Evening star., 1916-09-20


weaker. Secondary lines. built in a
hurry, are never of the strength that
| the initial field fortifications are.
Germans at Verdun.
why didn't the Germans smash
through at verdun?" 1 asked staff
strategist. They exerted as much
strength. relatively, as the allies did
on the Somme?"
His answer is an illuminating one.
The French were driven back to
stronger positions" was the reply.
When they were shelled out of line
A, they retreated to line b, which was
even better
One begins to think of the German
army as a tug-of-war team that has
| been yanked off balance. Its men
| cannot sink in their heels and stiffen
their backs. The allies are now in six
and one-half miles deep and are still
going. The Germans may be able to
line or they may be compelled to drop
the present line and make a hurried
retreat to a position that has in the
meantime been prepared in the rear.
1t may be that the allies look for this.
I'VE will have them back on the
Rhine line before Christmas" said
one man.
Hospital Are Ready.
The immensely of the big drive to
come is shown by the preparations be-
hind the line. When the thrust began
! in July France was filed with hospitals,
swept and garnished and empty Most
of them are still comparatively empty.
know of one with ESQ beds and seven
wounded men and another of 800 beds
and ten wounded men. and fourth
with 450 beds and about forty men. The
list might be extended Indefinitely.
Each is stated and provisioned against
food of wounded.
We are doing nothing" has been the
complaint of the hospital heads in
dozens of cases. Either give us work
to do or let us close the doors"
Rest easy. is the reply. You will
have enough work in about a month to
satisfy any one"
Two months ago Paris was beginning
to assume what one thinks of in these
abnormal times as normal aspect. 1t
is true that there was little business.
and prices are getting higher all the
time and the pinch of war was felt. But
one had become used to conditions. Sud
denly one noticed that the doors of
business houses were closed and were
not reopening. On them one saw that
enand-ink sign with which one be-
came familiar in the first days of the
war:
CLOSED by reason of mobilization"
Plans on Enormous Scale.
More men had been called out These
are the elders, who had escaped at first,
and reformes who had become fit and
men who had been excused for business
reasons. Today there are few valid"
men in Paris. The men who are fit to
go to war have for the most part goNe,
and in the last few weeks. 1t is a part
of the preparation for the big drive.
These elders will take the place behind
the front of the other younger men who
are capable of the strain of the front
line. France is putting her full fighting
weight into this winters blow
So that the big drive is not to be con-
sidered merely as military offensive
on the western front. but as ring
around and compression of the central
Bulgaria is given a chance to quit that
may come before water freezes in the
Balkan lakes-Germany and Austria
will be fairly well cat off from their
Turkish allies. There is to be a true
concert of action in which Italy and
Russia and Rumania, and perhaps
Greece and Denmark. may take part.
Portugal Is to send 10000 men to the
western line. The smaller states will be
linked in that chain which is to strangle
the central powers today and which is
to reduce them after the war to a con-
dition in which they will be una BILE again
to set fire to Europe.