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Show War Soon to End With Big Burden on U.S., Say Prussians "It's a Bluff," Says Officer on Hearing That . American Forces Will Be Hurled Into War. By William Philip Simmi United Press Staff C.rreapsndent. WITH THB BRITISH AR-MIKB AR-MIKB IN THE KIKL.H. Juna 4. Tha war will bs int ana a staggering indemnity in-demnity saddled on the United Hit tea before ah knows aha la In. sccordlng to tha Prussisn attltud. of today. The prlaonara reflect thla view. For lntsnce. a typically arrogant? Prussian officer jeered at ma contemptuously con-temptuously today aa ha stood In-aide In-aide a barbed wire compound, freah from a battlefield, where tha Canadiane had mauled hie dlvlalon Into ecrmpa. ' "Before America swakea wa will have atarved Kngland, France and Italy Into submission and have made peace with Russia, leaving you alone in the field." be aald. To my enumeration of the evl-dencea evl-dencea of America's . Immediate participation, aurh as deatroyera aent to the subinaiins sone. a division di-vision of troopa soon to be at tha front, and hundreda of thouaanda of othera belns recruited and trained, he replied to each, laconically, lacon-ically, "Bluff." , When I mentioned bis flnanoial advanrea to tha allies, he responded, re-sponded, "Lniniara profitable. When 1 epoke of a huso air fleet building "The war will be finished fin-ished before it arrives." Goetnals constructing a vast fleet of food carrier "You'll be paying an Indemnity In-demnity before tha ahlpa are finished." fin-ished." "o," the I'rusitlan concluded. It'a too late; yuu can't harm u much now." The plain trutn ia that flermany la preared to firht a telling defensive de-fensive war Indefinitely, provided ahe la able to keep her hungry population In line. Tha Pruaalan officer and prisoners generally agree to this, baaing their hopes principally on tha TJ-bosts, a separate sep-arate peace with Ruasia and tha "sluggish, half hearted American public." Talka with Oermnn prlaonera and documents raptured in tha Hrltlah advance do not anoouraga the belief that there wtll be a 5r man revolution, at leaat not soon. The Junkers still control Uermany. and Hohensollernlain la as rampant ram-pant as ever. And tha German Ihlgh command, despite terrifio losses In men. Is depending on machine ma-chine guns and baroed wire to compensate for tha thinning ranks in Uermanya line. 8o the only 'antidote ia to fight. If tha Germans ire to be beaten In the field, then the fight will necessarily be long. It la comparatively com-paratively easy for a few men to fight defenalvely behind well chosen positions. In tnaseg of concrete con-crete trenches, protected by snarla - of barbed wire bristling with machine ma-chine guns. These positions must be blasted out mechanically, and that means- by artillery auch a wealth of artillery that tha wheals Interlock and mountains of shells, swarma of aeroplanes. Innumerable Innumer-able transports, trenoh mortare. grenadea, narrow gauge rallwaya. bridge material and all tha other manifold machinery of war. Lastly, It means men and mors 1 men. One must admit that tha British officers are vastly pleased at what . America Is doing, and do not agree with my Informant, the Prussian officer In the bullpen, and nls sneers and references to "bluff." Neither do the thousands of Ameriiana already here fighting In the trenches and In the air. Btit everyone with whom I talked aaya In the same atrain: "Kor (iod's sake, tell the folks back home not to lose time. We've Imply got to show those damned Prussians what the American punch' Is. If wa don't we might as well crawl Into a hole and die." |
