The Sun TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 1918. LUDENDORFF'S NEXT MOVE.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume V, Issue 1308, 23 April 1918, Page 4

The Sun TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 1918. LUDENDORFF'S NEXT MOVE.

The lull on the Western front does not betoken a storrh exhausted. It may mean the end of the first phase of the 1918 oil'ensive, but other phases -will follow just so soon as Ludendorff—it seems we must dropHindenburg—is ready. Reserves continue to pour in to the scene of action in endless streams. In the Hazebrouck-Amiens-Noyon triangle, the German troops are packed like sardines waiting the order to go forward. One newspaper correspondent, who gives us a circumstantial story, puts the number of enemy infantry in the triangle as high as a million. The same writer states that Ludendorff is cramped for elbow room, and is having great difficulty in victualling his legions. It is quite likely. The German lines of communication behind the Belhune-Bailleul-Ypres front are thoroughly exposed to the British observers. Moreover, they cross territory desolated and utterly shattered by recent fighting. The enemy must be in a similar plight on the Albert-Amiens front. To his rear there is Picardy, blasted and sterile, a maze of huge shell-craters, on which the Allied artillery and airmen daily shower devastating explosives. Massed in their misery, the Germans are an easy mark for the war 'planes, which have bombarded them incessantly since they were rushed forward in droves. Meanwhile, the world awaits Ludendorff's next move. The general opinion leans to the La BasseeArras sector as the object of the third attack. Success in that region would free the enemy from the cramping salient which he created for himself between Bethune and Ypres. His recent attempt to widen the bulge on the southern flank was smashed. Givenchy remains in British hands, and Givenchy is the front door to Bethune. Yimy ridge, halfway between Lens and Arras, is a thorn in Ludendorff's side. Twice he has essayed to extract it, and twice he has failed. The frontal attack on Arras broke down, while the scheme to turn the ridge from the north via Bethune was defeated. Meanwhile, there is no reason to suppose that the plans of the German High Command have been altered in any but minor details by the stiffening of the Allied line. The Channel ports, the breaking of the Franco-British liaison, and the destruction of Haig's armies are still the enemy's primary objectives. The shortest way to the goal to-day, as last month, lies via the Western front. The immense German concentrations from Ypres to Amiens and the Oise, leave no doubt as to the present relative unimportance of other sectors to the south. Provided he has the strength in men and guns, Ludendorff may launch a double offensive, striking at the British while thrusting towards Paris. There is need for him to hurry. Already he has been more than a month on his task, and, with the exception of the advance west of St. Quentin, he has not succeeded in showing major results. He is held before Amiens and held, too, at the other end of the line. He has spilled rivers of blood and used up many of his choicest reserves without breaking the British front or driving a wedge between the French and their Allies. Further than that, his great chance appears to have slipped from him. It would not he safe to be more positive, after, the warnings of Paris and London, but it is undeniable that the omens grow more favourable for the Entente as the days pass. The first crisis is over, and civilisation is still safe. The best-informed military minds, however, arc preparing the Allied nations for a second, and perhaps a third crisis, and , their words must not be disregarded. The world-war has resolved itself into a test of endurance. Germany is making a last desperate effort to j turn the scale her way, because' failure will spell oblivion for the ! Prussian dictators and disaster for the German Empire. Another reason ! for urgency is that Germany will never be more powerful than she is to-day, and if with her recent accession of might she does not compass victory, i her hopes of ever doing so must i perish. II is for [he Allied nations l lo see thai Germany does not sue-j cecd. They have weathered one storm; they must be ready lo survive others. Any weakening on the part of the civilian population will react unfavourably on the men in the trenches. The struggle must be continued in the faith that the evil come out of Central Europe can,' and will he, crushed this year. If, the spirit behind the front is of the; same enduring quality as that which! permeates the front itself, Ludendorff may strike where he will.