Evening star., 1917-10-28
END OF THE CAMPAIGN OF 1917
FINDS GERMANY WITHOUT HOPE
OF BEING VICTOR IN WORLD WAR

, complete disaster. When these great
conflicts were over they were still out
mum bered. outgunned. and not for eight
cen months were the British able to
put new armies in the field whose num-
hers and equipment enabled them to
make effective attack. and not until
the spring of the present year did Eng
land possess an army able to meet the
Germans on equal terms In all that
goes to make an army strong.
Disappointment to Allies.
The campaign OF 1915 was a bitter
disa ppontment to the allies. Behind
their trench lines in France and Bel
gium the Germans easily and complete
ly put down all French and British of.
fensives. while Russia was wellnigh de-
stroyed and Serbia crushed. The CAM
paign of 1916 was only less disappoint.
ing. because while great successes were
made at the Somme and Nerdun. which.
begun with the promise of disorder.
| ended in a glorious victory, the allies
completely and prevent German masses
from beating down Brusiloff's offensive
and subsequently destroying Rumanta.
But the campaign of 1917 has seen
operations i'll the east, where the road
| to Petrograd. TO Moscow. to Vladivos-
tok. for that matter, was open; incap-
a Bile of succoring Turkey at Bagdad,
! incapab BILE of any considerable or sus.
! tained offensive anywhere, and yet,
| with all her men and all her guns at
work in the west, unable to check the
| British. unable to hold the dearly won
| heights about Nerdun.
| Had Russia done her part nothing is
palmer than that we should have had a
! military decision this year, but il is
/ necessary to face the fact that neither
! now nor hereafter is there any chance
| that Russia will do her part or any
| part She has become an illusory ally;
/ She has become a burden. Such of the
! Russian territory the Germans feel
| like taking such cities and such forts
/ they can take Yet it is necessary also
/ to recognize that Russia has become
! helpless. so also German operations in
Russia have become as completely
side show as was the British operation
! at Gallipoli. The decisive front is tho
western front and on this front Ger.
| many is losing the war
| Every sign that one can see points
] TO the falling of German numbers, the
! breaking down of German morale The
| process is going forward; the disinte-
grafton is unmista kable. Lees army.
| which fought from the Wilderness to
! petersburg, was still unbeaten when 1t
/ faced Grant in the trenches south of
/ the AppomattoX. Yet Lees army and
/ Grants army knew that there could he
| but one ending to the war If il was
continued through another campaign
Next spring will see a German ra.
treat more considerable than last
/ spring. even if the winter operations
4 are lnconsiderable. because longer
stay upon the present German lines
! WI invite disaster far more extern
s,Te tran thai which the Germans
aFoided b% their retreat from the
| Noyon salient last spring. That re-
treat viii be the first authentic sign to
/ the world of German defeat. but al
ready .the British success in Flanders
has insured that victory
Germans Abandon Hope.
Ihere is one more aspect of the cam.
paign of 1917 that must be borne in
| mind. In 1911 the Germans sought to
crush the French and the British by
: their great western offensive, which
was shipwrecked at the Marine and at
! the iscr. In 1915 they sought simply to
| hold their lines in the west while they
destroyed Russia. and they succeeded.
! In 1915 they sought to crush France at
Nerdun, and having failed, TO hold
their western lines until autumn. and
! then conduct a peace campaign favor
| Y" 'E tHtH great II inexpensive Ru.
rlanian success. But in 1917 thew
abandoned all hope of a military sue
| cess and asked their armies merely to
/ hotd their lines until the submarine
| won the war Solely for the purpose OF
giving tho submarine time to win the
war the German armies on the west
! nave held on. suffering terrible losses
I but still preserving their lines. Now at
I the clos of the campaign of 1917 the
submarine campaign has been demon
strated as failure II is falling
week by week. and now the German
masters ask their armies of the west
/ to mold out again through another
year, with the far more illusory hope
| That the submarine may succeed in
! 1918 where it failed in 1917
| More than anything else, it seems to
me. the thing that must be remember
| set out to conquer the world with their
armies. surrendered all idea of a mill
tary success, gave over all purpose of
7 one by the sword, accepted a desper-
ate defensive. a defensive condemned
| to steady if slow losses of ground
while they pinned their sole hone of
victory upon the submarine campaign
! The contrast between this strategy
and that which the Marne and the
User. which saw Nerdun, and which on
the east saw the great victories from
the Dunajec to the Niemen and from
, the Danube to the Golden Horn, is the
most eloquent testimony one can de-
sire of the actual military defeat Of
Germany. and OF the approach of the
unrnistakable decision on the battle-
field which can alone insure permanent
peace to the world.