The Daily News. WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 4, 1914. GERMNY'S SECOND PLAN.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 138, 4 November 1914, Page 4

The Daily News. WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 4, 1914. GERMNY'S SECOND PLAN.

Tlie Kaiser is altering liis war plans. The first plan failed. It was to overwhelm tin 1 Fi'cnch left held by tho "miserable English army," dash at Paris and drive a wedge through tho. !A.liies' \vho.'e line, dealing with the scattered sections -in detail. The British, were t sorely tried, liut not overwhelmed, tho i ;Uish for Paris ended in the exhaustic* of tlie German legions, and instead of their inserting tho wedge, the lAllion, principally the despised British, almost enveloped the animated wedge, resulting in a hurried retreat to prepared positions on the Aisne. There the Teutons have been squatting, giving and receiving hard knocks, whilst the Allies have bees pushing their forces right up to Belgian territory, slowly but steadily forcing back tho Germans. The Kaiser's new plan has been developing ever since the first received its quietus on the Marne and the Aisne. It is to secure the whole of the coastal district from Dutch territory to Calais. The Kaiser first reduced Antwerp, secured Ostend, and then Xieuport. He later paid attention to the

French coastal towns, cxhortiag his troops to take Calais at all costs. For the past week or so they have tried to, but the Allies have been very busy botk on land and sea, and so Far have resisted the herculean efforts of the Germans to

break through. The losses have been trembndous, .but losses are not considered by tho Germans when it comes to gaining a certain point. At Roulera, Dixmunde, Ypres and other centres in Belgium the fighting has been of a ter- J rifle character, the Germans generally losing ground, whilst tho British monitors and other sea craft have harried the flanks of the enemy, inflicting severe punishment and keeping him a respectable distance from the coast. The Kaiser's new plan is directed against the British. He wants Calais as a base from which to launch his submarines and aircraft, and perhaps plant 'his immense guns with which to hold up British shipping. He already has had submarines taken in sections from Germany to Ostend, and that they have not been idle

is shown by the loss of the cruiser Hermes, off Dover, and the hospital steamer Rohilla. Calais is much nearer England than Ostend_ Tho port could be defended by mines, a»d, protected by the big guns, the destroyers and submarines could inflict untold mischief upon English shipping, by planting mines and direct assault. Besides, it might have the effect of diverting a portion of the British fleet from the North Sea. It has always been said by German naval writers, with a brutal frankness that we discounted before, but can well understand now that the Kaiser has re-, moved his mask, that they hoped "to smash the English .fleet somewhere between Calais and Dover." Tho idea is to lure a section of the British .fleet in the Straits of Dover and there pepper tho vessels with their ihonster gut. But the Germans have first to reach Calais, which is proving as distant as Tipperary is to the British Tommiei. The Allies are fighting superbly and can be depended upon to check the Kaiser's second plan as efTectirely a3 they did the first. It is a pity, -however, that the British, who are doing so famously, in conjunction with the brave Belgians and indomitable French, were not ia stronger force. Another quarter of a million men of the same fighting calibre available just here would "smash" the opposing forces and threaten the whole of their communications, Still, with the limited numbers they iiave tlioy /are not only successfully resisting the German onslaught!!, but are steadily progressing. Considering what they are "up against" 13 a wonderful achievement, and one that inspires confidence in their ability to once again upset the caleula-. tion of the German War Lord.