Evening star., 1918-02-03

broken agreement with the Russians.
whereby no troops were to be moved to
the western or other arenas OF war
lpending the armistice. Men have been
! sent to the interior of Germany on fur
Tough and then reassigned to units on
the western front. Still another ex-
ample Of insincerity and trickery in any
agreement the Teutons may make, At
4 any rate, there is no question that the
man power Of the allies Will be put TO
serious test even though greatest con-
fdence is voiced in England and France
that the armies Of the alliesswiu be able
to breast the storm tide and turn the
lTeuton back from desired goals.
The Teutonic blow is expected to pc
directed from the region OF the Rhine
Marne canal. or in the Champagne
against the French while 1t Is believed
the chief effort against the British Will
fall in the Ypres or Lens region. Ihat
q double blow possibly is. IN the minds
iof the Teutonic command Is indicated
by concentrations in these particular
During the past week the allies. as
we'll as the Germans, have conducted
many raids. while patrol encounters are
of daily occurrence on practically the
whole line. The Germans have gained
some minor successes in these act1Vi-
ties. likewise have the allies. The ac-
tivity of the entente flying corps is
greater than at any time since the bat
ties of the Somme. Not only have
scores of German machines been driven
down, but German concentrations and
military works behind the lines nave
been the targets of hundreds of tons
of bombs thrown overheard by entente
laviators.
The general character of operations
during the past two weeks indicates
extreme nervousness on the part of all
ibelligerent armies. These minor activt-
ties furnish few thrills from the stand
point of the average newspaper reader.
but they are fraught with significance.
BY sounding here and then there. weak
lpointS in enemy positions may be de-
Itermined and much valuable informa-
tion obtained through captures made.
/ Though the allies hold extremely good
defensive positions and their chance of
trepelling the enemy and inf1fcting un-
told casualties is excellent. some mill
tary critics are inclined to the belief
that the present activities of entente
armies herald entente offensive
Some are inclined to believe. however.
THAT the entente powers have most to
gain by standing on their present line
and waiting for the German drive. Still
others believe that no great allied Of
fensive will start until American
troops, at least great contingent of
them. are ready to move forward
iagainst the enemy.
| +
The chief military development of the
iweek came on the Italian mountain front
between h e
Italians Deliver Asiaso plateau
Heavy Blow to Foe. @i,u river r''e where, where
Gen. Diaz's armies surprised the Austrians
by sharp attacks before daylight Monday
morning and pressed back the Teutons
along a wide front The Austrians are de,
clared to have lost between 5000 and
5000 in killed and wounded. while the
Italians captured more than $500 men. in
addition to heavy guns and countless ma
! chine guns. The Austrians were not pre-
pared for the blow. inasmuch as they be-
lieved the same winter weather conda-
tions which had called a halt to their own
activities likewise would check the 1tal-
ians In this they failed to reason cor
rectlS.
Last December when the Teutons were
: driving hard for the Frenzela valley. in
order that they might press down upon
the plains and gain Bassano before winter
set in. inaugurated a series of tremendous
attacks in that section between the Asiago
: plateau and the Brenta.
They scored success after success,
but later were halted after they had
pressed a considerable salient into Ital-
ian lines and gained positions from
which they could strike with ease dur
ing the spring months. The Italian
victory of the past week completely
removes this salient
ton. the Teutons turned their atten-
tion to the territory between the Brenta
land the Piave, particularly in the Monte
,Comba sector. Here they gained sue
cesses. but the French nulled these by
la brilliant attack few weeks ago.
Now the French and Italians have
placed the Teutons in entirely unde-
lsirable positions, ones which are COM
manded by allied artillery. It will be
Extremely difficult for the Teutons to
fexecute such plans as they have drafted
for the spring campaign. unless they
lonce more succeed in pressing the Ital-
ians or the French backward, They
are not expected to do this.
i However, the Teutons have been con-
lcentrating forces in the Asiago region
Tin recent days and have delivered some
counter attacks. SO far these have
been fruitless. the Italians still holding
iall positions gained In their recent
drive, such as Col del Rosso, Monte de
Val Bella and Col Dechele