The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1917-02-06
SMASHING BLOWS ARE
PLANNED BY ARMIES
ALLIES AND TEUTONS WILL
LAUNCH GREAT DRIVES THIS
YEAR =. HARDEST FIGHTING
OF THE WAR is EXPECTED.

Europe's winter has now locked
the war campaign in its icy grasp,
but in month or six weeks the
great struggle will break forth again
with increased intensity. All the ma
tons concerned in the struggle are
busily engaged in preparing for the
spring and summer ordeal this year,
for it is realized that the results OBJ
tanned will go long way toward
bringing about the final phase of the
struggle.
Swiss Fear German Invasion.
The paramount questions now are
where will the big blow fall, and
which side will strike first. The En-
tente allies have been preparing
feyerishly since winter weather halt
ed the great Somme drive. This has
been no secret. But it has become
known only recently that Germany,
too, is preparing for gigantic often
sive move this spring, and there is
every reason to believe that Won
Hindenberg is planning to get it un-
der way before the Allies are ready
to strike, just as the Germans did
at Verdun last year.
Germany's greatest concentration
of troops and guns, according to mea-
ger reports, is not along the Russian
and Roumanian lines in the east
Hindenberg's favorite field of bat
tie, but on the west. Just where this
German blow is to fall is highly un-
certain, but there is growing evil
dences that it will be against the ex-
IRENE right wing of the French line in
Alsace, where it is reported, the Ger
mans hope to capture the very i'm
J portant fortress of Belfort, and thus
outtiank the entire French line from
| Verdun southwark.
This gathering of troops and artil-
/ lery by the Germans in Alsace has
brought the fear to Switzerland that
Germany intends to violate the neu-
trality of that country, and addition
al Swiss troops are being called to
the colors. 1t is pointed out that the
easiest way to force the French line
in Alsace would be through Switzer-
land. Troops for this new attempt
in the west are even being brought
froTe sthex Russian and Roumaniar
hness WISE at least a dozen corps OF
reserves, total of nearly 100000
men, are being worked westward
from their mobilization points in
Germany.
Holland, 700, Has Her Fears.
Holland, it is said, also fears for
her welfare, as there has been re-
ported a suspicious concentration of
! German reserves along the Dutch
frontier.
Germany, it is reported, has tired
of winning victories and getting no.
where against the Russians and the
| Roumanians, and is planning to
stake all on a terrific blow on the
western front, a blow beside which
Verdun and the Somme will sink into
insignficance. At the same time, it
is rumored, submarines will begin
destructive onslaught against Eng
land on the sea.
Where Will Allies Blow Fall?
The Entente allies, in preparing
| 4OA e1ICA1 cpAAIlS anu Suul4HSE Cdm-
paign, have let it be taken for grant
ed that the blow will fall somewhere
on the western front, but Berlin, it is
said, "smells a mouse" Lloyd
Georges rise to power in the British
cabinet leads to the belief in Berlin
that the energetic steps" planned by
the Entente allies may be in the ma
ture Of surprise, and Germany, in
casting her eyes about the horizan,
sees danger on the frontier lines of
Holland, Denmark and Switzerland,
in Gen. Sarvil's army in Northern
Greece, at Constantinople, and even
as far away as Asia Minor.
Military experts predict that the
spring and summer of 1917 will see
the hardest and most sanguinely
! fighting of the entire war But just
where it will be, and which of the
two forces will strike first is a puz-
| zle.