Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-10-06
FOCH'S STRIKING GAINS
DURING PAST WEEK
. Enemy Unable to Counter Because
of His Scarcity of Reserves.
BULGARs OUT OF THE WAR
Quitting of Quadruple Alliance
May Bring Sweeping Results.
Austria's Dilemma
Writ Large.
BY OLIVER OWEN KUHN.

The greatest military retreat
OF all time is imminent.
The Germans must fall back
on the western front.
The reasons are plain.
No army can maintain itself
on a more than two-hundred-
and-hfty-mile line under cease
less enemy attacks without re-
serves. The reserve power of
Germany is almost gone. No
military command can make a
successful fight over such eN-
tended territory, outmanned
and outgunned, unless morale is
OF the highest. And the German
morale is low. These are the
fundamentals in the western
front situation of today.
:: ::
The allied armies under the COM
mand of Field Marshal Foch are CIV
ing the enemy
Foch Giving not a moments
Enemy No Rest. aIone the line
from Flanders to Verdun the enemy
is SO depressed and diSorganiZed
under the constant hammering that
he has been una BILE to defend a single
point for fear of weakening positions
at another. When such attempts have
been made the weak point has been
hammered for wide gains.
The maneuvering strength of the
German army is almost a thing of the
past. The Germans under present
conditions either must retreat, and
thereby gain chance of certain de-
fensive mobility and maneuver, or
they must be torn to ribbons attempt
ing to hold a wide line where they
are faced by an enemy superior in
every respect.
The big German retreat must come
unless the members of the German
command are madmen, or they antici-
pate early complete capitulation to
the enemy. The latter contingency is
hardly to be countenanCed when it
may be plainly seen that the militar-
lists of Germany are not yet convinced
that they cannot obtain a draw in
the present struggle, a condition alb
solutely essential to the perpetuation
of their own power.
But there has been one condition
staying the hand of the military COM
mand. The trend of public opinion in
Germany has precluded the possibility
of retreat on wide scale, until the
peoples of Germany have been con-
WINGED that the present government is
to reform and that the people them
selves are to have voice in the affairs
of state. Through the cabinet changes
during the past week. the elevation
of Prince Macmillan to the chancel-
lorShip. DIR. Solf to the foreign minis
try and the placing of several So
called pacifStS and moderateS in the
cabinet. the German government may
hope to lull public antagonism and
offset the view constantly growing
that the kaiser and his regime always
intend to override the wishes of the
people in continuing the war to an
end fatal to German interests.
With this show at reform the Ger
man command can give the signal for
the wide retreat on the west front
feeling that such military maneuver
'tacit admittance of the failure of
Teutonic aspirations) will be received
in better grace than should the re-
treat be attempted under old govern
mental conditions.
During the past week the allied
armies have been striking fiercely in
Flanders to the west of Lille, between
Cambria and st. Quentin, between St.
Quentin and LaFere. on the western
end of the Chemin des Danes, to the
north of Rheims. in the Champagne
and between the Mouse and the Ar
~ onne.
The retirement of the Germans in
hxyf he D.;