NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16261, 11 July 1918, Page 7

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

The reference in a Gorman official statement to the existence of big American detachments on several parts of tlio Western front is regarded as an indication that the German authorities wish to break gently to the people tho fact that the Americans have reached Franco in large numbors. It is true that it was stated in tho Reichstag at the end of last month that there were 700 000 American soldiers in r ranee, but it is probable that many people, refused to credit the statement. They have had the assertion that the U-boats could keep tho Americans at homo, so drummed into them, that large numbers of them no doubt believe evon now that as a factor in the war America is quito negligible. Some day, probably in the •very, near future, they will experience a horrible awakening, all the more nainful because it will utterly upset the only hope of victory that they retain.

This belief "Tn the ability of tho submarines to prevent the transport across the Atlantic of American troops; obtains in quarters whero one would have thought, if tho German intelligence service is as good as it is said to be, tho fullest and most cxact information was available. Yet the proscnce at the front of large numbers of American soldiers appeal's to have come as an intense surprise some weeks ago to a German officer, who, after being captured by the French, was taken, on his way to the baso. along a considerable part of the American lings. "If," he remarked, at the etui of his journey, "the German people could soo what I havo seen in the last two days, they would know that the war cannot end this year with a German victory. I believe if tho German people could know what America is really doing, our" army leaders would have trouble, and lots of it. The German people, and even the officers, havo beon told how on!; a few Americans have arrived in France, on account of the TJ-boatS, and that ' the American statements that hundreds of thousands are here are all lies. I wonder when they will learn the truth. Poor Germany!" Somebody once said, "You can't fool all tho people all the time." The German authorities have been trying to do so for a long time, and, it must be admitted, \rith considerable success. But that very fact should make the German nation all the more ansrrv when the day of disillusionment finally arrives.

As a matter of fact the American troops, of whom wo were told yesterday, there are now a quarter of a million in the fighting-line (with another half-million training in France) occupy eight sectors of the front, including Montdidier, Toul, Lorraine, three points in Alsace, and north-we3t and east of Chateau Thierry. Some of these they hold solely, in others they are associated with Allied troops. Evidence multiplies as to. their Bplendid keenness and capacity as fighters. The operation in the Marne Valley last week, when they captured the village of Vaux, was as clean and successful a bit of work as could be desired; 411 the honour cf the alfair was theirs, Tor the American Staff was entrusted with the sole planning of the attack. its success must in part be attributed to the excellence of the American intelligence work. Every soldier's objective was previously settled, and all were supplied with maps ana photographs of prominent buildings and streets. Everything was thought out beforehand, and the Americans earned it through with superrb dash. "They figHt like angels," said a French officer. It was not quite the simile that would first occur to one's mind, but the intention to pay a high compliment vras obvious.

The prospect of a whole meatless week each month during August, Sc[>tember, and October, has naturally depressed the Germans, whose experience of "substitute" foods and short rations has not endeared to them the idea of Buch wholesale compulsory vegetarianism. Germany has done wonders in feeding her people as well as she has done, but apparently the tion is more grave now than at any previous period of the war. "I feel confident, ' wrote a correspondent not long ago, "that the time is at hand whea famine—stark, mediaeval famine— will join the Entente as a political and military ally against Germany and Austria." He drew that conclusion from statements by an authentic witness whose observations extended up to the end of. April. The great masses of the German and Austrian peoples, it was declared, were more than sick of the war. They thought and talked of nothing but bread, and their moral was bo low that the Governments we 10 afraid of Bolshevik movements. This informant added that he and his family had lived for weeks almost entirely on mushrooms that they gathered in a neighbouring forest. People often fainted in the streets from hunger, and it was not an uncommon sight to see even soldiors begging for food. The fear then expressed that even with the intended reduction in rations to begin on June 15th, the country would not havo enough food to last until the coming harvest, has been realised, and a further roduction of the brea<;l ration to one pound per week has just been made. The harvest is as yet more or loss an unknown quantity, but the snowstorms and hail that swept parts of Germany some two or thre'e weeks back, must have damaged it seriously. Famine, indeed, begins to approach j Germany perilously close.

According to Mr George Perris, one of the most experienced of the British correspondents on tho West front, tho opposing forces are now practically equal, and as day after day goes by without tho Germans opening their offensive, the strength of tho Allies gradually increases. Great events are undoubtedly imminent, yet still LudendorfE delays, for reasons that can only be guessed at. A widespread outbreak of influenza among his troops may, as | suggested, be one of these reasons, but it is equally probable that he is, as Tar as he can, making sure that nothing has been left undone that could contribute to victory. Ho is testing every link in tho cham. Quito possibly, as General Maurico said last week the pause means that the troops behind the German lines are not yet sufficiently trained. Some of tho reinforcements near Konunel aro said to have been specially trained for hill-fighting, and this is thought to indicate Ludendorff's intention to attempt the capture of the ridge west of Remmel, which dominates the Ypres-Hazebrouck sector of tho Allied front. From that part of the line to Dunkirk is only 26 miles, and Foch cannot afford to yield much ground there, because retirement would embarrass his communications. But any discussion as to where the real 1)low will be struck is mere guesswork just now. We shall know more about it isoon.