The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-07-27

from PaFls InaL emperor Charles OF
Austria had written letters to Prince
Sixtus OF Bourbon, a relative I'M
these communications the Austrian
monarch conceded the claim of France
to Alsace and Lorraine and limited
that peace overtures would be well
coined AS the result Of this. Count
Czernin, the Austrian foreign minister,
was removed from office.
The most recent addresses on the
subject of peace have been delivered
in the German reichstag, one by DR..
Richard Won KuehImann, the foreign
minister, and the other by Imperial
Chancellor Won Hertling. The formers
sensational admission that the sword
by itself could not bring peace result
ed in his resignation, and Won Hert-
hng's address voiced the sentiment
that as long as the allies were intent
upon destroying Germany" the war
must go on.
The Enemy Offensives-
Last winter it became known that
the Germans were massing forces on
the western front Reports came that
large units were training behind the
lines and that new and more terrible
engines of war than had been known
before were to be used in German eff
fort to break the allied lines, crush
their armies and force them to make
peace. The drive was well advertised
and even the place where it was to be
launched was known with compare
tive certainty.
On the morning of March 81, the
Germans began their attack from the
vicinity of Arras, on the north, to La
Fere. on the south, and centering their
heaviest columns against the British
forces, under General Cough, at St
Quentin.
Staggering before the impact of the
blow, the British army fell back rap
idlV For RiRht davS tho
poured thru the old allied line in an
effort to crush the British and drive
wedge between them and the
French, who were holding the lines to
the south Then came period of re-
action and the Germans came to a
stop They had driven ahead for
thirty-five miles, along a front ex-
tending more than fifty miles before
they were halted.
Hardly had their legions been held
before Amiens than new offensive
was begun in Flanders on April 2. 1t
swept the British back thru Armen-
there's, but did not break their lines.
The British, with the French who were
rushed up to the front, stopped the
| Germans after they had reached the
hills southwest of Ypres. sThere, on
April 9, the Germans suffered ter
reible defeat that halted their often
sive in that quarter.
Foch In Supreme Command.
In the midst Of the drive in the sec
ter toward Amiens the allied nations
took a vitality important step. They
! named G. i. Ferdinand Foch, hero of
the first battle of the Marine, gen
eraIissimo of the allied forces on the
western front, which includes all the
line in Italy as well as in France Even
| the Thurman coast, in northern Russia,
has been held to be under his COM
mand.
After a period OF quiet. the Germans
attacked once more, this time on the
Aisne river. and in seven days they
reached the Marine at Chateau Thier-
rey, making a penetration of about
| twenty-eight miles. At the Marine
| they were checked and the impetus of
| the blow was broken.
With hardly a days pause for re-
| organization of their forces, the Ger
| mans again attacked. choosing the
| sector between Montdidier and Noyon.
on the southern side of the salient
| driven INTO the allie line during the
| March offensive, as the stage of their
| onslaught. This offensive ran for five
| days and was stopped north of Com
piegne after losses which were de-
scribed as unprecedenteNhad been in
| flicted upon the Germans.