El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1918-08-17
GERMANS PLAN
GREAT RETREAT
Must Shorten Line on West
ern Front in Order to Re
sist Greater Forces.
Continued From Page one.)


towns run into each other; If German
strategy leads them to withdraw
across this territory they are capa-
bic OF razing every house in regions
populated by several millions Of
people
This prospect Of wholesale destruc-
ton viii be used by the Germans as
q threat to induce France TO make
peace: and, from the purely mill
tary standpoint. Ludendorff with rea-
son might expect TO delay for long
time by such frightfulness the day
Of atonement for his armies. our
troops, as they advanced through the
destruction belt, would have to carry
even their water with them. rebuild
the roads and railways, put up huts
for billets amid the ruins Of once
prosperous homes and complete enOr-
nous engineering tasks while the
enemy can fail back upon towns ana
cities intact 20 house and feed his
men, upon roads and railways in per
feet order, excepting as we bomb
them from the air.
Perhaps there exists in Ger
many men wise enough TO see,
not only the horror, but the mad
ness of all this. The cry of the
of such calamities might perhaps
be ignored, for the Germans can
scarcely get themselves more
hated than they are now; but Al
lied, and especially American, sell
enfifie and engineering resources
are Erent enough to overcome in
time any Obstacles that the re-
firing Germans may make for Us,
and their prospects for ultimate
success would be IN no way i'm
proved by the delays faat they
Individually have il in their power
TO impose on the ultimate reck-
OninE-
The real danger Of the probable
horror tactics Of Ludendorff when he
passes definitely 10 the defensive is
not military, but political This
sketch OF the military position next
year is not mere idle speculation. II
explains the German peace offensive
that IS expected in the late sumner
or autumn, ana shows as well some
Of the arguments the enemy VIII use.
FeeIers Are Put Gut.
Feelers have already been put out
TO this effect wei, suppose we
can't destroy your armies. We admit
It We have won great victories, but
we have not succeeded in getting
decision Very well. We have taken
all your key positions along the front.
we can fail back on those, or on
stronger ones We viii do so, If you
like, and you can come and break
your heads against them But is il
worth while Can you hope to sue
coed where LudendOrff, the great Lu-
dendorff himself. failed
Threat OF Destruction.
And there is something else. We
Germans are cultured peace loving
people, who would not harm n spar
row. but. II YOU French and your
friends are still mad with blood lust
IL you are still animated by a 'patho-
logical rage for self mutilatiOn. do
You know what we propose TO dO2
We VIII destroy every house. cut
and those OF your friends the Bel
gians- You have complained Of the
ruin we have wrought already Our
unrivaled staristiciaus have compiled ]
tables about it ALL we have destroyed I
one fifteenth Of one per cent Of the .
houses in the occupied country in the I
west You viii make peace with US /
or weu destroy the remaining /.
90 1915 per cent"
This argument, with the percentage /
as quoted, was actually used by a 4
highly placed German in Switzerland ]
the other day to a friend Of mine. II /
is one which civilians in the allied Z
countries should seriously consider ]
the threat is terrible TO France. far I
more than a BON bardmeur of Paris. z
IT is for the friends Of France and Bel I
GUM to sustain them. 10 serve them /
TO make any sacrifices. 10 promise /
that when the time comes for recon
struction we viii help them 10 the /
limit OF our resources Military men
have long discussed the political I
bearing Of the final German retreat ]
France and Belgium, with I
ali its hideOus possibilities; the STRAIT I
egy Of this campaign indicates that D
the hour OF this last attempt TO ter I
rorize US into peace may not be dis /
tant more than six or eight months. ]
America to Lend Moral Strength.
Attempts viii be made TO detach j
one ally from the others, by prom i
Using not only tempting peace terms, ]
but to spare her territory from fur /
Their arrangement, and her captive I
citizens from still worse horrors than I
they have endured Now. IL may be I
France. now italy. now Belgium; all I
such attempts have failed in the past. I
and they have been many; but never /
has the threat made been so terrible /
as that now apprehended. and IL viii /
be to rich and generous America that ]
our tortured allies will look for ma I
terial and more sustenance when the I
tempter comes and whispers 10 them /
In what must be an hour Of mortal ]
agony. - Copyright. 1918. The Nc /
-lure Newspaper Syndicate-)