Catoctin clarion., 1918-06-27
THURSDAY, JUNE p, 1918.
The War Situation.
Enemies OF Germany Now See
ing Daylight After Four
Years OF Uncertainty.
by ]. F. E., in the Baltimore Sum-


The tide of the war has definitely
changed. After four years of uncertain
ty. of successive crises, of alternating
brightness and gloom the current OF
events which had been running more
heavily against the Allies since the COL
lapse of Russia, the downfall OF Rouma-
MIA and the opening of the unrestricted
submarine campaign, the enemies OF
Germany have begun to see broad day.
light ahead.
From this time forward it is the conf
dent expectation of the whole group OF
Allied Governments that the military
power of Germany will decline, whereas
the strength of the Allies, reinforced
from the almost untouched reservoir OF
America, will steadily grow until the
final crash.
This is the confident view taken OF the
situation as a whole by the higher otfi-
cials of the American Government and 1t
no doubt reflects the view taken by the
statesmen and military leaders in London
Paris, Rome and Toxic. And the conf
dence now expressed is not based wholly
upon the brilliant victory just achieved
by the Italians. That has great deal
to do with the feeling just now, of course,
but there are other elements in the stu
alton which are equally important.
Here are some of the larger phases OF
the war which are gratifying to the
whole group of Allied powers:
/. Austria has just sustained an over
whelming defeat at the hands OF the
Italians.
g. The economic structure, particularly
that dealing with foodstuffs, is breaking
in both Austria and Germany, and these
nations are straining every nerve to hold
together until the new harvests come in.
3. The German offensive on the west
ern front after three months of furious
fighting has been stopped for the time
without the loss of a single strategic
center of value.
4. The submarine is being conquered
by slow but certain degrees and while
losses continue to pile up, they are grow
ing less month by month.
S. America is sending troops to France
at the rate of about 100, 900 month, the
monumental overseas troop movement in
the history of the world.
6. The Central Powers have failed
signally to capitalize their conquest of
Russia and Roumania either in terms of
food supplies or of fresh reserves made
up of Russian veterans
These are all favorable facts. They
are all indisputable facts. Germany and
Austria themselves grant them in their
official and their unofficial statements.
OF course, the Central Powers insist that
there other facts far less satisfactory to
their enemies and this to an extent is
true, but the burden of the war situation
is undeniably favorable to the Allied
cause.
The year 1918 opened rather dismally
for the Allies. There is no use being
blind to that fact. Russia had just cav
ed in. Germany and Austria were max.
ing plans to appropriate her and had
created the widest enthusiasm in all
quarters of the Central Powers over the
prospect, first of food, and next of ulti-
mate and sweeping victory. Roumania
was compelled to sue for peace at the
same time and greedy hands were out
stretched from Berlin to Vienna to tear
her to pieces.
The Italian army had been thrown fiat
on its bed by the Austro-German offen-
sive. 1t had given up all it had gained
in two years campaigning and stood at
bay on the Piave river protected from
route only by an Alpine winter. On top
of all this was the continued drain upon
Allied shipping through losses by hostile
submarines. The shipbuilding program
in the United States was making slow
headway, that in Great Britain was al
most at standstill and American aid
seemed remote indeed.
Then, too, there was the threatened
German offensive in France, drive to
be carried out by the consolidated east
ern and western armies. Never before
had the Allies faced the whole German
army upon single battlefield. an army
moreover reinforced by prisoners of war
held by Russia and there was natural
nervousness over the prospect.
But in six months the whole aspect of
the war was changed. Neither Russia