A. BLADE OF TEMPERED STEEL

Taranaki Daily News, 27 March 1918, Page 6

A. BLADE OF TEMPERED STEEL

THE ALLIES' LINK WILL BKND BUT WILL NOT BREAK. (From Our Own Correspondent.) Wellington, March 24. "The Germans are g<~i)g to make a last desperate and intensely vigorous drive towards Paris —that is my reading of the events on the West front/' said a returned oilicer this evening. *We need not be dismayed. In fact I think I am right in saying that our command has hoped as well as prepared for something of the sort. The British army is at the top of its form and its strength now. If we cannot meet the hottest attack the Germans can make and beat it hack, then the Hermans are the better fighting men- But the. British armyknow that the Germans arc not the better men. "It is not surprising that we should lose some ground in repelling an attack of the kind the Germans aire making. A battle line is not a wall. It L' rather a blade of tempered steel, which will bend to pressure but will not break unless it has a ilaw. The Germans can gain some ground—if they pay the price. But they will find, as We found last year, that it is one thing to make an advance from prepared positions and another thing to continue the advance over wrecked country. I|ic Germans gained much ground at Verdun. But Verdun ranks among their greatest defeats. "Our men at the front are doing their utmost and they will win. They may have a hard tussle first.- Those of us who are out of the line, soldiers and civilians alike, must stand firm and confident. We can help our men by believing in them and trusting them. I hope that any man found shaking his head and croaking dismallv" during the next few weeks will be finnljr-suppressed ty those around him.''