The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 1917. THE WAR.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 220, 21 April 1917, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 1917. THE WAR.

(With, which is incorporated The Taihape Post and Waimarino News),

Th e war at the opening of this year of promised peace is being waged with unprecedented force and destructiveness, its tide running almost uninterruptedly with our armies. In two short week s they have accomplished more than in the previous six months. They have smashed through the Teutonic iron band contrary to all Teutonic plans, belief or conception; the strategic retreat has been caught up and overwhelmed, and the guns that the enemy wei-c moving towards a new line have been taken from them, turned upon them, and are now belching forth death and destruction. Germany brought those engines of death to France, the Franco-British armies are taking them back to Germany. This offensive is so superlatively successful that it seems to- have cast a new aspect over the peoples of all the earth, but it seems that the end is not to be for a raw months yet. From recent cables, conveying the intelligence that Germans were beingconcentrated on the Western front

from the Italian, Balkan, Roumanian, and Russian fronts, it appears that the blood lust of th e Prussian Military caste is not yet satisfied; they will not leave a fit German soldier alive that can dispute their right to rule in the strikes, riots and revolutions that have commenced and are rapidly spreading over all the countries belonging to the Central -Alliance. They have lost, one hundred thousand men in France in little over

a week, and it seems probable that this tally will be kept up in the similar current period. French armies have surprised their best friends during the last few days. They Tiave commenced a drive that yesterday bad yielded seventeen thousand prisoners, many workable heavy guns, besides a great number of machine-guns and huge stores of munitions and war material. The Germans were driven hel-ter-skelter, leaving all behind them that was necessary for making an effective stand against their pursuers. The object i s now clear, French soil is to be purged and disinfected of all Teutonic taint. The makers of oil and pig feed from the bodies of their fellows and enemies alike are to be reformed out of France by such rude methods that cannibals, or semi-can-nibals only can understand. The reverse movement to that of 1914 has not only commenced but has progressed so far that no doubt can now exist about its final and rapid accomplishment. They are not only going, but they are feverishly searching for the most rapid methods of getting away safely with at least some of their war material. The strategic retreats are bailed up and they are surrendering to the contemptible British and the retrograde French in thousands. The impregnable line from Soissons, from whence heavy bombardment could be heard in the French capital, to Verdun has been smashed and broken. No longer will the brutal torture of the artistic susceptibilities of the world be practiced at Rheims. After ten days special attention from tnassed French artillery those Germans that survived are running before French bayonets or are seeking safety in French internment camps as prisoners of war. The two next great Hun strongholds to fall are Laon and St. Quentin, then will follow a mighty offensive from Verdun* along the Meuse, and disaster of a magnitude hitherto unthought of comes within the range of strong probability. The German General Staff realises all this and they are hastily rushing their men from all other fronts, but rush as they will they cannot do more than bring their numerical strength up to what TE was when the death blow commenced to fall, and then only temporarily. In two weeks- ' one hundred and twenty thousand, on a low estimate, have been placed hors d e combat; they cannot go on replacing these with new men at a similar rate. The Western front is called by German soldiers “The Grave,” and hownver good a man may be on other fronts he becomes only half a man when marched into “The Grave.” Even Germany canont go on pouring in men to this death zone at the rate of sixt} r thousands a week and adjust them to the work of stemming the Allied victorious tide that is sweeping on. Most .of the available men from other fronts will more Ekely be utilised in building up a stop-wall on that line of the Meuse, from Verdun to Givet or Namur, with a view to retrieving the men that are fast being jeopardised in Belgium. The only posible chance of saving the Him forces in that country seems to be by pivoting them back on Namur. In all probability, however, before even that can be accomplished there may be such a rapid prosecution of the Franco-British intentions that it will be too late, just as the strategic retreat was*. If this prove s t 0 he the case then disaster incomparably greater than that which has overtaken them in France must come upon them. There is now little doubt indeed that the All Highest has realised that his days are numbered, and he and his cannibalistic

command appear s to b e preparing the German people for the news of what is inevitable. His armies are being driven at such a rate that count cannot be kept of the towns, villages and fortifications from whence they are scuttling or surrendering. He is notv anxious to share his divine right to rule with the canaille he spurned as unfit for nothing more than to give their lives in his honour and glory. There are ominous reports from Germany, admittedly true, which indicate that the masses are beginning to realise that German doom is certain, and they are rising against the rule of their All Highest with a growing determination to free theras'elve s from its octopus-like grip. Too little is being reported from all other fronts for us to understand what is being done thereon towards final victory, hut the mighty whirlwind on the West front is all-sufficient to allay any doubts that might arise about a speedy victory and advent of peace.