The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-05-03

works, and the uncOnquerabIe
 They know, too, the reliance they can place in an emergency upon the unstinted support of the Poilus, the "75's'' and those cunning old strat- egists and tacticians the French Gen. erals. We have never failed our Allies, nor they us; although, to be quite candid, this is perhaps the first time that we should have felt inn pelled to invite their assistance, if, with their usual delicacy, they had not taken it upon themselves to in- tervene uninvited. Of course, it is quite as much the fate of their armies, their country, and of their beautiful capital, Paris, that Queen of Cities, as it is of our armies, of the Channel ports on both sides of our Empire that is at stake. For what the Kaiser and Hindenburg, in their lust for a German peace are now attempting is to crush both armies and both coun- tries, as it were, at single blow. They have undertaken mighty things be- fore in the field, these two arch-Huns but never so tremendous thing as this.
 Cost To Hindenburg.
 Against Russia in 1915, as against Italy last year, Hindenburg it must be admitted, won strategical as well as tactical victories of the first mag nitude. Yet they led him nowhere, neither to Petrograd nor to Venice, although he had to deal with op ponents who were far from being so strong numerically or mechanic ally as are the British, French and Americans on the Western front.
 And what so far has he gained here and at what cost? He broke through the Russian lines on the Dunajec by using a phalanx of 2S divisions strong, through the Italian. lines on the Is- onzo by using a phalanx of IA divi- Bions only. In each case within a few days from the start-that is, dur ing the first stage of the offensive he was able to claim a haul of guns running into several thousands and of prisoners into several hundreds of thousands. What now can he claim to have acheived by his employment of of a phalanx numbering nearly 75 divisions against two British armies at their purely normal strength, a force not much over one-fourth o1 his own? Even if we accept his own estimate, he has captured in all rear guards totaning perhaps two full di- visions Cncluding wounded and dying men) and a few hundred guns Gin cluding trench mortars) in a cores bonding proportion
 He has neither surrounded nor de- Btroyed the British Army in the pro- cess, but he has lost, in striving after the annihtlation of our Third and Fifth Armies (the former so largely composed of Scottish regiments), any: thing from one-third to one-half of his entire phalanx, 25o,000 casualties be- ing a very conservative estimate o1 the enemy losses incurred. He him. self admits that they have been com paratively heavy" meaning obviousl, an comparison with our own.
 Anxiety In Berlin.
 can well believe it, and under mand the note of anxiety which is re vealed in such statement by Der lin. If it cost H1ndenburg a quarter of million men out of three-Quarter of million shock troops at his dis posal to push back two British armie at normal 6trenth about Is miles, an, to evict these Comparatively weak forces from one of their defensiv fronts, what will it cost him to breal through a much deeper and nor elaborate Zone-the old Foch-Hai 1ine-far better prepared than tn former one and held by reinforce garrisons? Weakened by his initia onslaughts, Hindenburg is now U against an apprecciably stronger op ponent, and Haig reports on the sev enth day of the battle the enemy wer thrown back all along the Britis front. The cost of second "throug break" should therefore be prohib tive, while the chances of his findfn or hoping to find some compensate for his losses in the annihilation | capture or destruction of one or mol British armies are henceforth pral tically nil
 Moreover. if the worst should Ill expectedly happen-he should brea our old line as he did the new-thel are other links behind and furth, behind these. There would stand extremes the famous Allied gener; reserve, or army of manouevre, con posed of French, British, America and perhaps Italian troops, and con manded by the famous victor of u Marne, General Foch.
 The German military critics a uol ntue apprenenslVe or this arn of manoeuvre which they compute
 so full divisions, or nearly one m
 lion men. They were hoping tn some big proportion of it would
 forced to intervene in order to pr vent the rout of the 3rd and 9th Br
 ish armies-the rout which did n occur!-or else to take their pIa after the troops of General Byng al Cough had been duly caught, su rounded, and forced to lay doy their arms en masse. That mig
 have been well worth the sacrifi of the 25O,000 German storm trooi
 but so far there has been no na
 whatever for, the army of manoeWa
 to intervene, and the German GeaE
 Staff must be gnashing their tsz
 over this grevious miscalculation.