The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 1918. THE DECISIVE STRUGGLE

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 256, 17 July 1918, Page 4

The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 1918. THE DECISIVE STRUGGLE

After a period of inactivity remarkably prolonged the _ Germans have resumed their offensive in the Western theatre and are developing an attack which even at this early stage promises to develop into a maximum effort to force a decision. At time of writing the cablegrams present no more than a rough and incomplete outlino of the opening events of the battle. It appears, however, that the enemy is attacking violently on an even longer front than in his initial drive on Amiens in March, and this'perhaps throws moro light on tl» magnitude of his effort than the information as yet available in regard to the number of divisions he i 3 bringing to bear. The offensive has taken shape on the greater part of the long front which extends from Chateau Thierry, on the Marne, to the western confines of the Argonne Forest. Such details as have thus far comc through indicate that the enemy has made little headway in his assaults, and that he is meeting as determined opposition from the compa; atively raw American troops as' from their veteran comrades of the French Army. As yet, the struggle has only begun, and if reasonable expectations are fulfilled it will develop on an enormous scale. There is no room for doubt or uncertainty in regard to the commanding importance of the issues at stake. Taking account of the past events of the campaign and of the conditions now reached it seems certain' that this battle will decisively affect the course and duration of the war. Even a great success at the present stage would not necessarily bring Germany within sight of victory, but should the effort upon which she has now embarked break down in failure she will be compelled to admit the truth of the statement which lately cost von Kuhuiann his Ministerial oflice: that it is beyond' her power to gain such a peace as sho desires by military achievement. This is the immediate issue raised, and it is plain enough that to Germany, and more especially to the war party which controls her policy, failure in her culminating offensivo effort would connote overwhelming disaster. Not only would this failure entail final loss of the strategic initiative in face of enemies capable of enormously augmenting their present strength, bvt it would stimulate and intensify the factors of internal discord which make for the disruption and disintegration of the Teutonic Alliance. How far the people of Germany are prepared to go in tame submission to the war party has yot to appear, but the corrupt Government of the Dual Monarchy is already in desperate straits and will hardly keep tho country as a whole subservient to German dictation if once tho illusion of a coming decisive victory for the Teutonic arms is .destroyed. At tho same time it seems distinctly probable that the definite failure of the German campaign in Western Europe might weaken or even sever the bonds which unite Germany and her smaller allies, Bulgaria and Turkey, and notably stimulate tho movement of liberation which is taking tentative shape in Russia. It was no doubt with ah eye to these larger considerations as well as to immediate conditions in the Westem theatre that President Poincare and Marshal Joffre spoke of Allied prospects in the hopeful terms reported to-day. Their optimism is not discredited by the- fact that they spoko on the immediate eve of what promises to prove the enemy's most desperate effort to gain a. decision, for such an onslaught as he has launched was universally anticipated and must have been in their thoughts as-they made their hopeful predictions. It is to be recognised, however, that his perception of the penalties which will attend his failure is bound to impel the enemy to the utmost effort of which ho is capable. With the campaigning season more than half gone, and the Allied armies, already heavily reinforced by America, in good heart and unbroken array, it may he said with all truth that tho enemy is in the position of a ruined gamester. But the facts which darken his outlook mean also that he will spare no effort and shrink from no sacrifice in attempting to avert the fate by which he is threatened.

•It is rather early to attempt to form opinions about the prooable course of tho battle or tho lines on which it may be expected to develop, but even at its present stage it pre-

sfluts sonic remarkable features. It is most remarkable of aH thai although the time at his disposal is running out and he has sacrificed no inconsiderable part of the strategic reserve with, which he opened the campaign, the enemy has turned aside from what has hitherto been his main objective. There is no doubt that tlv, initial aim, which he sacrificed some hundreds o£ thousands of lives in attempting to realise was that of driving between the French and British armies and reaching the Channel coast. He succeeded so far as to dangerously reduce the margin by which the Allies hold Amiens and other vital points in their north and south communications, and in general heavily invaded the^defences covering these communications and the Channel ports. His' attacks _on the Aisnc and on the MontdidierNoyon front wore, or seemed to be, open to the explanation that they were intended to divert Allied reserves from the all-important northern front,' and leave it vulnerable to renewed attack. Instead, however, of attempting to complete the achievement which he has sacrificed so much to carry to an inconclusive stage, the enemy is now attacking towards the Allied right, between the Marne and the Argonne. Even now it seems possible that tie present onslaught may be intended to prepare the way for a renewed attack on the northern front, but the magnitude of the operation all but excludes the theory of a diversion. As reports stand the enemy is striking south across the Marne, where his immediate objective is the Paris-Nancy railway, and also on a long front to the north-east, where he is striving to widen and extend the salient' which he drove six weeks aso from the Aisne to the Marne. These developments evidently suggest that Paris, instead of the Channel coast, is now the enemy's grand objective. This, in turn, would imply that the enemy, in what promises to be his last and most desperate bid for victory, is staking all his hopes upon an effort to overwhelm the French Army and the American Army which is beginning to deploy in its support. It is obvious that the enemy has planned and attempted a bold stroke, but the penalty of failure in such an enterprise is correspondingly great. Tho fate of the battle is st-i'll in the balance, but news as it stands is encouraging. The Germans seem nowhere to have made such progress as might have been expected in the' opening phase of s'ucb an effort, and Mr. Boxaf. Law is. credited with tho statement that General Foch is well satisfied with Monday's fighting. Brief as'it is", the statement impli_es i that the Germans gained no such initial success as in some of tho earlier battles of the campaign, and that the defending armies arc holding their own.