THE COMING STORM IN THE SPRING.

Waikato Times, Volume 87, Issue 13269, 26 August 1916, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE COMING STORM IN THE SPRING.

Here are some of the comments made in view of the anticipated great offensive

in the West in the spring. A telegram from Petrograd quotes an interview with M. Sasonofi, the Russian Foreign Minister, published in a Moscow

paper:— . ' k Sot only must the Germans be driven out of the invaded country, but Germany must be definitelv crushed to permit

Russia to develop' in full liberty. "The war cannot last long now, as Germany will not be able to keep up her

effort. At present, her financial situation is very serious." The King's speech read at the opening >f Parliament on Tuesday said : "The spirit of my Allies and of my people, who are united in this conflict by ever strengthening ties of sympathy and understanding, remains steadfast in the resolve to secure reparation for the victims I if unprovoked and unjustifiable outrage and effectual safeguards for all nations again t aggression of a Power which mistakes force for right and expediency for iionou:. "With proud and grateful confidence I look 10 the courage, tenacity, and resource of my uavv and army, on whom we depend, worthily to perform our part in the attainment of this goal. "Tie only measures which will be submitted to vou are such as in the opinion

of my advisers tend to the attainment of our common object. I confidently comment! them to voir patriotism and loyalty ■ind I pray that the Almighty will give His blessing to your counsels." "W* hope til? new session," says the ''Telegraph," "may be the last of the present Parliament, l'ur that would mean the end of the war; but whether that be eo ir not, it will be tho earnest desire of all rood patriots that the new session may irove more profitable than the old. The >mens are tolerably favourable. The coning months must be a difficult and a. cri- ; ical time —for the campaign of 1916 will decide whether victory is near or distant —and the Government will need all the -nppjit which a patriotic Parliament can :ivc them." "There cannot be many more new sessions' before the end of the war," says the "Observer." "The period row opening will be m-rinit-ely critical. Or.lv a few weeks at the most divide us from the huge struggle )f the spring. Every day up to then and afterward will "contribute sensibly either towards the organisation of victory or to an irreparble loss of time. All move rents a-cros. ; Europe and beyond are but a great prelude to the climax." "If the Germans have accomplished little in the West, it must also be said that their troops in the trenches show small traces either of weariness or despondencv" (says the "Times"). "The gloomy 'letters from home constantly found'on prisoners or in captured trenches have had no visible effect upon the efficiency of the German army. The bulk of that armv is still aligned upon the Western front, and we must keep the fact steadily in mind during the coming year. There can be no royal road to victory in distant regions wlnle the prin■ipal strength of the enemy we have still to overcome remains massed in trance and flinders." . . Heir Maximilian Harden, writing in his paper "Zukunft," says:—"The menace to Germany is only the menace of the common trouble of the whole Continent, not j tli3 menace of a separate danger. The argument that everything must turn against us in the spring we heard from the enemv last winter also, and we have no reason to listen any more anxiously now. We fought for eighteen months against fresh armies, and only a tiny strip of German soil in the West is in t e enemv's hand. From the Scheldt to the Dvina, and from Heligoland to the Bosihorous. every road is barred to the enemv lis* wall of iron. Before all that could ba torn away from our warriors yours would be at the last ga^p. "We are not particularly perturbed at the prospect of a serious attack, saj 3 the "Times" military correspondent , because we have an unbeaten Navy, a foimidable array of men, a great mass of mns and ammunition, many lines ot defence, an excellent spirit in our troops abroad and at home, and a similar spirit in our French and Belgian Allies "Unle's all our officers in tbe West are liopelesdv wrong, we shall give the German® something to remember if they dare to come on in France or Flanders, and, although first lines are not impenetrable, nor even second, directly our reserves get rroif- r we should be all over the Germans. ° "We know, however, that the Germans hrtve now brought seventeen divisions over [run the Russian front ; we believe that they have made up their strengths in the West to or beyond the normal figure; and we are told that they have a mass of hcav guns. Lntil we are better informed. the hypothesis that this may be a <jrand operation, reproducing the plan of 1914 which collapsed on the Maine, must not be excluded, and in such operation the sea and air fleets of Germany may ta-ie theiv part." . "Are the citizens of Berlin enthusiastic about tbe war_or not?" asked a re-

preventative of the Press Association of a lady ion; resident in Berlin, who has just arrived at her husoand s home in Hertfordshire. i :> " "Empha; icailv they are not," was the 11 .c-plv "Tiiey are tired of it all—fed up, v > s you eav—and keenly anxious for peace. But people hardly dare open their mouths - s *n express tins view, and you may guess J ~ the strength of their feeling in the matter t_ when I tell you that I recently heard a 1" soldier—a. Prussian soldier, mnd you —ask h a newsboy in the hearing of several peopie: 'ls there any news in your paper :u about peace?' 'So,' replied the lad. r " 'Then get along with you; if there is no r " talk of peace, nothing else matters.' "That anyone in a public place, and ; e particularly" a soldier, dare say such a thing as that telle eloquently of the undercurrent of public feeling. The people of ' e Berlin, and doubtless the people of Ger:o many as a whole, are tired of the war, with all its horrors and privations. They '■ want peace, and nothing else matters." it