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Show THERE WILL BE NO - BREAK THROUGH. As the time for the German offensive offen-sive approaches, military writers with the allies agree that Hindenburg cannot can-not break through the western front, Frank H. Simonds, author of "The World War," says Haig, Petain and other British and French commanders have given up the idea of a "break through" by tho allies, as their experience exper-ience has shown the futility of attempting at-tempting a task so prodigious, unless backed by overwhelming odds, and he makes this prediction: "On tho military side all experience demonstrates tho practical impossibility impossibil-ity of the 'break through or even tho decisive blow In trench warfare as it Is carried on In the west, given the relative strength of 'German and allied al-lied armies and their resources in guns and ammunitions; for, despite all tho alarming calculations, the Germans are not able to put any force on tho west front which will materially outnumber out-number their foes, and it is even doubtful if they can equal them. "Hindenburg will not get to Paris if the French army fights in 1918 as it fought before Verdun. If "they shall not pass" remains the fighting word of tho French there is not tho smallest reason to be found, in more than three years of trench warfare on the western front, to warrant the notion that Hindenburg Hin-denburg can get to Paris or even to Chalons-sur-Marno this summer. The single chance is that the French the soldiers of the army which won the Marne, defended Verdun and recently recent-ly cleared the Chemin des Dames will lose heart, lose courage and run away from positions which are well-nigh well-nigh impregnable, as the Russians fled from their lines and a field of victory last summer. "And, once more, it is essential to realize that in this venturo tho first operations will count most. If Hindenburg Hinden-burg does not win at once, his limited failure will encourage his foes and discourage dis-courage his own people, who have the history of Verdun before them, who have been promised a swift victory in response to their demand for an honorable hon-orable peace. Certainly since Napoleon Napol-eon started for Moscow there has been no more gigantic gamble, and it requires re-quires hardihood to believe that Hindenburg Hin-denburg has as many chances of ultimate ulti-mate success as had Napoleon." |