Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1918-03-25
"T1e Decisive Moment"


A Paris dispatch says: THE pass
word of the hour is confidence"
The ground from which the Brit
irh forces have retired is carpeted
with reuton dead.
Military observers. called to wit
ness the advertised Prussian
drive" estimate the enemy losses in
the first two days at from so to 80 per
cent. Of the forces sent forward. This
is improbable yet not impossible when
IL is considered that the defense has
been planned to make every inch Of
the ground released as costly as pos
sible to the enemy. Men of the mass
ed attacks are mown down with all
kinds Of guns while "a similar recep-
ton is prepared in the rear; when
what is left Of the British defenders
retire. abandoning their guns. and the
Performance is repeated.
British officers estimate the enemy
losses at three to one Of tho army Of
defense.
The consensus Of opinion in Paris,
London and Washington reflects a
feeling OF confidence that the war
masters have staked all on a single
mighty throw; that Germany has
committed herself to the most gigan-
TIC gamble in history. with the lnten-
ton Of making this. as the Kaiser
himself put it. the decisive moment
of the war. ON that has sis the allies re-
main confident that thu Teuton forces
must lose the battle and with it the
war.
In London press and public are
unanimous in the opinion that the
nslure of this srive will mean the
f0Y ynt-waf,
The Germans themselves have in
listed for months that the real Of
fensive was to BE made on the west
6n front. This offensive has been ad-
vsrtised in circus fashion, and the
Il German papers have spoken of it us
axttled and inevitable fact. like the
procession Of the equinoxes. just pe.
fore the attack began on the Brit
ish lines along a 50-mile front, Hin
denburg had telegraphed To the Posen
Provincial Council that. God willing,
We shall overcome the enemy in the
west and clear the way to a general
peace The Kaiser, in a message t.
the Rhenish Provincial Council. has
ecstatically declared that we are at
the decisive moment of the war and
one Of the great moments of German
history"
No one doubts. after three days of
unequalled slaughter and sacrifice.
that this is the much advertised often
slve, out of which the war masters
+ expect to bring German victory. At
the same time lighting has increased
on the whole Italian front. The Ger
man official reports, after giving lht
place of Importance to the action be-
tween Cambria and La Fere, refer to
artillery battles lin full force 'on
broad sectors of the western front"
from the army group OF Crown
Prince Rupprecht. 1.-The artillery duel
increased in intensity between Dix
nude and La Bassee. From the army
group Of the Crown Prince on the
southern bank of the Disc, north of
Rheims and in Champagne, 1.-The art
o hiery FIRE frequently increased" From
'he army group of Gen. Won Gallwitz,
the artillery duel before Nerdun as
sumed great violence in the evening
While fighting is severe all along
'he line, the supreme test is on the
oritish right. menacing the French
ief' and toward Paris. The north
OF the British line holds.
The war masters are relentless in
the sacrifice OF their own forces. They
appear willing TO dump the last man
into the hopper of war if, at his fall.
'he Kaiser and his group may be left
IN sublime victory. masters of Europe
ana dominating the world. The kais-
Ct Is In supreme command. expecting
70 20 down in history as the victor
III tne worlds greatest and most de-
'''ivs battle.
y" the other hand there is no anxi
Guy Concerning the result in London.
even IN Paris, where shells from
the ne" German gun are falling after
."se Of - miles through space
ms Nirprise' which the Germans
'eea Promising is only an Incl
"' VI 1erman ingenuity and de.
p' IL use can have no othe,
N tns war than air raids have
'"e '&ing Of a few innocen
+. nve' IA a''eept to create fear Of tn
oenao DOW. and revealing y
y s0ninenso Of every humane o
nsFsl constellation in the attainmen
2 s''n'A- Pay's the fallin