RUSSIAN TRAITORS ASHAMED.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 220, 1 August 1917, Page 4

RUSSIAN TRAITORS ASHAMED.

The treachery and callousness of Russian traitors is giving place to a saner frame ,of mind; the panic caused by German lying and cunning has commenced to subside; the temper of the retreating troops is changing; shame is taking possession of the quitters and the units that were in headlong flight yesterday are today digging in "with a sullen determination to stop the oncoming Hun hordes. They have learned a salutary lesson; they are the laughing stock of the German command who, by a campaign of lying and treachery, sought to encompass their ruin and the overthrow of all that had been gained by the revolution. The erstwhile Russian traitor is consumed with anger, shame, and a determination to revenge himself upon everything savouring of German cultur. Throughout the whole debacle the honour of Russian arms has been upheld by numbers sufficient to keep back the Germans had they not been separated by traitorous divisions, and now that the lying and spying campaigns of their enemies are being correctly interpreted, the possibility of recurrence is narrowed down to a vanishing point. This Russian fall from grace is not without its usefulness; it is really a blessing' in disguise, as it has disclosed by the meagre concentration ©if men for this muchboasted great’ drive ,that Germany is hopelessly short of men; that it. is certain that Germany cannot engage in two great offensives at the same time. Hindenburg’s much-vaunted attack on the Russians turns out to be a force that the Russians could have simply walked over, and even now, it is somewhat difficult to see any real advantage that has been gained. Had the deception of the Russians been so complete that treachery had become more far-reaching, then Germany may have been able to tap Rusian wheat stores. The Slavs have, however, become aware of th e extent to which they have been made fools and dupes, and they are ashamed, and man never fights more desperately than when endeavouring to rescue himself from a besmirched honour. With a shame-

possessed army, and vigorous, desperately determined leaders, Russia may be confidently relied upon to fill her place in the fight against the great beast that would devour all nations and peoples. There is a growing brightness on the future that is less liable to be tarnished by treachery, or by the cunning and spying of the common enemy. Greece is sharpening her sword, and is now determined to honour the alliance with'Servia that Constantine treated as a ‘‘scrap of paper.” Quarter of a million Greeks are waiting, fully armed, and eager to fight shoulder to shoulder with their old friends against their Bulgar-Turk enemies. There are simmerings of excitement in the Salonikan armies, which, taken with the unprecedented gunfire on the West front, the return of shame-possessed Russian traitors, the influx of American troops and stores, and the secrecy about rumours of naval movements that are yet in the air, indicate that the Allies are still determined to win through to peace on their own terms before the coming winter.