Evening star., 1918-07-28

1uCHlo #uCh OhC 1iioi oPpOA lahAly woo
sacrificed.
On the map there was proof of Ger
man retreat. The Ypres salient dis
appeared, the British troops seized the
whole of the Passchendaele ridge and
critics talked of the advance from
this vantage ground in the next year
to Ghent and to Lille, little dreaming
that few days Of battle would then
suffice to compel the surrender of
these hills, won by SO much sacrif1ce
and effort, and that Ypres itself was
again to be in peril, in peril as deadly
as that of October. 1914.
French Army Reorganized.
In this autumn the French army was
passing through period Of reorganiza-
tion and renaissance. Its defeat in May
For few brief weeks its morale was
lower than at any time since the war
began. To Petain. who succeeded Nj
velle. was assigned the grim task Of re-
storing confidence and discipline. while
behind the army the nation, under Gle
menceau. cleaned its high places of those
who had conspired against victory and
held secret conference with the foe. A
few minor successes above, the Aisne and
about Verdup served to prove that the
task was being accomplished. but for the
balance of the campaign Of 1917 the
French army was limited to the defen-
sive. or to operations which were but
local offensives.
of war saw Italy winning considerable
successes along the Isonzo, where for
two years Italian soldiers had been
struggling to break through the gigantic
Thermopylae between the Julian Alps
and the Adriatic, by which ran the road
to Trieste and the Austrian capital far
beyond. the road Napoleon had taken
more than a century before in his bril-
liant campaign of 1887. BY October the
gate seemed forced: Austrian recoil was
general north and south, and allied cap
itals. looking southwark, saw in Italian
success at least consolation for their own
failures.
Ita1y's First Great Reverse.
But in November Italy suffered her
first great reverse of the war. Her
population and her army, like those of
the French nation. had been cor
rupted by enemy propaganda and by
defeatist and pacifist efforts. The
taint of bolshevism was already be-
ginning to do its work in Italy as it
had in Russia Suddenly, along the
upper 1sonzo front. out of the noun
tains about Caporetto, German army
appeared and struck an Italian army
holding the flank of Cadorna's main
forces to the southwark, and holding
1t carelessly and with little thought
of danger.
In a few short hours this Italian
army was destroyed in exactly the
fashion Radko Dimitrief-s army had
been destroyed at the Dunajec, and
with consequences to other armies
equally grieyous. One day advancing
and seemingly on the eve of decisive
victory; Cardona's armies on the
Lower lsonzo and about Gorilla found
themselves on the next with their
rear and flank imperiled. condemned
to swift and costly rush backward,
behind the Tagliamento and then be-
hind the Piave. The invasion of
Austria was over and the Hapsburgs
once more occupied at least a wide
sweep OF their old province of
Venetia. while it was the fate of Ven
Ice. not of Trieste. which was now in
doubt.
Allied Troops to Rescue.
Thanks to an Italian rally and to
the rush of British and French troops
to. their stricken ally Venice was
saved, and the retreat ended at the
Piave and not at the Adige, but Italy
had suffered one of the great defeats
OF history and was henceforth con-
oemned for long months to the de-
fensive. She had, in fact, been on the
cage or ruin; her escape had been
by slight margin, and at the mo-
ment the question of her future ca
pacity to fight, brilliantly answered
at the Piave the other day, was to
give her allies grave concern.
Thus the calendar year and the cam
pa1gn of 1917 ended amid the most
gloomy of all possible circumstances
British successes in the early months
had been dimmed by the failure. the
bloody failure. in Flanders The
french army had not merely seen its
hopes come to nothing at the Aisne
but had. for the first time, been
shaken in it's confidence and was only
beginning to give signs of renewed
constancy and efficiency. The Italian
army had suffered one of the great
disasters of the war. The minor
efforts in the Balkans had been with
out even the smallest material benefit
To swell the balance on the wrong
side. Russia was sinking to a hapless
derellct and Rumania was obviously
soPn to quit the war. All hope of an
onensfve in 1918 had now to be sur
rendered. The allied high Command
did not perceive that the defensive
which was its role. would be one beset
with difficulties SO great that disaster
might impend. but it did Recognize
that there was no longer any chance
OF victory in 1918. nor at any other
time until America should be able tn
Days of Hope for Hun.
As for the German. he could look
forward TO a return to the west now
with his armies victorious in the Ga st
he could look forward to SUPERIORITY
in guns as result of Russian and
Italian successes and to adyantape in
numbers as a result of the Suppression
OF the Russian and Rumanian fronts
For him the new year dawned brill
liantly. For his enemies it was the
beginning of a time which they al.
ready foresaw was to be one of grave
trial, but how grave it was to he
tney could not suspect, and, not sus-
pecting, failed to provide against.
German strategy for the Campaign
OF 1913 mas already been fairly clear
German had some forty-odd divisions
more than his opponents. exclusive
OF the Americans. He had an in
terror position, unified command
and homogeneous army He had
aevised new system of attack. which
included the element of surprise and
the use of gas to paralyze the rear
ward communications of his foes. he
had new small and mobile gun,
which made rapid support of swiftly
moving infantry waves possible, and
ne had generals who were trained in
0f kdEc anu not hypnOGlZed
by the long period Of positional war
fare in the west.
Program Adopted by Foe.
Using all of his advantages, the
German seems to have decided upon
the following course: At the outset
of the campaign he planned to throw
an enormous force, a host as great
as he had employed at the Marine,
against fifty miles Of the British
front between the Disc and the