thought that the war would last anoth'ei year. 'Tlie* duration, of the German i*e? sJstajice,- he said,,, after their' main; liik was • bi^oken, could - only ;We guessed ' atThey might continue to resiat' until tht last or; on' the other han**'*, ithey . might crumple e3l ' atyohce- when ■'• the allies bega,ii( tbedr irresistible drive; which would slowly siend* the enemy farther aaid fur ther back". ■■■.y-

As for -the other Powers allied Avdth Germany "m tlie prasen^t' struggle, h^ helc tlie; view that onoe 'Qerfnaiiy- was .beater ■ on "the?. Western ■ frbnt, Turkey and Aus* * tria would soon cry enough, and coln lapse like a castle of parda.. . He erarphasised that the. mpre men that could j be acciim-ulated to assist' iii the. pust i against- Germany, the quicker the • game p would 'end. "' .." . , , ) General, Legge, said' the weather, hac all along? been a gyeatfer obataicle- than the ; Germans .. It was the mud" which had held* them up time -af tei* time. .Tlie state of the ground* iii wet. weather could, he. . thoumijt'j "'.be. beat desaub'ed a*? i*esembling tei<dm•yersVm6i , tal•. , It '\vm. black and slimy, and i iii places; the mud was so. deep'as;'t6 bur^ compietbly, both horses andyyeliicles. He vouched for the truth' of a stoiy tl^at.-a soldiei* .driving a transport ywaggpn waa onl j- saved from -burial '-.in, .oner, mud .-hole by standing on top pf '■■ his waggon' 'Eveii'i.theu he was . up .to his ; neck ?in - ftlush'. The waggon ". and ..horses were lieyeiv recpyel-ed. yntb sucb condiitions prevailing; it ywas.ea4y, ; ,to understand that ah advance wae-ifftpos- • sible. •' The inf bould move ahead' all rhjht, but- it ' iin/posisible to bring Jup the heavy guns behind' them; TJEaf accounted for' the long, weary periodfl 'of trench' warfai-e-. . Th? A'listralian troops, however, had. hiade the best ..of conditioiiis, and 'were always'^ my. good "heart:- At times a. good ; m'aiiy were jdcnvni with colds and; chest- trbubfes, but jthey; mostly i-ecovered, and returned, to. the trenches after' a short spell ill hospital. ... ■■ - . . .'"fififi , • -