The Times. PUBLISHED ON TUESDAY AND FRIDAY AFTERNOONS. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1918. THE WAR.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 7, Issue 407, 6 September 1918, Page 2

The Times. PUBLISHED ON TUESDAY AND FRIDAY AFTERNOONS.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1918. THE WAR.

"We nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice."

The war news continues to be very good from our point of view, and very bad as seen through German eyes. We are "surely a phlegmatic people, or is it that custom has staled enthusiasm, for very few of us seem to appreciate the tremendous change that has come over the war situation. A few weeks ago the German armies were threatening Paris, and there was real danger of a thrust to the sea-coast along the Valley of the Somme, thereby cutting the British and French armies adrift from each other. To-day, not only have those two perils been removed, but the German armies are falling back everywhere before the blows of the Allies. Do we realise what our grand armies have done, and are doing ? The Germans know very well that 1918 is their year of fate. They realised last year that they must eiiher win in 1918 or be for ever beaten ; for if they could not smash the Allifes before the full weight of the Americans was thrown into the balance, they certainly could not do so afterwards. So, with the addition of the armies released from the Russian front, the Kaiser set out on March 21st to crush the Franco - British armies. His chances of success, whatever they may have been, have disappeared, | and he can now see his hopes slowly moving with the ebb tide. The end is not yet. The Germans. though retreating against their will, are not being overwhelmed, and they will doubtless ultimately make a desperate stand. At the same time, retreat such as is now taking place cannot be construed into victory, and the German people will soon be asking the Kaiser to explain why he told the troops, as they mobilised for the greatest war in history: "You will be back in your homes before the leaves fall." The Kaiser believed absolutely that he was making a truthful statement. Had lie dreamed that victory would be delayed even a year, he would never have given the word which made the war possible. Now, as the hope of compromise has taken the place of victory dreams, and that hope is becoming a fast diminishing quantity, the Kaiser must be feeling a very sick man.