The Washington herald., 1917-02-19
The Spring Oaensives.

-.N->N wv s4A0hkhSs ~ SahACi bC laACit
now; conditions are entirely against
the submarine. Its work in the de-
straction. of shipping the first two
weeks of the new campaign of ruth
lessness is not fair indication OF
what it will do under the marine con-
ditions of spring and summer. The
present phase of U-boat operations is
merely preparatory, and on that basis
its. showing is by no means a poor
one.
Naval experts agree, however, that
Germany's hope of starving out Al
bion by means of her deadly under
sea weapon is merely the final
chance-taking of a cornered gambler,
as remote as the chance, of making
killing on a 5o-to-I shot. Potsdam
will appreciate this fact thoroughly
within the next six weeks if it does
not appreciate it now. German plans,
therefore, will again turn to a mighty
campaign on land which will consti-
tute the final Teutonic thunderbolt of
the war. Colossal preparations Tor
this campaign have gone forward
since the triumphal conquest of Ru-
mania, Germany undoubtedly will
strike in the West as a counter-blast
to the renewal of the Somme opera
tions by the French and British
strike on a scale to make Verdun
seem puny in comparison and appal
the world by its sheer butchery. The
allies are ready for it; Nivelle and
Haig are equipped not only to beat
it back, but to keep grinding away
steadily at their own aggressive
operations which they believe will
constitute the decisive factor in the
war.
A purely defensive war is not for
Germany. To win she must win
quickly-even to gain a stalemate
means waiting game quite beyond
her economic capacity to endure. 1t
is commonplace now that, from
Germany's point of view at least, the
war cannot go into another winter.
Some of her more confident enemies
believe three months will definitely
register the beginning of the end of
her capacity to withstand the strain.
For this full credit to the British
blockade is due, ane also upon "the
co-ordinated allied pressure on all
fronts" which is even now overtax-
ing the tremendous military vitality
of Germany. This is how one Brit
ish military authority describes it:
"The increasing pressure has forced
the central powers to draw upon in
ferior material for the maintenance
of their armies. Austria has already
called up her boys of ~. Germany,
forced to form a large number of
new divisions, has had to draw upon
her reserves to a far more serious
extent than any of her allies. She
now is feeling severely the strain of
bolstering up a number of steadily
weakening allies. The Austrian army
on the Russian front and the Bull
garian army in Macedonia have al
ready ceased to exist as armies. Their
scattered divisions, sandwiched in be-
tween German units, would collapse
at once, but for their sorely needed
German stiffening. Turkey is in even
worse case-for, so far from being
able to assist her in Asiatic Turkey,
the half of which she may we'll lose
during the next six months, Germany
has had to draw men from her already
impoverished army for service on the
fronts of Galicia, Rumania, and Mace
donia.
"The submarine threat is in itself
the most naked confession yet offered
of the central powers recognition of
the failure of their own grandiose
plans. The growing strength of the
allies faces the declining strength OF
the central powers. The date of the
end cannot yet be fixed, but its nature
is inevitable.