The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE SATURDAY, JUNE 15, 1918. THE UNDECIDED BATTLE.

Taihape Daily Times, 15 June 1918, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

SATURDAY, JUNE 15, 1918. THE UNDECIDED BATTLE.

(With which is Incorporated The Taihape Post and WalumEJ-io News).

The German generalissimo must be troubled with chagrin and disappointment with the slowness of the pace of the huge war machine that has been set in motion to travel to Paris. An army that can travel less than one mile a day is likely to become exhausted and beaten long ere it can reach its destination, over forty miles away. The French are standing the brunt of such a pressure as was never before brought to bear and it is only reasonable to assume that the French .armies and the whole French nation arc passing through very anxious moments, but so are their armies. The failure to save Paris docs not mean final defeat for France, but it means little else than final defeat for Germany. For if Pans is cienied to Ludendorff on this occasion similar favourable conditions will never come to him again, and this explains why such unprecedented numbers of Germans in massed formation are being rushed forward in an endeavour to break down the massacring machinery that stands in their way. The French are so gallantly barring the road to Paris that, to avoid proclaiming a first-class failure, Yon Hutier, the German in command, has been obliged to pour into the fight his reserves regardless of the appalling rate at which they are being massacred. Under massed machine guns and artillery fire the Gorman infantry waves stagger and are rolled back. The German losses are so great that if is impossible to keep the Paris project going for any length of time, and there are already indications that most unexpected German reserves are being risked in the hope of achieving early success. So far Paris is not endangered and Parisians are amazingly confident that even the numbers and strength under Von Hutier are unequal to the task: we may hope that far less success will attend the present thrust than that attained by the Crown Prince. The battle front has been extended from day to day in the hope that a weak spot might be found in the French defence, until the fighting line is now some sixty miles in length having increased from twenty-five miles since Yon Hutier’s first blow fell, about a week ago. The fighting fluctuates, the Germans gaining ground in one direction, while being hurled back by irresistible French counter-attacks in others. Shielding the way to Paris are a number of forests and there is not a road round these forests that the Germans have not essayed to capture. Advance is made one day and ground gained is lost the next, until it becomes obvious that were the contending armies double the strength they could not proceed on a sixty miles front with the present ratio of casualties. Village after village TS w’On and lost in such rapid succession that it is almost an impossiblity to indicate the exact fighting line. There is utmost confidence amongst French generals and people that Yon Hutier must fail, and the silent Foch has definitely expressed his confidence in this storm being stayed. It is significant that although the Crown Prince fought his way to the Marne in a very short time, for weeks he has not been' able to gain another inch, but is, in fact, being pushed back in places. It is said that should Von Hutier fail Amiens will again be the point of attraction for Ludendorff. There seems little doubt now that the military opinion that Germany must win a decisive battle now or admit general defeat is the correct one. If the forces at Ludendorff ’s disposal fail in this series of battles he can never hope to succeed with much depleted strength against the constantly rapid growth of the American Array. The battle still rages and much depends on the anxious moments both Germans and Allies are experiencing