The daily News. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1918. THE WAR OUTLOOK.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 October 1918, Page 4

The daily News. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1918. THE WAR OUTLOOK.

The change that has come over the war zone in the last few weeks has been so immense that we can hardly realise that it was only a few months ago that tension and anxiety existed both in the Motherland and throughout the SSSiEfi. In $i her, .wars Britajg],

invspite of plunders and.reyerseSj: invariably wins through, in the ■end. The tenacity, patience, determination and indomitable courage,pf the British tell in the long run,>. but with a strong, resourceful, unscrupulous and remorseless foe like Germany the task of achieving final victory would have been extremely difficult had not America joined hands and sent the flower of her manhood to the aid of the Allies by hundreds of thousands—men who have proved to be equal to the best in the ranks of the Allies. Higher praise than this cannot be given. The position to-day is such as to engender the utmost feeling of thankfulness. Once the tide turned in the Allies' favor it assumed the strength of a flood, carrying them on from one victory to another until at last they have reached the crucial defences of the enemy. No longer can the Kaiser repeat his boast of the invincibility of the German armies, and it is significant that he has lately refrained from claiming that Odin is guiding these armies to victory. It is the defence of the Fatherland that is now his weird cry, and well may he fear for his country when the Allies day by day are breaking through those defences which he proclaimed to be impregnable. For over four years the Allies have been undergoing trials and vicissitudes of unparalleled magnitude. Their reward is now being reaped. The much vaunted Hindenburg line is crumbling to pieces, St. Quentin has fallen, and Cambrai could have been taken but for the known death traps therein which the Huns have created with their usual barbarity. There has been no military achievement in history but what has been put in the shade by the magnificent attack made by the British, Canadians, New Zealanders and Americans on the Hindenburg line. The advance swept over the positions captured last November, but now there is not the slightest possible chance of the offensive being arrested. The breach in this line means everything for Germany, because Cambrai and St, Quentin are junctions necessary to the maintenance of the German front as it now runs. Into Cambrai comes from the north the line from Douai and Lille; from the north-east the line from Valenciennes and Belgium; from the east the line which passes through Le Cateau and connects with the great international route through Maubege to Liege, and there is also communication to the German headquarters at Mezieres, so that pambrai is the hub of a whole circle of communications; hence the elaborate fortifications evolved by Hindenburg. In Flanders the Belgians are making good headway, and the position of the Germans there is now becoming ( so serious that they appear to be taking steps to evacuate Belgium and carry off as much loot as possible before it is too late. In the Argonne and Moselle region the Franco-Americans are carrying out offensives 4hat will have a most important bearing on the ultimate issue of the struggle. Germany has now reached her dark hours with the inevitable day of reckoning to follow—and she knows it. Bulgaria has been put out of action; the Turks are talking of suing for peace. The capture of Damascus leaves the Turks no stronghold in Palestine. Most of their armies have been captured, and the remnants will doubtless be cleared up shortly. Turkey's position is so hopeless that there arc rumors of serious events at Constantinople. The prospect of military isolation and crushing defeat is not one that the Turks can regard with anything but fear, and fear is the one thing which paralyses the Turks. They will have to pay a heavy price for acting as Germany's dupes, and it is about time that, as a nation, they had ceased to exist. It is immensely cheering to contemplate the trend of eventi iu the war zone.' though the terrible toll on human life still proceeds, and must do so until the end. It is the end that now seems drawing near, although there may yet—and probably will --b» much ferocious fighting to face. The American protest against the Avanton devastation committed by the Huns is one that will meet with cordial approval. Germany should be made to understand that two can play at the Piondhh sport of burning towns, and the fear of reprisals, now that the Allies are in a position to hit back vigorously, should make the Huns hesitate to eontinue'their infamous practices, even in the mad fever of desperation. It is too early yet to estimate how much longer the war will last, but not too early to be assured that the end is in sight.