Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1917-03-21
Germans Assert Allied Spring
Offensive Nipped; Say
Own Plans Kept Dark.
DRAW FOE OUT, IS SCHEME
Drive Like Hindenburg Made
in East, Teuton Idea, High
Official Declares.
BY \ STAFF CORRESPONDENT
of the Associated Press

BERLIN, March is (By wireless. via
.Tuckerton. n. J., March 20J. The
German evacuation of Bapaumc.
Roye, Noyon and Peronne Is but a
part of greater strategic undertake
ing which promises to revolutionize
warfare on the entire western front
and constitute one of the NOSE decisive
moves in the war
Jus, as IA month ago the Germans
evacuated an important sector on the
Ancre, but kept the fact secret for q
week while the British bombafded the
empty trenches, 50 todays report
shows the mCst important develop
meEt of 1917 on any front. The see
tor including the evacuated cities
virtually covers the great Somme bat
tie front. Reports from this section
of the front tell of effective work
of destruction carried out before the
occupied land was given back 10 the
French and the British SO that it will
avail them nothing as captured soil,
according to views expressed here.
TO End Trench Fighting?
with the fronts as long as they are
in this war and with the enormous
amount Cf enemy territory held by our
troops said high German military
authority today, "thcre is no particu-
lar military significance attached to
any special section of the enemy ter
+ tory. Therefore we can give up II
portion of the western front secure
our troops that freedom of movement
needed and nd.trcnch warfare That
is what this really amounts to. We
are now getting the enemy out of their
trenches
The giving up of this portion OF
our front puts an end to all their
finely-laid spring offensive plans
Ever since November hundreds of
thousands of men have been at work
building trenches, munitions depots
railroads and cable lines to prepare
for the biggest spring offensive of the
war. Now at one blow all this is gone
| for nothing. In the face of our with
| drawal all this is useless. -Four
months work, of millions upon mil
| lions of dollars in value has beer
rendered valueless while more i'm
| portant still, all the enemy plans arc
| likewise of no worth. They must make
| entirely new ones to cope with the
new situation. This is a difficult mat
| ter, entailing weeks, yes months, OF
work and requiring an enormous
! quantity of new observation. Mean
while the enemy is left at the mercy
of our plans
NcW POSITIONS Strong.
1T is most important to remember
that the new positions we are taking
up back of the old front are built Will
the aid of every possible device de
| veloped by two and half years OF
warfare. The old positions were the
result of the breaking of of the un-
| finished offensive towards Paris
Many portions of our positions were
| held only with the greatest difficulty
| The trenches were difficult to main
tain and the artillery observation
points. so important in this kind oi
| warfare were few.
| Devastation Essential.
81 regret exceedingly that this
move is forcing "A great destruction
of beautiful part of France Yet
the destruction is not so great as tho
devastation inflicted by the British
and the French on the Somme battle
field and when the entente refused
our peace proposal it took the rospon-
sibility of this destruction upon itself
1t is a war measure. We are com
PEELED to take 1t to carry out a mill
tary plan TO meet the big offensive
the entente had planned. We hav.
destroyed nothing except out of mill
tary necessity. We have saved every
thing we could. We did not wish tc
destroy homes or other structures
which offered no military advantag,
to the enemy, but we had to make 9
battlefield out of the territory we
were giving up. for in it fighting will
now take place and we could leave
nothing in the hands of the enemy
so we were forced to destroy roads
railroads, wells. buildings Of value fol
military purposes, depots. even whole
cities. 1t has been hard, too, for the
French population, but that is the
fault of their government. All the
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