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Show GEfiii TO HE SUPREME Men Beyond the Age Limit Are Retained With the Colors and in Many Instances for Fighting Duty With the Active Units of the First Line at Front. ARMIES APPROACH MAXIMUM SIZE Behind the Lines the New Labor Law Is Being Be-ing Put Into Effect and the Industrial Organization Organ-ization of the Empire Is Fast Approaching a Climax. COPENHAGEN, April 1, via London, 11:11 a. m. Germany, according to information in-formation reaching here from Berlin, now is gathering to the colors every availnble man for a supreme military effort to bring the war to a victorious conclusion in this year's" campaign a goal which Field Marshal von Hinden-burg Hinden-burg and his advisers consider by no means impossible of attainment. Without altering formally the law of military service, 4he German authorities authori-ties have in practice extended the period of service beyond the forty-fifth year, and are retaining with the colors, and in many instances for fighting duty with active units in the front line, landsturm men who have passed this age. The policy of the German war- department, depart-ment, as stated in the reichstag this week by a military representative, is to withdraw those men over 45 from the front line after they have done six months of duty there, but military exigencies exi-gencies compel the holding of these over-age men for service in the so-called etape or region behind the actual fighting fight-ing front. Limit Not Yet Reached. For some time the German authorities, in a grand combing out of men earlier pronounced unfit for Bervice, have been mustering men on the very verge of the age limit, but up to the present they have announced that the necessity has not yet arisen for legislation raising the age limit to 65, as has been done in Austria-Hungary. The operations of the labor service law, now in full swing, are further releasing re-leasing for service at the front every available man behind the lines capable of carrying a rifle, so that' the next two or three months should see the German armies at their maximum size. Labor Situation. Simultaneously with this draining to the dregs of human reservoirs of soldier sol-dier material, Germany's industrial mobilization mob-ilization also is approaching a climax. A scheme for converting every available avail-able factory and employing every available avail-able machine on war work and manning them with labor obtained under the labor service law is contemplated. The secret of Field Marshal voa Hin-den Hin-den burg's plan of the 1917 campaign still is well kept. It is uncertain whether the offensive will be directed in the east or in the west, and the German strategic reserve, at last accounts still within Germanv, has not begun to move in either direction. German Headquarters. The German main headquarters, according ac-cording to reports received here, now is established at Kreuznach on the Rhine, the general staff headquarters at Charle-ville Charle-ville and Mezieres, twin French towns, where Emperor William 's military capital capi-tal was located for almost two years until Von Hindenburg's appointment to the chief command, having been abandoned aban-doned shortly before the Somme retirement. retire-ment. This change in headquarters perhaps may throw some light on Vod Hinden-burg's Hinden-burg's plans, as the new choice, while centrally located as regards the whole westeTn"front, is better situated for control con-trol of the operations along the southern south-ern sector of that froDt than was the former site. Surface Indications. On the surface there are indications that the purpose of the S'Tnme retirement retire-ment appears to be developing not as a scheme for bringing on a great open i (OontiDWd on Page Two.), ' GEHITOHE SUPREME EFFORT (Continued from Page One.) field engagement in that particular part of the front, but to avoid the impending onslaught by the mighty an-ay of Anglo-French artillery massed on that section, sec-tion, and to delay a renewal of an Anglo-French offensive by the time required re-quired to advance the big guns to the new line. The Teuton commanders are said to no longer be concerned with the possibility possi-bility of a great battle between Arras and the Aisne because of the destruction of roads. There is reason to believe that the retirement re-tirement has by no means reached its limit, particularly in the southern sector. sec-tor. The map of the retirement now appearing in the German newspapers snows a big salient still existing westward west-ward of Laon which, if straightened out, would make the Von Hindenburg line run in almost a straight course from Arras through St. Quentin and Laon to a point on the Aisne near Berry-au-Bae. |
