The Daily News. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1916. WHAT IS GERMANY'S NEXT MOVE!

Taranaki Daily News, 12 February 1916, Page 4

The Daily News. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1916. WHAT IS GERMANY'S NEXT MOVE!

Ir. the shuffling of her armies Germany lias acquired a dexterity that might even be envied by the expert of the three cards trick, and the object is mucli the same in both cases—to deceive the spectators. Of late our cable news has contained quite a large crop of rumorj and predictions concerning Germany's next point of attack. She has been credited with taking the offensive against the West front, against Salonika, against the Serbo-Italians in Albania, aaginst Egypt and the Suen Canal, against Mesopotamia, against the Russians at Riga and thence to Petrograd, and possibly against Roumania.

Anyone who gives even a moment's consideration to such a huge programme cannot fail to wonder from whence the forces are to be derived to enable these various operations to be undertaken. It is manifest that the Kaiser would have to possess the power of a magician who, by the stamp of his foot, could cause millions of armed men to arise with full equipments of artillery and munitions, in order to carry out even a portion of the marvellous schemes that are placed to his credit. In all probability these rumors are circulated with the intention of concealing Germany's real points cf attack. We know that in the West there has been a fierce contest for the I possession of trenches westward of La i'olie, the fight lasting for three weeks, the object of the Teutonic forces being to straighten their front. It ie also slated, in connection with the imposing movement of troops towards the West' em front, that these movements, ah though intended to be impressive, are by lie means as important as those earlier in the war. The threatened attack oil Salonika has, we are told, been abandoned, and an air of probability is lent to that statement by the disaft'eetion caused among the Bulgarian troops when tl.ev learnt that they would have to bear the brunt of thin attach", for military experts consider that the Salonika defences are almost impregnable, so that an attacking force might well be expected to be decimated. The much advertised attack oil Kgypt and the Suez Canal also seems to have fizzled out, probably because the defences there were so strong that an attack would only lead to disaster. In Mesopotamia the British forces are in a strong position, and the Russians are gradually drawing near, so that the outlook there for German success is not very promising. There is no doubt that Germany would be only too pleased to send a large force to Mesopotamia, but she can spare no German troops for operations in such a minor theatre, and would have to entrust the enterprise, if decided upon, to the Turks under German officers; but it must be borne in mind, that the Russians are heavily pressing the Turks in the Caucasus, and that the Turks have laid themselves open to attack by the Allies in Palestine, Smyrna, and in the Balkans. Germany may be callous in regard to the loss of her men when she has a main objective in view, but she is hardly likely to be so rash as to fritter away her rapidly vanishing millions over minor operations. It would seem that the German authorities are becoming alarmed at the position in the Balkans, where the Allies are now concentrating large ftrees, which threaten to cut off the Germans' line of communication with Constantinople, and turn their flank in the East. The two main theatres of the war may now be said to be the Western front and the Balkans, and these will certainly tax German resources to the utmost. As to the recent report that : Germany was preparing for a vigorous attack on Riga m a to an

advance on Petrograd, the answer to that may be found in Russia's new position of strength consequent on the reorganisation of her military and industrial forces. It will be under vastly different circumstances that Germans and Russians will meet in the coming spring, for the Teutonic armies will no longer be able to dominate the Russian artillery, but will have to face superior numbers equally well equipped and animated by an overwhelming determination to avenge their previous reverses. The Russians inny well regard the coming campaign with high hope, while the outlook for the Hermans is correspondingly cheerless. Looking at the war situation as it presents itself to-day it would seem that German efforts must, perforce, be concentrated on the West front and in the Balkans. The reported activity at Kiel is either another Teutonic ruse or an endeavor to inspire the German people with continued faith in their navy. There are the U3ual bombastic statements relative to destroying the Russian licet as well as the British, but they need not cause a moment's concern. Those renders who have studied the comparative statement of the strength of the two navies, as recently published, will be justified In imposing perfect confidence in the success of the British Navy if any conflict with that of Germany should take place. It H certainly rather late in the history of the war for the German navy to try conclusions with the British, and if such an event does occur it will be a sure indication that Germany is in her last throes of despair.