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Show GERMAN SMASH POLITICAL MOVE 8ECRETARY DAKER 8AY8 ITAL. IAN DRIVE ASTUTE STRATEGY OF GERMAN POLITICIANS. H Situation In West Satisfactory, but HHH Fear Expressed That Civil War In HHH Russia Will Allow Teutons to H Send Men to Western Army. ItimiptTugto of tho belligerent peoples, tho enemy lias now been compelled to net on tho defenslvo nnd lit being slowly but surely driven buck. "It should bo borno In mind, hoW-ever, hoW-ever, that tho further disintegration of tho Itusslnu forces will men n that tho Germnns will bo able to thin out their lino along this front, which will thus nutoinntlcully contribute to the tdlffcnlng of their resistance In tho I west, us well ns render nvnllublo added contingents to tnko part In tho cn-KUCOEaents cn-KUCOEaents !!'w proceeding In Italy. "DurliiK tho week Just closed, both tho Ilrltlsh nnd French wcro nblo to record slgnltlcnut tuctlcnl gains, tho culinlnntlon ot n long Kerles of powerfully pow-erfully driven offensives. "With Pnsschcnduelo securely , In British bunds, tho first stogo of tho 'operations begun during tho Inst wck of September have been brought ta a successful conclusion. "Tho French counterpart of tlfo British success took pluco north of tho Alsnc. Hero tho rvtrcnt ot tho enemy anticipated last week was curdled cur-dled out. Tho pressure of tho French offensive, which has grown slowly and methodically In volume nnd Intensity, reached a climax when by tho recent French advanco In this sector they wero enabled to cnlllado tho, German lines along tho crest of tho Chcinln-iles-Dames. "For tho past threo years tho pros-euco pros-euco of tho enemy on this rldgo had been a source of anxiety to tho French. To dlslodgo them was n principal objective ob-jective of tho repeated offensives developed de-veloped by General retain slnco last April. Tho sudden forced evacuation of some forty square miles ot tho most Important terrain In this sector of tlu western front has been tho tnnglblc result achieved. I "Tho tmportanco of this successful French advanco must not bo overlooked. over-looked. It menus more than n mere gain of so many square miles of territory; ter-ritory; It means tho penetration of tho powerfully fortified Siegfried line, hitherto considered by tho enemy Impregnable, Im-pregnable, and pushes back his main defensive positions to within live miles of tho fortress of I.aon and tunjor objectives. ob-jectives. "In the sector where n small detachment detach-ment of our troops had taken up heir places In tho trenches n's a part of their training, tho enemy (as Is customary cus-tomary In trench warfare when fresh troops' nro believed to Jiavo taken places In front-Una' trendies) for re-conuulssanco re-conuulssanco purposes, executed a well-planned raid and succeeded In temporarily penetrating tho short segment seg-ment of tho lino held by our forces, Indicting u fow casualties and taking prisoners. "Along the eastern front no preparations prepara-tions of artillery Impurtuuca occurred. Tho enemy, Instead of attacking, has renewed his efforts to fraternize with ' tho Itusslans. Owing to tho Involved political situation and tho fresh outbreaks out-breaks of the extremist elements, It Is probable that these may have a marked Inlluencc on the general strategy strat-egy of the war, which we must bo prepared pre-pared to meet." |