The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-07-28

being the restorati ton of Belgium and Serbia and the return to Germany of her lost colonies This appeal, made on August Is, was answered by PresSi- dent Wilson on August z9 when the President announced that the German government as constituted could not be believed and that the United States was ready to enter into nego otiations when the German people showed they desired peace and when they spoke through any authority which would be representative of them
 The German answer to the pope's ap- peal reached the Vatican on September 2l- It expressed hope that further war fare could be averted through the good offices of the pope. but declined to enter into any engagement to- meet what the allies had declared to be theIf minimum war aims
 GERMAN PEACE OFFER German efforts to secure a peace which would leave to Germany all the fruits or her victory gained through Russia $ collapse, and with Belgium and large portions of France to ebe used as pawns at the council table, began with the ad- l dress of Count Czernin, then Austrian foreign minister, at Brest- -Litoysk, on December 26. The keynote of the ad- dress was general reace without annex aticns and indemnities.
 On January s, President Wilson, ad- dressing Congress said that the United Sta tes must know for whom the German rulers were speaking. The address vas a complement to an address made on l January 5 by David Iloyd George, the ! British premier.
 l To these addresses reply was made by I perial Chancellor Won Hertling of Ger many and Count Czernin The latter was pacific and concilia tory in tone while I tha a lt1Ai to (sar
 man sword" showed he was speaking | for the miiitarists of the Germanic | powers.
 -FOUR PRINCIPLES HANDICAPPED | To these replies there was rejoinder | by President Wilson who, on February
 IL again addressing Congress. laid down what have come to be known the
 be based. Briefly, thsse principles were; l Final settlement must be based on es- l sential justice
 | Peoples and provinces are not to be l bartered about like chattels.
 | Every territorial settlement must be l for the benefit and in the interest of l the populations concerned.
 | All weIl-defined national aspra tioes l shall be met with the utmost sausfac- ton consistent with the future peace. 1 Pope Benedict, in . pastoral letter is- sued at Easter, 6lsde another appeal for concord among the peoples of the world, l but it brought fo tn no tangible results. | At the Polms behest prayers for peace were offered in Catholic churches l throughout the world on St Peters day, | June 28.
 | In April there came revelations from Paris that Emperor Charles Of Austria | had written letters to Prince Sixtus of ] Bourbon. a relative. In these communi- ca tons the Austrian monarch conceded the claim of France to Alsace and LOT raine and hinted that peace overtures
 would be welcomed. As the result of this, Count Czernin, the Austrian for eign minister. was removed from office, l The most recent addresses on the sub ject of peace have been delivered in the German Reichstag, one by Dr. Rich
 ard Won Kuehlmann, the foreign minis ter. and the other by Imperial Chancel- Tor Won Hertiing. The formers sensa- tional admission that the sword by it. self could not bring peace resulted in his resignation, and Won HertlinT's ad- dress voiced the sentiment that as long as the allies were intent upon destroy ing Germany the war must 20 on.
 THE ENEMY OFFENSIVES
 Last winter it became known that the
 Germans were massing forces on the western front. Reports came that large
 units were training behind the lines ant that new ana more LeTTiDie engines Cl iwar than had been known before were to be used in German effort to breai
 the allied lines crush their armies ant
 force them to nsake peace. The drv,
 was well advertised and even the plac
 where it was to be launched was knowl
 with compa rative certainty
 On the morning of March q the Ger / mans began their attack from the vicin ity of Arras, on the north, to La Fere n centarino fheir heQV
 jest columns against the British forces
 under General Cough at St Quentin
 Staggering before the impact of tn 1 blow, the British army fell back rapidly
 For eight days the Germans poure'
 through the old allied line in an effor
 to crush the British and drive a wedg
 between them and the French. who wer
 holding the lines to the south. The came a period of req ction and the Ger
 mans came to stop. They had drive
 ahead for 25 miles. along a front eX
 tending more than 50 miles before the
 were halted
 Hardly had their legions been hel
 before Amiens, than new offensive wa
 begun in Flanders, April 2 It swept tn
 British hack through Armentieres, bu did not break their lines. The British
 with the French who were rushed u
 to the front stopped the Germans afte
 they had reached the hills southwest c
 Ypres There. on April 9, the German
 suffered a terrible defeat that halte
 their offensive in that quarter.
 FOCH IN SUPREME COMMAND Tn the midst of the drive in the secto
 toward Arp ter the allied nations toN- vitally important step. They named Ger eral Foch, hero of the first battle of tn Marne. generalissirlo of the allied force on the western front, which inclu6e all the lines n 1talv as vol as in E>r0 nc'
 Even the Murman coast, in norther I Russia. has been held to be under hi command.
 After a period of auiet the German attacked once more, this time on tn I Aiaoe river, and in serea days the reached the Marno at Chateau Thie-r, ! making penetratlna of ahont 2S mile At the Marne they were checked an the impetus of the how WIS broken, With hardly days pause for rec ganlzation of their forces. the German 5 again attacked, choosne the sector be \ tween Montdidier and Noyon, on th T southern side of the salient driven int the allied line during the March O fensive, as the stage of their onslaugh \ This offensive ran for five days and wa stopped north of Compiegne after losst which were described as unprecedente had been inflicted upon the Germans. From June l4 until July 15 the German were engaged in shiftig their forces an then they again struck. This time u b line of attack was from Chateau Thierr E eastward, around the north of Rhein and down the Vesde river to Prunay an from that village eastward to Massige \ This attack at tho close of the year d' U veloped into one of the most ambitious E the German strokes.
 MI German forces crossed the Marne ov' a wide front, but were hnah'e to ma' ground against American troops nes