| OCR Text |
Show VICTORY PLEASES THE MANS "WASHINGTON, Nov. 22. Official Washington was deeply stirred yesterday yester-day as press bulletins began to unfold the scope of the smashing British victory vic-tory on the western front. While army officers were cautious in commenting on the significance of the drive in the absence of official reports, re-ports, it was evident that officials regarded re-garded this as the greatest blow dealt the Germans since the war started. They were especially inspired by the dash and power displayed by Field Marshal Haig's great war machine. There were hints in some quarters of previous information Indicating that a shortage of ammunition contributed to the German defeat According to this view, the German western line ha3 been stripped of ammunition re-j serve and men from the strategic reserves re-serves to build up the machine which rolled back the Italian line. Complete Surprise The German high command, It was said in this connection, had counted absolutely upon winter and French and British forces transferred to sup-1 port the shaken Italian lines as making mak-ing impossible any major offensive on ' the western front at this time. Thel daring displayed by the British in launching their assault without artillery artill-ery preparation was commented 6n by the officers. It is the first time an assault as-sault upon thoroughly organized trench lines has ever been made except after the guns have blasted a way through for the Infantry. The use of the tanks to clear away, barbed wire entanglements entangle-ments and other strong points also was a novel procedure. The success of the movement probably depends wholly upon the complete surprise which was possible only by moving forward without with-out the usual artillery fire. Officers here have discussed frequently fre-quently the possibility of restoring the element of surprise-attack in trench operations. Some have held that without with-out destruction of the barbed wire entanglement en-tanglement with high explosive shells the Infantry would be halted on its first rush. The use of the tanks solved this problem for the British. There was much speculation as to the Immediate motive for the attack. Officers were In agreement that it was designed to relieve pressure on the Italian front and probably also to prevent pre-vent the carrying out of any plans the Germans might have had for an attack on the Saloniki front. They were inclined in-clined to believe that these results had been accomplished. Bearing on Italian Front. Further details as to the number of prisoners and the amount of war material ma-terial captured were eagerly awaited. These figures will furnish a means of gauging accurately the damage inflicted inflict-ed on the enemy and also will make it clear whether or not a complete surprise sur-prise was accomplished. The number of prisoners and the amount of war material captured are certain to bo very large, unless the Germans had already al-ready withdrawn a greater part of their equipment and men and there is no hint up to this time in German war office statements that a retirement had been planned. Some officers here were hopeful that the drive would have the immediate effect of compelling the German high I command to abandon the Italian cam-i cam-i paign or so reducing its force there that the combined Italian, British and French armle3 could drive the Teutons Teu-tons back into the mountains. oo WOULD RUIN HIM. "Nov, here is a showcase," said the dealer, pointing to a peculiar look-. look-. lng specimen of his wares, "that is bound to become popular. It magnifies magni-fies everything put in it to doublo its natural size.' "Can't use It in my business," replied re-plied the prospective customer "W.hat I want is a case that will seemingly reduce' the actual size of its contents con-tents fully one-half.' "What is your line?" asked the dealer. "My specialty is ladies' shoes." Exchange. |
