The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE THURSDAY, MAY 23, 1918. WHY HINDENBURG HESITATES.

Taihape Daily Times, 23 May 1918, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

THURSDAY, MAY 23, 1918. WHY HINDENBURG HESITATES.

(With which is incorporated The .Taihape Post and Yiralt»tti.j'io News).

Something seems to have g° n « wrong with the mechanism controlling the Hindenburg offensive on the West front. The time for striking is so long overdue that there is room for wonder whether it has not actually stopped altogether. Indications are, however, tl'at with a little more winding it maybang away the whole twenty-four hours at once, or in rapid succession. From what we learn about Mackensen being in command of a huge army of manoeuvre there is a probability that is what is being aimed at, but Foch has his big military eye on what is taking place and is confident of being able to do his share of the striking. In the meantime all the initiative is with the Allies; by persistent clever nibbling here and there most important points for offensive and defensive purposes are being taken from Hindenburg's men; many prisoners and machine guns have also been captured. It is reported that the Germans, have amassed one hundred divisions against Foch's armies, and yet it is said the German Government is experiencing great difficulty in making the people—the general public—understand why the attack that was to land Hindenburg in Paris on the first of last April has not been continued. The German people are also persistently clamouring to knew whether the "Belgiumising" of Italy has broken" down, and if not, why it is not being pushed on in accordance with plan and timetable. There is great suspense amongst the Allies, but in Germany it is terrorising. Invincible armies have been marshalled only to, be destroyed or crippled by the Allies;, much-vaunted conquests the Allies have managed to turn into little less than defeats, and with all the brag and boast Paris and the Channel ports continue safe in Allied hands. The German public are anxious to know how long they are to wait for that attack to be continued that absorbed all the effort of the Central Powers throughout the winter to organise. It may be Hindenburg is telling them that he is waiting for a few more hundreds of thousands of Americans" to walk into the net so that he may conquer the two hemisphere at once and destroy or imprison their armies. It is rather a big order, but then Hindenburg and the German Military Party always have very high aims and a great idea of their ability to achieve them. When "The Day" came victory over the whole world was to be assured within three or four months; peace was to be proclaimed in Paris, and Hindenburg was to enter London in great pomp; there were special uniforms, gorgeously "caparisoned bandmasters and a supply of tinsel such as the world has never seen, and after four years, or thereabouts, of trying to make good, tinsel, bandmasters, and gorgeous uniforms have all disappeared and the German people are anxiously enquiring when the march to Paris and London is to be resumed. We are quite prepared to believe that Hindenburg has the hundred divisions on the West front and we are not prepared to dey that Mackensen may be at the head of a big army of manoeuvre; we also believe that the utmost strength of Germany has been marshalled for the attack that is intended to break the lines of the Allies and make a way to 4he British Channel, but what is puzzling our powers of conception is also driving Hindenburg and his gang half or wholly crazy. We have been endeavouring to form some idea of the number of divisions Hindenburg would have left in workable or fightable trim if he did manage to break through; so has Hindenburg. and ho doesn't like the look of it. He has based his calculations on absolute knowledge of what befel his divisions in the March attack; we haven't the same definite information, but we ar-

rive at much the same conclusion. Hindenburg is throwing into the bal-

ance all Germany is capable of; we are wondering what chance the residue of the hundred divisions will have of holding out against the millions of fresh men America is casting into the other scale; so is Hindenburg. The Allies know that Germany is troublefl with depleted man-power; with a nearly-bare cupboard; with mutiny in army ;and navy; with strikes and riots; with a people that is clamouring to know when the attack is to continue that is to bring them peace; with worn-out Allies, Hindenburg knows all this too, and he hesitates to put his divisions in motion. He is calculating the cost;' we are trying to, and so it happens that our puny intelligence is running in the same groove as that of the colossal Hindenburg. There are influences affecting his conclusions which do not trouble us; he is between the "de'il and the deep blue." If he sacrifices his one hundred divisions to an extent that will enable them to reach Channel ports, he has'nt sufficient men left to make a decent fight against what is left of the Franco-British forces and the two millions of Americans that will most assuredly materialise. On the other hand, if he funks, he will have to face a people and army seething with revolution, goaded on by the failure of the Military Caste to achieve that slavemastership of the world which was promised to them. Hindenburg sees the promised land* that had been spied! out for years; the high life and riches •of Britain, the frivolities of France, and the luxury of America, all receding beyond his grasp and fading from his view, and yet he hesitates to strike the reckless blow. That he will strike there is now little doubt the fates are against him, but he will take the final plunge. With the words of General Foch. of General Smuts, and of President "Wilson ringing in our ears, we must share the confidence they express and wait for the answer the German people are badgering Hindenburg for.