Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1917-08-05
THE VITAL SPOT.

Evidences of a desperate attempt on
the part Of the Germans to defect the
allied drive from its original objective
are carried in the news dispatches
which tell of tremendous counter at
tacks aimed at points in the Entente
battle line far removed from the sec
tor in which the present offensive is
being conducted. It is not to be Won
dered at that the Teutons should make
every effort to necessitate weakening
Of the allied forces engaged in the
great drive in Flanders, for it is only
too clear to the Kaisers military ad-
visors that if the British succeed in
forcing their way through the much
Wanted "impregnable" defenses erect
ed by the Germans in northern Bel
GUM, the entire status of the war will
be altered and the ultimate defeat of
the Teutons brought almost within
reach.
The submarine warfare, upon which
Germany has pinned her faith and in
which she trusts implicitly to bring her
final success, is admittedly the only
dangerous and effective weapon left
t. the Teuton militarists. With this
menace removed, the German war pro-
gram falls flat and nothing remains
but to make the best possible terms
with the victorious Allies.
The great submarine bases from
which the commence destroyers slip
out in swarms are located for the most
part, along the river Scheldt, the great
waterways of Belgium. In time of
peace, the Scheldt was the medium of
transportation for great ships bearing
the products of that industrious little
nation to the ends of the earth and
bringing the worlds goods to the great
markets where buyers flocked from ev-
| cry land. The Scheldt in the days be-
fore the present world war offered in
valuable facilities for commercial traf-
bit, but in times of war its waters have
been put to a deadly use The u-boats
that ravage the seven seas find a safe
refuge in the we'll equipped bases es-
tablished along the banks of this i'm
pcrtant river and when departing on
their mission of destruction, they are
enabled to slip out through the Gordon
of blockading warships with compare
tive ease.
Kiel and Helgoland and also utilized
as German submarines bases, but their
importance in much less than that of
the bases along the Scheldt, for the To-
cation of these stations in less STRAIT
egic than that of the bases in Belgium.
The British drive is aimed directly
a. the submarine bases, only a COM
paratiyely short distance from the lines
held by the Allied forces in Belgium.
Once the Teuton defenses guarding
these vitality important establishments
are pierced, and the British legions
oYerrun Belgium as far as the Scheldt,
the submarine bases of the Teutons
are doomed. With the mouth of the
Scheldt under allied control, the u-boat
must operate out of Kiel and Helgo-
land, much more easily guarded by the
Entente warships. The swarms of
commerce destroyers that have dis
patched from the Scheldt bases will no
more threaten the starvation of Eng
land and France.
! Germany realizes in the fullest ex-
1 tent the enormous danger involved in
the present allied drive and the utmost
power of her military machine may be
expected to be exerted to withstand
, the terrific shock of the offensive di-
, rected at her most vulnerable post.
: The bloodiest fighting of the war is
: yet to be witnessed along this compar-
| atiyely narrow stretch of strategically
. located territory.
JAPAN AND THE WAR,