Emmons County record., 1918-09-19

For three months 1t was common talk
In Germany, you remember, that the
great offensive would start in October,
and so the Itnlians believed 1t was all
bluf and when we advanced on Riga
they were sure of 1t. They thought we
were SO occupied there that we could
pay no attention to them. and 30 we
caught them napping!"
The kaiser's face fairly beamed az
he dwelt on the strategy Of his gen.
erals and the successful outcome Of
their Italian campaign.
For months Italy had been engaged
In planting her big guns on the noun
tain-tops and gathering mountains Of
ammunition and supplies and food and
hospital supplies in the valleys below.
in preparation for their twelfth Isonzo
offensive.
1--WE let them go ahead and waited
patiently for the right moment. They
thought that their contemplated offen-
sive must inevitably bring our, weaker
neighbor to her knees and force her to
make a separate peace!" BY "our
weaker neighbor" the kaiser, Of course,
referred to Austria. and how accurate
was his Information regarding Italy's
expectations and how easily they
might have been realized were subse-
quently revealed by the publication Of
thnt famous letter from Kaiser Karl
to Prince Sextus.
"And then," the kaiser went ON,
"when their great offensive WINS within
week of being launched we broke
through their lines on n slope 5000
feet high, covered with snow, where
they couldn't bring up their reserves
or new guns, and we surrounded
them!
1--WE took practically everything they
possessed-food enough to feed our
entire army without calling upon our
own supplies ut all. Never before had
our armies seen such an accumulation
Of ammunition. I must certainly 60
down to see 1t.
1--WE cut off their northern retreat
and, as they swung their army to the
south, we captured 10000 of them up
to their knees in the rice fields. One
of the grent mistakes they made was
in carrying their civilian refugees with
them-clogging their narrow roads and
impeding the retreat Of their soldiers.
We had taken possession Of their most
productive regions, and their retreat
was through territory which yielded
them nothing. Just think Of that re-
treating army thrown upon the already
impoverished inhabitants Of that sec
ton. Why, they'll starye to death!
''Everywhere we went we found
their big guns abandoned. In one
small village We came upon n gun dec
grated with flowers and surmOunted
with portrait of Emperor Franz Jo-
sef. 1t had been put there by the Ital-
ian inhabitants of the village to show
their happiness at being released ut
last from the yoke Of the intolerable
Italian lawyer government! How ter
rlbly the Italians must have treated
them! Italy will never get over this
defeat. This was real help from God
Now, we've got the nllies!" and he
struck his left hand with his right with
great force to emphasize his apparent
conviction that the turning point in
the war had been reached with Italy's
collapse.
That the kaiser now regarded HIM
| self and his armies as invincible felt,
and feared that the success in Italy
! would be followed at the first favOra-
BILE opportunity by gigantic offensive
on the western front.
Indeed, on subsequent occasion,
when he called ut my Office for further
treatment, and again referred to the
Italian triumph, he remarked: "If our
armies could capture 100000 Italians
and those 100000 might just rs well be
dead as far as Italy is Commemorative
can do the same thing against our
enemies on the west !"
/ This was one of the interviews was
so anxious to report to the representa-
tivcs of the American intelligence de-
/ partment ut our. legation in Copen-
hagen and. later On, when finally ar.
rived In that city. related 1t in great
detail to them. l remained in Copen.
hagen eleven days and during the
greater part of that time was being
interviewed by one or another of the
representatives of our intelligence de-
partment. Exactly two months later,
on March 81, the western offensive
broke out as had feared.
called at Potsdam day W two la
ter to attend the kaiser again, and
found him still in the same triumphant
mood, and so anxious was he to get
down to Italy that he called at my Of
flee three times that week to enable
me to complete my work on his affect
ed tooth.
On November 28 the kaiser called at
my Office for what proved to be his
last sitting. had received word on
the 10th that my pass for America had
been granted and that I could leave
on the Both. and accordingly told the
kaiser that 1t was my intention to leave
Tor Copenhagen on that day.
l explained that I was COMPLETELY