New-York tribune., 1918-04-15
Critic Asks if America
Crasps "Backs to the
Wall" Cry
British Fight Best
In the Last Ditch
Armies Now Declared En-
gagged in Fight to
a Finish
By Arthur S. Draper
Tribune Cable ServiceJ

Tribune CaOle service
LONDON, April 14.-Does America
.rnreciate what Field Marshal Haig
means when he says that the British
army has, it's back against the wall?
Does America grasp the astounding
.haRges which three weeks Of fighting
have brought? Does America under
stand what is happening in France and
Flanders to-day?
Probably not. Even the British, who
.ro almost within sound of the guns,
awaken very slowly to the gravity of
.sa;r nosition. AS one critic writes:
aEar.houakes are in progress, and, to
srsak more bluntly, if their devasta
IONS continue on the present scale for
snother week the problem may be not
a. 90. men into France but to get them
THAT NAV seem a pessimistic forecast.
,ut Il is wiser in q crisis of this mag
u;,ude to prepare for the worst and
hone for the best. Field Marshal Haig
saws that the enemy has already en-
Moved 10 divisions, or, roughly l.
ssOOOO men, He continues to sacrifice
his men prodigally. That is the great
est attacking force ever thrown into
hattie. and it means that the German
militarists are going to win or quit
This spring or summer They mean to
dictate peace terms or let their states
men make the best Of the situation.
British Losses Heavy
The German claim that they have
esutured over 100000 British prison.
ers, with 1900 guns, and though these
figures are probably considerably ex
asrerated. the British must necessarily
have suffered heavy losses. Besides,
the enemy has taken or destroyed num-
dreds of miles of light railways and
captured or forced the British to de-
stroy thousands of tons .of supplies
and ammunition. The enemy has capt
ured over a score of aerodromes.
There is no army better equipped and
supplied than the British, and the
Withdrawals from the Somme and Ar
donment of material, the loss of which
would be disastrous to any other army.
Thousands Of French who lived in
towns, villages and hamlets behind
what some were pleased to regard as an
"impenetrabe front" are now moving
southward toward Paris with the few
things they rescued from the new tidal
war wave. Thousands of acres of grain
have been destroyed.
81 Behind. the British lines two never
ending streams flow. Tired mud-cov-
cred Tomnlies who are undaunted and
unafrsid, some whistling, some singing
and some joking, plod forward to the
battle, light and heavy guns rumbling
behind them, and streaming field kitch
ems keep pace with the men. Anxious
generals dash by in motor cars. Dis
patch bearers race along in motorcy-
cies, missing death by a width of a
hair
The other stream moves slower; it
is the backward movement, and it con-
tains the ambulances driven by heavy
eyed men, groups of white faced men,
heir uniforms cut and torn, their
Aeads. arms and shoulders bandaged,
'rudglng slowly rearward.
Thousands Being Killed
In all the long years of fighting the
poplar-lined roads of Northern France
nave seen no sights comparable with
nose OF to-day. In the early days Of
me war, when the writer's knew less
ABOUT the figures. when hundred thou
sano men or dollars seemed a mill
,oh' stories were told OF the great
.asses IN battles which people know
nov were unconsciously exaggerated.
oos To-day there is no fear of exag-
se,atlon. Tens of thousands are being
Wounded. 'S'''e
when the full cost of this battle is
gs'd exhaustion will surely follow.
~. me armies are fighting for the finish
I sasIe - is no mistake about that. Cen
..Sl ,halg's order to the army says that
s;ah aach ana means that much. He orders
ms men to stand firm and to fight the
sSasny INTO the ground. The British
lave sase 'neir backs against the wall" be-
ne-ss lney must protect the Channel
sOa's; sO; Dunkirk, Calais and Boulogne,
IN. u 'hsy must keep an iron ring around
Ths. ,s corner whatever else happens.
tisri. mus, not only hold these par
Sai - ports. but enough territory from
'siiI waien to debouch Otherwise America
VIII not De in time.
Never Faced More Odds
.le british always fight best in the
o-s. o.. ditcn- They never have faced
ig..sNI odds, but they thrive on pun
IN ;,neh1' r Great Britain has been slow
n ,:..Sssuring ,.:.s her enemy. 1t was not
PI.rlln the soldiers from France and
TsaaoeIs; they never underrated Fritz
s.:ney smiled when they read tales OF
o, .s DioAen morale and of his shortage
II. ammunition and food and his desire
''f surrender. '' ''
e,;,.sa e,;.slaconhdence and false optimism
tb%u tbs,s only in civilian camps. Sc
vii -. 70 no Tear that sudden change
ths p1use lowering Of the morale ci
'T British forces.
sf t"ssm trnam Goes not beat s-mies-lach
nspepa, shortage of guns and self.
nsh. "eceney 90. Within the last fort
d.. aandreds Of thousands Of sol
rssser els these shores-for obvious
rsinsnshu numbers cannot be giyen-but
xsiyst xsisesments tnts should soon make thei,