Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1916-10-08
German Retreat West Forced; Can't Retire in the Eas

they cannot break through the iron
ring Of enemies, they will be com
PEELED to shorten their lines some
where because their lines are too long
for the number of men they have to
hold them and because enemy attacks
are constantly making the lines long
er yet.
There remains for explanation the
statement made at the beginning OF
this article-that the impending re-
treat will be carried out in France and
not in the east. The objections, from
the German point OF view. to re-
tirement here are obvious ana most
wcighty. France Is the principal the
atcr Of war, where the greatest armies
arc massed A retreat here will ad-
Vertisc to all the world, even to the
German people, that all hope OF vic
tory has been lost. The great indus
trial regions OF France, the coal
mines, perhaps even the ifJn ore
fields. would be abandoned in gen.
cral retirement. robhiny German If
muHltion-makins power and transfer
ring II tC France.
The reason why the retreat seems
bound to como in France is so power
full that 1t Will outweigh even those
motives for standing pat. 1t is that a
practicable retreat on any other
front Will not shorten the German
lines, but lengthen them.
The statement sounds paradoxical.
but a glance at map of the east
front will show that It Is true. the
great stretch of swamp and marsh
land known as the Pinsk marshes,
which is l20 miles across and scpa-
rates both the Austro- German end
Russian armies into two separate o
/ 81.
which do most of their fighting from
either army. n German retreat to the
fortress of Brest Litovsk in the cen
ter of the line would abandon the
marshes and compel both sides to Dig
in along the whole front. as in tho
west, and the mileage saved by such
n monoeuvre here would be less than
the mileage added to the lines by the
removal from tho swamp.
a retirement Of the northern Ger
man armies along from before Riga
and Dwinsk back across Courland and
Lithuania is not practicable unless
the center of the line goes back too
Such a movement would present
most dangerous angle to the superior
forces of General Russky, who might
take advantage OF It to launch n great
attack which would result in disaster
for the Prussian armies in the center,
And il to avoid this danger the CEN
tral German armies fell back together
with the northern group, the with
drawal from the marshes would add
more mileage to the central front
than would be-gained by shortening
the one to the north.
In the south. retreat is still more
impossible. 1t Is sometimes carelessly
assumed that the Austrians can again
retire through Galicia to the San and
the unpronounceable Przemysl or
even to Cracow, as they did In 1914
and again at the beginning of the
following year, But at that time the
German lines did not extend from the
north down to the Kovel region and,
were the armies in Galicia to retreat,
another front would have to be
formed facing south to cover the
German armies to the north. At the
same time. the Austrians would be
compelled to keep armies In the
Carpathian passes as they have them
today. so tho Russians could not break
through to the Hungarian plain.
Therefore the loss of Lemberg and a