Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1917-08-16
The THIRD YEAR OF THE WAR
BY FRANK H. sIMoNDs.
AUTHOR OF 1.-THE GREAT WAR" THEY SHALL NOT PAssr
cepyriaht. 1etz-Ths Tribune Ass oeiation Oh. New York Tribune

W. Ovu0S&@@ UNOv 6NS0s
. oeiation (Ths New York Tribune).
world. Suddenly Rumania declared
wal and sent her armies across the
Transylvanian Alps into Hungarian
territory. For several weeks there fol-
owe brilliant advances by the Ru-
m%anians. Cities and towns fell: more
than "A third Of Transylvania-all that
section which lies between the OUT
spread arms of Moldavia and Wal
~lachia--fell to the new belligerent.
But then came the heavy change.
Suddenly u great Turco-Bulgar-Ger-
mar army from the south OF the Dam
ube commanded by the redoubtable
M~ackensen. who had won the Dunajec
the yea before. began to push forward
into the Dobrudja, driving before it the
weak guards, until it passed
the railroad line going from Constanza
TO Bucharest, and occupied the prov
lnce OF Dobrudja, which had long been
the object of Bulgarian ambition.
worse was now to follow. Under
faikenhayn who had been succeeded
by %Hindenburg as chief of staff, a great
German army pushed southwark, de-
feated the Runanian army in Tran
sylNania heavily, and then suddenly.
almost without warming, burst into the
plalns or Rlmania through the Tran
sylvan passes. Almost before the
world had realized what had happened,
armies from the south and the north
were encircling Bucharest and routed
Rumanian armies were fleeing east
ward toward Russia, while Ferdinand.
himself "a H~ohenZollern, had taken the
road to exile followed by so rnany kings
IN this struggle.
Ihere V was any more swift,
sure, decisive victory in military his
tory a that of the Germans over
Rumania. 1t came at a point when
German prospects seemed desperate. 1t
Was won by heavy artillery against
small guns. 1t was Won by veteran
troops against lilly trained recruits. 1t
was o by a great nation which had
been three Years at war against a small
nation which had had no war training.
But nothing could rob it IF it's moral
effect. All over the world the fall of
bucharest was taken as an authentic
sign, il not of German victory, at least
of the fact that Germany could not be
conquered.
Dark Days in the Balkans.
This Balkan episode was terminated
by a minor effort on the part of Sar-
rams army from Salonika. which did.
in fact reach and pass Monastir. but
there 1T stood and still stands. All hope
and possibility that the Balkans had
held out for the allies in 1914 and 1916,
n finally in 1916. when Rumania
came in. had o vanished. Rumania
n Serbia, which had allied themselves
with the enemies of Germany, were in
ruins, Serbia totally in the hands OF the
enemy. Rumania for h greater part.
n little Montenegro shared the Ser
pan ruin. Bulgaria had decided for the
centrai powers. and her armies now oc-
cupied provinces torn from her at
Bucharest. and. in addition. lands long
coveted. In Greece all that the king
U do was done for Germany. A
Greek garrison surrendered Greek cit
les ana Greek provinces to the Bulgar.
n King Constantine contemplated a
oiow IN the rear against Sarrail's army
at Monastir.
1t was at his time thai Germany.
choosing her moment with supreme
skill. proposed that there should be
peace. opening the way to an end of the
conflict which should not be unprofit-
bic for her, But this German offer
the war. having clearly fo~reshadowed a
discrimination to fight on until the
M~ltteleuropa that Germany had Great
ca from Berlin to Bagdad and from the
Mouse to the Dwina. was destroyed.
railing thus to achieve her end by
negotiation. Germany had recourse tn
her last remaining weapon, the submar-
e She was now .outnumbered in
Europe on every front. She was out
gunned in the west. Her material re-
sources were shrinking at home. Her
Iuture economic prosperity was being
doomed as one nation after another en-
tered the coalition against her inc be-
came participants equally in arrange
ments that would last after the war.
On FEBRUARY 1, Germany announced
that she proposed to sink all ships, with
exceptions that were only lllusory and,
for the United States. humiliating. The
German decision meant n thing. 1t
meant that the Germans believed that
only by one method could they win the.
war. They could no longer win it by
military decisions. although they might
be able TO hold their lines for long
months. perhaps years. It meant that,
the power of the~Offensive on land hav-
Ing passed away from them, they would
have Our to an offensive ON tho
seas.
Still Trying for Peace.
Hardly had h German decision been
made when Russia Was temporarily
eliminated from the war by an internal
tom all her social and military Organts
I1attons. and the entrance OF the United
States into the war on April s., could
not seem to the Germans to be q count
erpoise for the retirement OF Russia.
In April OF this year Germany could
again expect, Il MOI the triumph looked
for at the beginning Of the war, IL not
the decision expected at verdun. still
. substantial victory following g. sep
ing the time when the United States
could arrive with ley arms on the field
OF battle. And there was throughout
IGerfnany. q profound optimism. IN the
midst OF misery, based upon the hope
hold U by the submarine program
andsby the prospect Of a.separate peace
with Russia.