Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 87, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 April 1918 — WAR SUMMARY. [ARTICLE]

WAR SUMMARY.

For the past twenty-four* hours there has been a lull in the great battle in Picardy and Flanders. However, this is not believed to indicate the German effort is stopped. One thing, according to best military opinion, must be counted upon as a strong* possibility within the next few days: A concentrated German infantry smash on a new front, presumably between Ypres and the sea. /Of this twenty-three-mile front, which forms the British left, the enemy may logically be expected to try for a third great wedge into Haig’s line preparatory to making the decisive phase of the final campaign in the war in titanic triple pendulum battle, swinging seaward with alternating blows on three I fronts, the aims being the same as they were when the first drive began —separation of the French and British armies, and destruction of the latter before tackling the French. For this new blow, if it is struck, the allies are well prepared. Of all the' British fronts, that between I Ypres and the sea is known to be the 'strongest. Tending to support the expectation of such a new drive was la dash into the channel by a strong “mosquito flotilla.” The destroyers shelled the channel coast ( between Nieuport and Dunkirk (where the extreme German right rests bn the sea), but did little damage. Meanwhile, until the German offensive is definitely, abandoned or a counter drive sets in, all eyes con-, tinue to be fixed upon the Flanders front—not with anything like the I nervous anxiety that marked allied interest in this combat up to yesterday, but' still with a. degree of tension, since the crisis is not yet definitely over. Announcement that Italian troops lhave been sent to France is taken to indicate that Gen. Poch’s counter offensive may be near.