The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER FRIDAY, MAY 12, 1916. THE NEXT MOVE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXX, Issue 32, 12 May 1916, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER FRIDAY, MAY 12, 1916. THE NEXT MOVE.

With Verdun an absolute failure and some further glimmering of the truth having reached the German people, it is not remarkable to learn that depression grows in Hunland and that German Wilhelm is anxious for peace “on reasonable terms.” Rut be that as it may there are some big moves yet to be made in the game before any definite sign is made that the end of the war is at hand. With erdun a failure and the West impregnable it may be, as our cablegrams recently suggested that another violent effort against Russia may be made, but this surely can only result in further useless slaughter of German troops. It would be well to remember, as one writer has well said, that the enemy’s plans are never just what the Germans try to make thei%. seem. In all German teaching on war and diplomacy nothing is more insisted on, nothing has been more vividly illustrated, than the doctrine of making a diversion and distracting your opponent’s imagination and foresight by every conceivable means. It may be that whilst the Kaiser is marshalling his hosts beloivi the British lines in Flanders and France he is all the time preparing to strike at Russia, or the position may he exactly vice versa. It is necessary, therefore, to examine the possibilities on both fronts before arriving at any reasonable conclusion. At \erdun, ai Mort Homme, ainl at other important points on the Western front Germans have “bitten granite”- and broken their teeth. There ware two periods of great anxiety. Jn the J<l tst R" da.'is.l ilie unparalleled batteries massed b> the. Germans under cover of woods, and by the aid of light railways, specially constructed during the three previous mouths, seemed almost irresistible. Later on, again, it looked at one moment as if the enemy, contiaiy ' () all reckoning beiore the battle, migh» possibly be able to sustain, longin ' than tiie Allies, the obliterating temp- j

est of shell*. In all respec.s, however the Gormans have been countered and outfought. They may mass their metal in other positions, pile up ammunition anew and risk another cliort } but such

a policy of renewed attack would, more than ever, favor the Allies, who have learned much from the battle of Verdun and who are continually employed in strengthening their lines and perfecting all their arrangements. It is highly probable that the real German aim was to draw the Allies into a premature offensive and tight them to ■ .a standstill. Divisions and batteries could then have been transferred by the Germans to the other side of Europe, according to the now familiar Prussian plan of manipulating forces

backward and forward ui the interior: lines so as to grapple on terms of maximum advantage. The scheme fail- 1 ed, and it is possible that the enemy, | despairing of his task in the West but realising that his only chance ol safety; lies in making one more attempt, will now turn to a supreme effort to shatter Russia. Even we ourselves hardly realise that our colossal Ally ol the White North is in all ways becoming stronger as the days go on. Mightyj Russia, sadly harassed twelve months j ago, lias now ample munitions, of war and more men than she requires as is evidenced by the contingents sent to France. One English , writer of note asserts that Russia will reach her very, maximum war strength only at the beginning of next year, if not totally overthrown or at least half disabled in j the interval. This may well be the terrifying factor which weighs like a nightmare on the German mind. Those i who know in Berlin have, therefore,; been waiting steadily for the crowning attempt to break Russia. On this head, there have never been any illu-! sions at the Czar’s headquarters, | where it is desired that this stupou-j dons trial of strength should open, sooner rather than later. It was fully' expected that the Russians themselves j would anticipate the enemy by a pre-j Jiminary offensive of their own, with-, out necessarily disclosing their mam plans. Doubtless they are well prepared for practically any movement of the enemy. For Germany, Von Hinclenberg has made ' immense prepar-i ations by building light railways and| roads, massing guns anti assembling air craft to force the passage of the, lower Dvina and advance towards! Petrograd. General von Mackensen’sj plans are less obvious, but the Rus-( sians do not doubt that his relative j : quiescence in the South masks a more' formidable project against Kieff and Odessa. To counteract this Russia is j striking on both wings. On the North,' General Kuropatkin is pushing heavily on the roads towards Vilna,*compel-1 ling von Hindenbei'g to irfok well fo his, flank. Unless lie carihnake himself impregnable, and partial progress towards; Petrograd might be fatal. 'ln -the* South General Ivanoff lias hit the Austrians hard on the Daeister, arid has, strengthened himself materially on the Roumanian side. It may he, therefore; that in a mighty effort to break Russia Germany will rush the harassed and bewildered troops once more with faithful promises of a speedy ending, j The end may, indeed, be speedy, but it will not be. the end Germany ties, perately hopes to gain.