The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1917-06-09
THE WAR FOR THE WEEK.

1
changed the whole landscape for
miles, on Thursday of this week, was
General Haig's answer to linden
burg's boast that the allied offensive
for 1917 had spent itself.
Following the explosion of 1000, 900
pounds of explosives came the new
drive of the British toward Lille. This
attack is said to have dwarfed even
the terrific bombardment on the Arras
front, which in turn had outclassed
the Somme. Twenty per cent more
guns were employed. The prisoners
have begun to stream back once more,
and up to Friday night the bag was
5000 and steadily growing.
No Longer "NibbIinn".
The allies are no longer "nibbling'
at the German lines. They are taking
huge bites out of them. The plan
seems to be to give them no rest.
While an attack is in progress in one
part Of the front another is being
prepared elsewhere. This in turn is
launched while the artillery is being
brought up to the positions captured
in the first drive. It is a terribly ex-
pensive warfare in men and NUM-
tons, but the wastaEe must be great
er in the German ranks than in the
allies not only relatively but actually.
The British and French now outclass
the Germans in artillery and in arr
craft, and their fire is not only heav-
Ter but more accurate. Under the |
new system of attack after terrific |
the attacking forces. If they have the |
preponderance of artillery. suffer far |
less than the defenders. Then come |
the terribly costly counter attacks. for |
the Germans have been fighting as II |
the outcome Of the war depended on |
holding their present lines. Prisoners |
captured by the British have had in |
their possession orders to hold "at all |
costs. The reason probably is that |
Germany is determined to hold that |
part of France she now has. until |
winter intervenes. 1t is her only |
trading" territory. II she can make |
a stalemate of the war, she has a Dig |
part of industrial France to be ran
somed.
Russian Failure Costly.
Whether the British and French |
can blast the Germans out Of France |
before winter is something nobody !
outside the war Office can predict with |
any authority, but the progress made |
to date justifies the claim that lad |
Russia retained her military effec- |
tiveness the war would probably naVe |
ended this year. The military critic |
of The London Times, one of the best
informed writer's on the war, admitted
this week that yRussia's troubles up
set all the plans of the allies. The
troops drawn from Russia have per-
mitted the Germans to keep their
western lines intact. What would
have happened without these immense
reserves can be imagined.
Russian News.
Meanwhile all the news coming
from Russia is consistently favorable.
The American mission will soon be in
Petrograd. Kronstadt has surrender
ed to the provisional government.
Minister of War Kerensky, who prom
ises to be the strong man of Russia,
was enthusiastically received by the
army when he visited the front and
urged a return Of discipline.
And the stream of American figh-
ting forces has begun to flow to the
front. It is just a little trickIe yet, a
few aviators, a transport with sup
plies. and General Pershing and his
staff, but 1t will steadily grow. We
will not know of the sailing of the
first American troops, but one of these
days we will read of their arrival in
England or France. If Russia can
apply increasing pressure on the east,
and the United States add her weight
to the western lines, it does not seem
possible that Germany can much
longer resist the strain. Judged from
a military standpoint only, the war is
still long way from being over, but
the allies undoubtedly have the Of
fensive well in hand, and are masters
of the situation.
The Food Situation.
There can be no question but that
the food situation in Germany is
acute. Herr Won Brettreich, Bavarian
minister Of the interior and food di-
rector, is quoted by the Paris edition
of The New York Herald as saying:
"the recent augmentation of the meat
ration is full Of danger. We are now
eating our capital so far as cattle are
BY the month of Septem-
Der, owing to the shortage OF meat,
we must eat more vegetables" Rene
ARGOS, correspondent at Berne, Switz-
erland, writes that lack of fertilizer,
OF labor. shortage Of ma
chinery and transportation, and un-
favorable weather. have combined to
make the German crop outlook black
in the extreme. Bread cards, he said,
are being forged at an alarming rate,
and in some places the situation is SO
acute that citizens have invaded the
rural districts and forcibly taken food.
Latest figures on the U-boat cam i
paign are increasingly favorable. The
tonnage sunk is almost to the low
water mark Of the last fourteen
weeks, and the tone of some OF the
recent announcements of the British
admiralty is almost exuberant. APP
parently some new and much more
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