The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10, 1918. PROGRESS OF THE WAR.

Taihape Daily Times, 10 April 1918, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10, 1918. PROGRESS OF THE WAR.

(With which iR lucorporated The T*ihape Post and Waiuuurloo .Newn).

Prisoners taken on the West Front persistently state that the Germans are now engaged in a fight to a finish; that Germany will not stop till victory is achieved, till .she is defeated, or finds an arranged peace most acceptable. The British Prime Minister's message and appeal to India makes it very clear that Germany is making an effort of a surprisingly powerful and comprehensive nature, an effort of such magnitude and force that could not be repeated if it failed. There is no occasion to doubt German realisations that England cannot be conquered, and we do not think from consideration of all aspects and phases that Germany is fihgting for anything more than to rapidly force such conclusions as will result in the eastern conquests by sword and corruption being used as barter against what would have to be relinquished in Belgium, France, Servia and Rumania. Nevertheless, it is obvious that the release of German and Austrian prisoners in Russia ,has made the formation of new armies possible and practicable. Thousands of officers have been despatched towards Siberia to reorganise the flow from prison camps, and reports are already to hand of large arid effective armies being ready for whatever brigandage their high-exalted Kaiser may demand of them. Mr. Lloyd George's appeal 1 to\lndia and the reply leave no doubt about German menace in the Far East. British and Japanese have now landed at Vladivostock, but it seems that such interference should have taken place six months ago; it is too late in the day to be anything but a very costly expedition. German armies; are now ready to move from Irkutsk, and there seems to be no certainty that Allied measures for holding them in check will be effective until Allied victory is obtained on the West front. In any case there is no further disillusionment possible about what German intentions are in the East. Eastern dominion would result in world dominion more rapidly ana with less cost of German blood than persistence in trying to seek it through the • conquest of Britain, France and America. There ought to be no doubt in anyone's: mind about Russia having been betrayed; there should be no two opinions now about Lenin being a heap of contaminating, contemptible corruption. He has performed' the final act of betraying Russia, soul and body, into the hands of his German employers; he has earned human execration and abhorrence to a degree surpassed by none, and his name in the far distant future will be invoked to pourtray the utmost conceivable limit to treachery and traitorousness. What has now to be considered is the effect Lenin treachery, and Russian betrayal will have on the outcome of the struggle in France. The Allies are almost daily expressing unbounded confidence in their ability and determination to frustrate enemy aims in that quarter, to which may be added the recent assurances given by President Wilson. General Foch has said that the Germans shall not possess Amiens, substantially that they shall be held from much -further invasion of new territory. Conditions look ominous just now,' but there should be no real occasion to doubt I what the Allied Commander-in-Chief has said. He has a knowledge of strength and strategy that is not available to us, therefore, although minor losses of other territory may result, and even although Amiens may fall, there would still be no occasion for any doubt or despondency about final victory. Impatient people are asking where the huge reserves are that the Allies are boasting of, and why thinly-held British and Frencn lines should still be put to holding back the Hun avalanches. The assumption that the Allied line is thinly held and that there are no such reserves as spoken of is absurd, as disaster and defeat would be rapid and certain were thjat the case. There is . no cause to doubt the existence of very considerable French and British reserves, and there is less cause to have any doubt about those reserves being organised to effect the most deadly blow on the German concentrated hordes military science can devise. Allied concentration of reserves are not yet ready, or the psychological moment has not arrived, but even the enemy has admitted his knowledge of the counters to come, and there is some reason to believe that he has caused lengthy lulls in the fighting to create an idea that he has shot his main bolt, so as to draw on counters while ample force is available and in

readiness to nullify of crush them. The stake the Allies are fighting fo. must not be risked by Impatience, by anything short Of - the utmost pre paration' and readiness. There is no reason to-doubt that the counter offensive wilr come .and it now seems very near at hand. It may not achieve all that is desired or anticipated, but, as President Wilson has stated, "There is but one response possible from the 'Allies—force, force to the uttermost, force without stint or limit, the righteous and triumphant force which shall make right the law of the world and cast every selfisli dominion down into the dust." Such a force is not available at this moment, but it is coming, there can be no doubting about such utterances. Our final gratification can only come through Allied plans and determination, and our loyal and enthustiastlc determination to do our part by furnishing the money and men that are asked of us.