The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1916-05-30
The German, Offensive


a total Of, casualties which cannot be fewer than
HALT million men "a statement given out in Ber9
lin shortly after the commencement of the Nerdun
kdrive in the nature of military survey, from of
cal sources close to the general staff throws light
on the German offensive as it is viewed in
Germany. -" r
The star significance" of the spring operations,
according to this German statement, is the fact
that while the Entente Allies had planned gen
eral onset the German armies anticipated them
and threw the Entente plans "topsy turvy," &e.i5
rOur enemies had been preparing for this gen
eral onset with all the resources at their Disposal
says the German summary, "and they have never
ceased telling US their resources were nexhausti-
bic. Feeling certain Of victory in advance, they
had heralded their initiative before their ow'. peo
Piles and everybody else. The German armies
however, anticipated them and threw their we'll
matured plan topsy-turvy ,as#e4t
"Their operations as seen from the German side,
consisted partly of offensive and partly of defen-
sve battles yet they are all characterized by the
one uniform feature-namely, that German
spring offensive has come instead of the offensive
planned by the tnemy. ii, .a.y
"The attacks OF the Russians and the Italians at
the same time only in tactical sense offensive
They are really defensive operations the largest
scale. That hrds expression in the very tern
relieving offensive, which has the merit of being
ornamental and pretty, but also clearly Ineligible
Arrelieving offensive is an offensive act with a
defensive purpose. ~ A
"What this means in its effects upon the morale
OF the troops can be fully comprehended only by
man who has himself taken part in this hghhhg(
The words we are advancing exercise magical
charm upon the German troops; they throw a spell
over every branch of the gigantic organism of our
army. We are going to attack'-and every man
feels proud and happy to do his share, even though
his own section be assigned to mere defensive
duty. The Germans fighting on the East front,
conscious of the fact that debating the
character of the fighting, are just as much in
spired by the offensive spirit in heroicay resist
ing the onsets of the Russians en- masse as their
comrades. Precisely the troops fighting in Rus
STA, who enjoyed the good fortune last sumnerfof
pressing forward necessarily and wrestling enor-
nous stretches OF territory from the Russian
colossus are now, looking on without envy at the
attacks Of their comrades in the west after these
had for SO long been condemned to the self-sac-
riicing task of trench warfare"
4 The survey takes up in detail the various oper-
atoms on the Western front, but covers the oper-
atoms only up to April l and gives but little
further information than has been contained in
the official communicates and other dispatches.
Referring ina general way to the battles OF the
Meuse, it declares that the most important result
was that French troops were relieved by the Eng
lish from Armentieres to Arras and in the last
third of March still further southwark to the
Somme.1 But" the report adds, "the substituted
troops have not developed any considerable
tivity. Neither have the English made the slight
est attempt to relieve the strain upon their hard
pressed ally by making attack upon their own
account"
The other two allies Ct the French-the Rus
slams and Italians-made more earnest efforts to
support their ally, says the survey, and it sums
up what these operations were as follows:
Before the German east front there OBJ
served since March 10 troops in motion which an
nounced the beginning OF heavy attacks at several
points. Heavy artillery fire began March Is upon
large section of defenses and reached in
places the proportion of drum-hre. 1t could be
seen that the enemy had by night cut passages
through, his wire entanglements, and that during
the artillery firing reserves were being placed in
position ready to advance to the front. On March
10 the attacks began. The enemy had selected
seven points at which to try to make breach in
our lines. His offensive began in the section south
of Dvinsk. The region between the Narotch and
WisznieH lakes, then further to the north the
region around Postavy and finally strip to the
north Of Vidsy were attacked daily by the Rus
slams with great vim from March IS to r. At
only one point, the outpost at Stachovcze to the
south of the Narotch lake, was it found necessary
to make an unimportant retirement on our front,
but the new position was then held without wav-
ering At all other points one Russian attack
after the other broke down with frightful losses
on their side. The like bloody losses and failure
to score results attended the enemy's advanced
near, Dyinsk and at several other points between
Dvinsk and Riga.
" "After the cOmDlete failure Of the attacks of
March 10 to p the enemy brought up fresh troops,
and after another long artillery preparation new
series of attacks began the twenty-fourth and
ftL al the nci,ts that had heen