The Washington herald., 1917-12-30

only because. HindenburE had IN I'D
CheInin des DANES positions AZ fhf
southern end Of his retreat. and In fnt
ArrAs and vimy ridge positions ef
the northern end. secure pivots whic1-
he could be sure OF holding dur1ne
the operation.
An. Ont OF Pfveta
It II perhaps the most signIncanf
and encouraging fact that the war has : i
yet made evident In the West thaf
there are no more such pivots ,upot 1
which to stand fast while dangerout
salients are given up. In F1andersfl
there is nowhere 20 stand. short ol'11
a temporary line near the low Thien'r
ridge. twelve miles back OF the present
positions: and this line is open % such
dangers from the south that many an
thorities expect HindenburE TO 20 baclr /.
through Belgium this winter 20 Ant<1l
werp. Brussels and Namur. 80
The retreat apparently imposed By r
the Cambria salient has also no pivot1
upon whic.s TO hang. while east Of r
Cambria lies the open plain of the.
Scheldt. devoid Of defenses until the .
Meuse itself Is reached and Northerns
France given up. The evacuation of1a
Laon would admit the French 10 this-s
same plain -
II is dIfhcult TO believe that the
German high command will clear out
Of Belgium and France this winter
or next spring without q fight. Bupe'
IL is evident that n they intend ttHF
stay, they must execute local retreaof -
in circumstances OF extreme peril. ana :
fight during 1915 upon ground which
favors their opponents. and not them
selves, as has been the case througil-e.
\ a. =. ="
of the Marine until this autumn. Ane.'s
/ 1t must not be forgotten, when these :,
momentous movements begin. prob
ably amid the mud and rain Of wine
ter, and the Joy bells begin to ring.
in Paris. London and Washington. -
! that the allied peoples are really cet-si'
| ebrating the results achieved by the
2.OOo.OO heroes who fell struggling for-'
some obscure hill or village the pasS
| three years IN operations which the .
critics declared at the time ''relativss -
failures" or qualified successes" va
On Italian Front.
The Italian front is now recognized
as an integral part OF the western bat
/ tie line. II would have been well had
! this view obtained from the start
! but for the disasters which resulted
from the parochiaI strategy Of the
allies the politicians are probably
msre to blame that the soldiers.
| To attempt to forecast the courss
| of the 1915 campaign in Italy would
be futile, as the situation there is a
new one; In France and Flanders.
the operations will simply continue
| along the lines of the past three
| years. utilizing the results obtained
in that time. Whether the Germans
| will accept their check on the Piave Il
and make no further attempt TO
knock Italy out Of the war, with
drawing their troops and leaving the
| Austrians to stand on the defensive.
is a question that only the Germans
can answer. Whether the French ana
British armies. in cooperation with
the Italians. will undertake to drive
It would at this time be premature TO
discuss.
So far as the entente IL concerned
the Saloniki front is not likely 10 be
the scene Of important operations.
The collapse Of Russia has 50 altered
the stragetical situation in the near
East that no offensive in Macedonia
could pay for itself in results, al
though. Of course, the allies are de-
termined to recover for Serbia at the
peace conference all that she has lost
Sarrairs army represents q tempting
bait for q German and Bulgarian at
tack, and there are rumors that an
enemy offensive against Salonica
will be undertaken before long.
CONTTNT-ED IN PACE SISETFFS