The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE SATURDAY, APRIL 13, 1918. HUN OFFENSIVE COMPLETELY SMASHED.

Taihape Daily Times, 13 April 1918, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

SATURDAY, APRIL 13, 1918. HUN OFFENSIVE COMPLETELY SMASHED.

(With which is Incorporated Th» Tw

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An extraordinary cable message dis.patched from London on Friday morning and published in this journal on Friday afternoon indicates how the second great battle for the Channel ports and the invasion of England is going. The message was short but it was gratifyig to those who are confident that British soldiers in this war for the freedom of all peoples will uphold the traditions of the AngloSaxon race as honourably, bravely and brilliantly as ever their forbears did. It was also a relief to that worrying section of people whose hopes and fears shift every day or hour as the. tide of battle ebbs and flows. In the first great thrust for Amiens the Germans, by some defection in a section of the British army, however caused, came perilously near to reaching their objective, and although from some points of view it looked very like a German victory, it was nothing o fthe kind simply because the object of the enormous expenditure of German life was not attained. However, the poor weak souls in New Zealand who shook with fear will now have cause to rejoice in the fact that the second great battle, that was to be on a larger and much fiercer scale, has resulted in the smashing of the German colossal effort after two days fighting. The battle for Amiens did not attain its object, and the battle Cor Bethune was smashed soon after the first shock, and the Huns were driven back to whence they started, except for a heap of ruins that was so saturated with prussic acid gas that no one could live in it. That section of the line held by the Portuguese was assailed with overwhelming power and an advance of three miles was. gained; Lavantie was captured, .and then the objective of this greater .thrust was discovered. The British .•..stretched out their lines to succour the Portuguese until the oppressors were pushed out of Lavantie and hurled back from whence they came. Meanwhile, the Hun hordes were swarming on towards Mcssines and the village of Hollebeke, a mile or two distant. They had trained all the artillery at their command on this bar to the road to Ypres, including the guns taken, from the Allies in the Amiens effort. One can almost pity the poor Hun soldiers who were told they were going to have little short of a triumphal march. They were mown down. in thousands, and w r ithin forty-eight hours from the high-spirited start their entire effort was smashed, and they were, driven back a beaten, dejected, demoralised mob. So ended the second battle of the series that are being fought to bring England into subjection and make Germans rulers of the world. Hindenburg failed to clear the Amiens route to the British Channel, and he amassed an invincible army of supermen of unprecedented magnitude, and bulked up miles of artillery to blow and force a w r ay to Calais. We are positively disappointed with the showing this army has made, the very number of which could scarcely help forcing its w r ay over territory that was, as a matter of course much more- lightly held. The explanation of the difference between the results of the German Amiens route and the Bethune route will probably be supplied by the Gough enquiry. If the Bethune battle is so unexpectedly ended what will be the next German move? The result will have scrapped all the Hindenburg-Luden-dorff cum Kaiser plans; some reorganisation of armies will be necessary; dejected, beaten troops w T ill have to be moved rapidly to the rear to prevent contamination spreading; to stand still now is certain defeat. The final roll of the war-ball has been started and it must be kept going. German newspapers have told the German people that if this battle is lost the German future is utter darkness. The series of battles is not ended yet, however, there are several more to be fought. Other battses will follow and they will be waged with a fierceness, ruthlessness and desperation that will need all the Allies can do to restrain them. The collapse of the second battle at Messines renders it very difficult to guess where the third battle will commence. Germany knows that the road to Paris is for ever impassable to German militant troops; that the denial of a resting place at Amiens is final, that any hope she ever had of getting there is broken, then where will the next burst come? Until some amplification of the extraordinary ' urgent message received yesterday comes to hand no reasonable opinion can be formed. It may be said that the wording of the message gives some cause for hope. . The cable stated: "The

terrible Gorman onslaught towards Hollebeko has b';ou coriipietely smashed." It gives jo indication of whether the British are pushing their victory home, nor what the main smashing consisted of, but we arc quite prepared to learn that the niighty Hun found his match in still mightier British artillery, and in British infantry who never admit defeat while their arms are usable. The second battle is convincing British people that there is no occasion for doubting the prowess and strength of the British army, or of the directing ability and loyality 'of its commanders. To-day's cables indicate that the.attach: is centred on due westward of Lille, where the Germans against the Portuguese have made considerable advanced.