The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-02-20
COLD ABAT|NC, SOMME FORCES
 RENEW BATTLE

| SSA% western front frostbound for nearly a
 month is gradually moderating and
 it is easy to sense all along the battle line an unmistakeable quickening
 which foreshadowS the coming to
 grips of the greatest armies yet as- sembled in the world war. Already
 these armies are reaching out toward each other, testing various parts of the lines and attempting to discover
 the most likely point of contest for the beginning of the Titanic struggle that is expected to make this the de-
 cisive year of the conflict. In antici-
 patton of eventualities the Germans
 have removed the civilian population from the cities and towns in proximity
 to their line, but no such precaution
 has been felt necessary behind the AL llied front.
 1 Never silent, the British guns are
 beginning to roar more and more
 steadily. Tonight they are becoming
 with particular violence in the sector
 of the Somme. From a distance the
 bombardment might easily be mistak-
 en for the grun1bHngI echoes of pass
 ing summer storm. The chorus of
 guns rises and falls like great peals
 of thunder and there are flashes in
 the darkened sky like the play of l lightning along the horizon. l New groups of divisions have been
 recently identified along the German
 lines, bearing out reports of great
 troop movements now going on in
 Germany. British officers, however, say that this concentration is not as formidable as 1t appears at first sight. They say that many of the so-called new divisions of their opponents are
 merely encouragement of old divi-
 sions These statements are based on information carefully collected during the continuance trench raids Tn a raid undertaken this week an appar- ently new Bavarian division was To-
 cated. It was afterward discovered that this corps had been made up from regiments taken, from older divisions,
 namely, the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh.
 Another maneouver carried out by the Germans has been a combing out of regiments and divisions by (Which groups of 25 of the youngest men were takn from each company in the line and sent back to Germany to form new units or corps d'elite. British of , f1cers believe that it is an these corps
 d'elite that Field Marshal von Hin OOUo0IS Is pldClIS HIS greatest TGll- ance.
 | According to the information ob- l tained here, the gaps in the compan- ies have not been filled and the di- , intuition in numbers has been cov- cred in some instances by reducing infantry regiments from four batal- lions to three. On infantry company was recently encountered with a rifle e,%, ~<I OA complement of 175. Landsturm regi-
 ments recently have been identified
 on the front line. They had formerly been employed in patrolling the Dutch frontier and protecting lines of com
 munication.
 According to prisoners the picked men of the landsturmers are in the trenches, while those who are unfit for the harhips of the firing line are on duty at the depots in the rear Utilizing the landsturm 'battalions in | this way. permits the organization of
 the young men divisions in Germany and it is these latter, British officers
 say, whose movements are now re- ported and who are depended on to withstand the shock of battle. Many boys of IT and IS also have been found in the German trenches by the British raiders.
 The British staff is keen1y interest
 ed in a report that, prior to the de- claration of unrestricted submarine warfare by Germany. Won Hindenburg said to Chancellor von Bethmann- Hollweg: l Everywhere our front is invulner- able. The supply of reserves is ample, the troops in good spirits and abso- l lutely reliable.''
 | The British point of view is that l the last three words of this state l ment constituted an admission that
 doubts were felt in German circles as
 to the reliability of their troops
 There Is no disposition, however, to
 underestimate the resisting power of the Germans. The evacuation of
 Grandecourt by the Germans and other minor successes won by the | British in their first operations are interpreted as meaning that the Ger
 mans are prepared to give way at some points in order to fall back on main lines of defense, lines that have not been hammered by bombs and shells after the manner of so
 many of the present front trenches. Artillery is looked upon as the de- ciding factor in the coming battle,
 and on artillery the British have been concentrating their energy. The con | stant laundering of the British guns all through the long, dark winter has had a deeper meaning than a casual scattering of death and destruction. It has meant the careful training of officers and men in all the modern arts of gunnery, from the delicate timing and placing of protective cur tains of fire just in front of advancing infantry, to the most skilful cooper ation of air planes and guns in the hurling of long distance shells against selected targets far behind the Ger
 man lines There is grim realiza- ton of the fact that it will be tedious work trying to blast the Germans out of their main lines of defense but British and French commanders alike
 are confident in their predictions that ] they will eventually force the fight ing into the open.
 Dublin Reports Days
 Trade In Ireland Is Surprisingly Active Dublin. Feb. 19.-"Trade in all de-