OCR Text |
Show IS IT THE RETREAT? Major Moraht's intimation that Field Marshal von Himlenluirg has already hc-pui hc-pui tho long-looked-for German retreat j'urni.-hes food fur much sppi-ulation. The intimation may nic.'tn much or little. lit-tle. Tho retreat may he merely local. "When the major nys "that the Germans are i 111; their en cm ies ( ' a desert to n (I "Uin-ij over ground as bail as ever fighting ground was" he seems to do M-ribc a retreat of only a few mils at iiiot, Tor northern France a desert fur only a few miles either side of the fihtinf; lines. Uy abandoning the Xoyon salient the Germans could shorten their lines ap-jtp'eiably ap-jtp'eiably and yet remain in northern France and retain all they now hold of! J '.elL'ia ii soil.' I lilt what would be the ;:::;n? The Hue would still extend from 1';e sea to Switzerland and would re-ijrire re-ijrire for its defense several million ni-'ii. The only shortening of the line that would remove the necessity of such u fon-e would involve a withdrawal from j i t ' j t of Jiliuni. Siud) a line would extend almost due north from Verdun to the Dutch border. Inasmuch as a retreat of this kind would mean the abandonment of the immensely valuable submarine base at Zeehrugge, Belgium, and a retirement from Brussels and Antwerp, Ant-werp, it is not to bo looked for unless Germany is in desperate straits for lack of men. There is little likelihood that Germany is in such straits. But a retirement on the western front to gain a decisive advantage on the eastern east-ern front might appeal to Field Marshal von Ilindenburg as the wisest strategy. If we assume that tho military authorities authori-ties in Berlin have decided that German Ger-man arms cannot win on both fronts, but can win on a single front, a retreat re-treat from France and Belgium becomes understandable. The initial purpose of Germany was to defeat France and strike at Great Britain. That purpose failed of accomplishment accom-plishment and Germany finds that her only effective weapon against Great Britain is the submarine. It would be natural for Von Ilindenburg to argno that a retirement from France, or even from Belgium, would not seriously interfere in-terfere with the submarine campaign against the British isles. That campaign cam-paign could be continued in the hope of starving the British, while meantime vaster armies than ever before could be sent against the Russians, the Rumanians Ruman-ians and the allied forces in Macedonia. : We must keep in mind also the irn-j irn-j portance to Germany of the road through Constantinople to the Persian gulf and Egypt. It may very well be that Germany has decided to send a great army to help the Turks repel the British and Russians in Asiatic Turkey. It may be possible to give such aid only at the expense of sacrifices on tho western west-ern front; - |