The Washington herald., 1917-01-14
TEUTONS BUILD GREAT
WESTERN,FRONT WALL
Germany Believes Real Test Of War
Coming in Spring of 1917.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE.

fan-like, to the front which they sought to
break.
Leaving that sector out, which both
sides by common consent and common
experience. seem to be agreed, is not
promising offensive" operation ground.
the Germans are laying out and building
a series of positions on other portions OF
the front transcending everything L have
seen on the Somme line during that great
battle
The trenches on the west front, OF
which there is sometimes a maze or ~
miles to n single army division, have In
the past largely been haphazardly con-
structed so far as the LAY of the land
was concerned. They were dug wherever
the exigency of the moment made neces-
sary.
There was not as much regard for the
"strategical topography" ok the ground
as perhaps might have sbee1, and that Is
often admitted now In German military
circles To get under ground was the
chief thing and to do that. without going
farther back from the trenches lost was
the next consideration.
In Range of Artillery.
The second and often the third line
were within range of the big guns, which
would be hamering away there while
the massed light and medium heavy ar
tiIlery were drumming the first posi-
ton. And still the English and French
made but a ten-mile dent in fve
months battle.
Expecting that all the resources OF
Great Britain and France in intelligence
and in material, in men and guns, and
larger army than yet seen on any bat
tie field. will be thrown against the west
front in the spring, with a shock that
may shake the German empire, Germany
has entered upon a campaign of pre-
paredness" such as only can be hinted
ar.
Germany's offer of the "olive branch"
was made the day after left Berlin.
1t would be made as some Of the high
est officials told me, ''out of humanitar-
ian motives at a moment when Ger
many felt that she could Justly and ap-
propriately make a move for peace with
out it being seized upon as sign Of
weakness"
It had been talked OF and urged, espe-
cia1ly by socialistic and liberal political
circles for some time. It was held that
the proper moment" had not yet arrived
That moment was held to have come
when Bucharest fell into the hands of
the Germans, Austro- Hungarians and
Bulgarians.
Strategically strengthened in the flank
of Russia. economically REINFORCED by
stores of grains captured, Germany. de-
clared HlndenDurS on December D. could
offer peace
Would Avert Big Drive.
A close friend of Imperial Chancellor
Bethmann- Hollweg told me that Ger
many would suggest peace in the hope
that the terrible battle in the spring with
its awful loss of life might be averted,"
but hardly with the expectation that 1t
will be averted." This man. one of the
leading parliamentarians in Germany,
said Germany does not want any of the
responsibility in history for that awful
battle to come, holding as it does, that
t will be useless sacrifice of hundreds of
thousands of human beings.
Therefore Germany will make a move,
the sincerity of. which can quickly be
tested by the other side, in the hopes
that it may, but hardly in the expeCta-
tion that it will avert this battle and
show to the world that she does not
share in the responsibility for the con-
tinuation of the war