The Washington herald., 1918-04-26
The Hun Resumes.

! Ludendorf has resumed the pounding OF inc
Franco-British line. The Teutonic offensive has
fIared up again, stripped, however, OF its initial
momentum Nothing is behind it save the lumber
;pg. sIedeehammer pressure of men driven to their
doom in waves and relays and cataract+ke rushes.
That type of warfare is enough to make Frederick
the Great whom the German Emperor emulates,
turn in his grave 1t converts war into terms OF
the slaughter-house.
Worst of all, from the enemy's point of view,
there are indsputable signs that the resumption OF
the onslaught is forced" affair. The German
people were becoming restive under the curious
ouiet on the Western front for the past week
were demanding to know the quality and the pro-
portions Of the victory that had been promised
, them and which, according to their venal press,
was about to be cnched by the magic-worker Hin
denburg That was embarrassing Interrogation.
There was only one way to get away from It, IN
the present temper of the German mind, and that
was to start the clangor OF guns and the killing OF
men agan-and that apparently Ludendorf has
done under forced draft, under artificial array
OF circumstances which he had no control,
and yet of which he was deadly afraid, and which
had little relation the strategic values existing
on the Western front between the two opposing
forces.
The offensive has broken out anew in two
places-near KENNEL Hill, which is of the
fanks OF Messines Ridge, and in the sector south
east of Amiens the strategic railroad junction in
the rear of Albert, Bapaume and Peronne. In
Hangard village there reports that considerable
numbers of American troops, brgaded with the
French, have been engaged Hangard has been
captured by the Boche but there is evidence that
the French evacuation OF the town is OF any
significance from the strategic point OF view. 1t
is evidence that the French were at no particular
pains to hold it, SINCE after recapturing it, they
hrou No will o
The new offensive has yet to show any real
) punch" The British positions edst of AmenS
also have been attacked. In the fighting around
Nillers-Bretonncux, picturesque feature OF the
struggle was British tanks flaming forth to meet
German tanks. There is every evidence that Tom
my Atkins than a match for Fritz at
tbis sort of thing. At any rate both in this sec
tor and at KENNEL Hill the British have held their
ground and the enemy has failed to reach even the
limited objcctivcs at which he apparently aim
ing.
II is safe to say that the lu OF the past week
in France and Flanders has written the certain
doom OF any real chance that Ludcndorff has OF
. reaching victory in his hgh-flown scheme-it has
enabled the British and French to consolidate their
positions, to put their forces into proper alignment
and TO prepare rebuttals for the styles and
fashions in frontal attacks which the enemy intro
dueed when he FIRST struck along the Sommc last
month.
All of this is written between the lines in the
statement which Winston Spencer Churchill made
to the house OF commons yesterday. He said that
all Of the guns which the British had lost in the
offensive-about 1000 artillery and between 4,ooo
and 5000 machine guns-had been replaced the
front. The whole line had been re-established and
restored.
The dual pressure to which the enemy has been
compelled explains ITSELF 1t is an often
sive of divided objectves, without concentrated
purpose. perhaps born OF the fear that Foch is
about to strike with counter stroke which can be
forestaed only by dual and triple attack at va
rious weak points OF the allied line. But most oi
all it is meant to be to the fear and
anxiety of the German civilian population that the
offensive which is their grand and eliminating
hope OF victory has been stopped Every village
captured, every inch OF terrain advanced has
valuable advertising purposes at home-and the
German general staff knows how to introduce the
mailed fist into publicity. But fake" news, even
when backed by "reekirg tube and iron shard," has
sharp limitations in Influence even in Germany, and
the time when even the mallet-headed civilians o
Prussia will balk at it is fast approaching.
BUY BONDS