The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-02-09

where on the western front Three
] times recently, once during the past
week, the allied forces have made i'm
portant gains on the Italian front
This week it was Italian troops alone
that carried out a highly successful at
tack, taking some five or six thousand
prisoners. If the German troops that
led the Invasion of Italy last fall had
been at the front still, it is hardly
probable that the Italians who fled
before them at that time could gain
! so readily now. 1t looks very much
as if the German troops had been
transferred to some other front.
Keep Your Eye on All Fronts.
However. while giving all due ere
dance to the opinion of French and
British experts as to the concentration
| of troops in France and to circum-
stances tending to verify that view, it
will be well to remember that sur
| prise attack on any one of the other
fronts is entirely possible. If the Ger
man troops have been withdrawn from
Italy they may have been transferred
to Macedonia or Turkey instead of to
| France. While the probability seems
strong that France will be the object
| of the forthcoming attack, it will not
| do to overlook the allied fronts at
Salonica, in Palestine, in Mesopotamia,
| or even in Italy, as possible scenes of
| the coming struggle.
The Strength of the Armies.
1
lation as to the relative strength of
the contending armies. None of the
armies engaged in the great war are
/ nearly as large as has popularity been
| supposed. Reports of the number of
| German troops transferred to the west
ern front have been greatly exagger-
| ated. 1t is true that there is no longer
any eastern front Nevertheless, large
German forces will be required in
| Russia and Poland for a long time
to come. Russia is in state of an
archy and the populace of the terri
| tories occupied by Germany and Aus
| tria is hostile to the conquerors- I'm
| der these circumstances it will require
a considerable military force to main
tain order and prevent ravages by out
law bands.
With all the troops she has been
able to transfer from the east, Ger
many has, at most, not much more
than two million men on the western
front. Opposed to this force are
something like a million British
troops and a million French. Amer
lea is supposed to have nearly a half
million troops in France, but only
about two hundred thousand Of these
are fighting men, the rest being rail-
1 various sorts engaged in constructing
cantonments. building railroads and
handling supplies.
German Victory Improbable
On the whole it looks as if the op-
posing forces were pretty evenly
matched. The Germans will have no
greater advantage either in men or in
guns than they had at Verdun and
nothing like the advantage they had
when the British blocked their drive
toward the channel ports in the fall
of 1914.
German Strikes Crushed.
Preparatory to its military opera
/
crushed the strikes of the working
men with an iron hand. All affected
areas were placed under martial law
early in the week and the laborers
were compelled. at the muzzle of the
gun, to return to work
Submarine Still Greatest Menace.
In spite of the optimistic statements
of the allied admiralties, the submar-
inc continues the gravest menace to
the cause of the western democracies
The long nights and short days of the
past three months have been very fav-
orable to shipping and very difficult
for submarines. It is a mitch easier
matter for merchant vessel to run
thru the submarine zone under cover
of night, when the nights are longer
| than the days, than it is in the sum
/ ner when there are sixteen OF seven
ten hours of daylight and only sever
or eight of darkness. The situation is
hopeful, but the supreme need of the
: hour is merchant ships and submar-
: inc patrols. An approximate solution
l of the submarine menace will give
certain victory to the allies in 1919
: Steadily increasing losses of shipping
may be expected during the coming
2 months.
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