South Bend News-Times, Volume 35, Number 90, South Bend, St. Joseph County, 31 March 1918 — Page 17

V SOUT END CONTENTS Editorial Comment. School Part, Votnn' 8Mrtlon and Other Fettarea of OeneraJ Intare!. Section 2 .A

TIMES

VOL. XXXV, NO. 00. Wl&E88&S8J8BL SOUTH BEND, INDIANA, SUNDAY, MARCH 31, 1918. wIll?. JTocT Ä " PRICE FIVE CENTS

MAN OFFENSIVE BY FRANK H. SIMONDS Ne-vs-Times an J Associate J sparer Milit.uv l:pjrt. REVIEW OF THE FIRST WEEK 1

!E GER

NCW YOUK. March GO: With Gen. I'och placed in charge of the allied armies in the v est, the presumption is that the council of Versailles the supreme war council, were now taking a hand in the defensive. This is ths council which Lloyd Georg credited to American military genius, and refused to oppose it even though ;t might turn out, as some Britishers feared, that th-e :ommandcr-in-chi"f might r.ot be British, but American or lYench. Tt is believed that thiis united resistance of the allied force?, omens well; that the worst is almost over. Harrin? accident, the chance of a supreme German victory seems to have passed completely and the offensive which began as an effort to crush the military power of Britain is diminishing to the level of a giganticraid against Amiens, with the two fold objective of separating the British and French armies and de stroying the British communications with IIare and Bouen, their principal bases on the south. While the nam German drive has not been checked it has been confined betwetn the Ancre and omme riv rs on the north arid the ,Wre on the south. Actually the German wedge h narrowing every moment and f the present allied effort to hold the Germans between these two rivers continues, the Germans' advance may md in a blind alley just east of Amiens. For the past two days the Germans have been thrust -1:14 between the British and the French armies and toward Amiens while the British and the French, holding the crossings of the Ancre, the Homme and tho A vre. have beer, shepherding the Germans toward the west. They have not been able to check the full for.v f the German thrust by frontal counter attacks asvet although they have slowed it down, but they hav canalized as it were. The possibility of the extreme point of the German wedge may reach Amiens survives, the chance that the (orn.an.s will be able temporarily to occupy Amiens iit! destroy this rine old capital of I'ieardy. as well ha the British military materials stored there and temporarily isolate the British and the French forces, remains, but even were this to occur now, it would be but a passing detail, for unless the German can widen hi" front he- will soon have to retire to aoid being caught between the two millstone of British and French a rmies. nixiix ii;sii:ilti; attack. Il was the realization of this danger that led the G'-rnians to bgin on Thursday their desperate attack upon the British line about Arras. They sought to l'i' iik the northern or British hinge of the allied front .pi-t as their dash at Montdidier was a blow at the o it hern or I'ren'h hinge. North and south they fiiied to make any but local gains. In pursuit of the limited local objective, which is Amiens, the Germans began Thursday to make desperat eft ort ju.. fouth of the fomme, to clear the obi Koman road running west from St. Quentin to Am ions. Tii- road is their most direct route to Amiens, now S..111 1 - miiAs distant from Warfusee-Alancourt, which r Im if.tcliet.' mi Friday. At the same time they pushed southwest into Montdidier in order to keep open the .Nojcii-llfiyo-Atiiicns highway, which is their only other i t ad to Amien Vhe iUiuit that one or more Uritish armies could le destroyed and that a great British disaster result -imP-'I on Thorr-day wlrn the Firitish had pulled them;,'iMs together from the Varpc to the Somme- from 1r.1s t AlPert and were standin?; tirm in the arrival of French armies on either hank of the Oise between the bend near I.ifero and Noyon und alone: the N'oyon hills westward had already closed the roads to Taris. Thus the whole problem was r-impliiied. Now the b'-ser crisis which invohrs the .safety of Amiens will ! reached in relatively few hours and the Germans' usance between the Somme and the Avre is the one rmaining menace. Somewhere in the next 10 mile. .hi the rapidly narrowing front between the Avre and tbe Somme the (German wedge must be checked or tit - city will be in deadly peril, hut on the other hand if the Germans cannot widen the wedge, hy crossing on. of the streams-, their own position will be cxtrniey dangerous. now -ur.ii.M.ws mi st m: stoimt.i. It Amieps i-s to be saed the natural method of halt- !!;- the German advance would be by a flank attack or h the ron erging Hank attack. The push north 01 the I-issigny-N'oyon lin by the French on Thursday had many sign? of being the long expected counter of-f-nsive. but it died out after a rh ie v insy only local sur-'-.-es; that is. aftT it had rased off the pressure upon The French line west of Montdidier which had just i.rrn In;-:, nevertheless if there is going to be a counter -:fensie from the r-oulh and the French hae not Used up their mobil" reserves in filling the pap created by the collapse of the southern end of the British front .! ,s to be expected between Nov on and Montdidier and will threaten the t'.ank and Communications of the Gerni ms in the narrow wedge w hich i pushing toward Amiens in the same way. if there is to be a British ojnter offensive one would look for it between Albert and the bnd of the Ancre on the other side of the li rm an wedge. In any event we are almost at the solution of our List -strategic problem. Fnless some r.ew and unforscen factor enters into th calculations in the next fewhours, probably Sunday, and at the latest Amiens will have been saved or lost and the Germans will have reached the limit of their push. The colossal offensive which aimed at destroying the military power of Britt.iin will be expressing its disappointment in the saekrr of Amiens of its sage in bombarding the noble bl cathedral from the outskirts of the town above the c onrluenee of the Somme and the Avre. In summary, then, measured by all tho evidence now .vaibible or. this the 10th .lay cf that battle, the third German bid for a electron in the west, has failed as did the r;rt at the Marne and sc end at Verdun. At he Marne Frar.ee saved th world, at Verdun France rirm ar.d checked the Germans until Britain was rdj. So it i Britain, ."-till bravely supported by

Pre nee, which is bearing the burden that we of America may get ready. JXXTi TAKILS ALLIFI) LlIAMIRSlUr. As for Pershing's offer to put the American army into the I'ieardy furnace, Haig made the same proposition to Joffre when the Verdun battle was at its first crisis, but Joffre declined and one may suspect Koch will decline, fo.- as Britain's time had not arrived in February, 19 IS ours has not yet come in March, 131S. One word us, to Fcch, now named as commander of the whole ! force on the west. No general in this war has bei. fortunate or faced such a terrible crisis. With the JOth army corps he saved Nancy after the I'rench defeat at Morhange in August. 1814. In the Mrs, days of September it was his army w hich delivered the decisive thrust at the Garne in the ever memorable engagement about Iafere Cnampenies. Six v. eeks later he was in supreme command of the allied armies between the sea and the scarpe and directing the British. French r.nd Belgian operations in the glorious sta.id which saved Calais and ended the German offensive in the west. If there is to be an allied counter oTYnsive now. the man who won the Marne by his counter thrust at the moment hen defeat seemed assured, is the man lor commander-in-chief. "My right is ietreating. my center is broken, my left is routed. I stiall attack;" these were t-ochs words at the decishe moment of the Marne, as it stands today the allied prospects on the Somme are far less desperate than their outlook at the Marne or the Yser and I'och snatched victory out of the defeat on both these occasions. AS IT IXXKi:i ritlDAY NIGHT. TUB German offensive began on Thursday, Maren -1. just two years and one month to the dry after the attack upon Verdun. The present article seeks to review in some detail the events during the first seven days of the great struggle, summariziifg its achievement, discussing its character, ar.d examining the question of :he numbers engaged ar.d the purposes as disclosed by the operations. The front selected for the great offensive, detdned by the Germans to be the hardest blow of the whole war in the wes; and to procure a decision in the war, by crushing the British military forces in France, was some 30 miles in extent, from the Scarpe river in the vicinity of Arras to the Oise facing La Kere and wa thud nearly twice as wide as the fronts of all previous great attacks. On this front, as nowhere else, the Germans held the advantageous positions, because they had retired from their old front to a new line selected by their commanders, after the battle of the Somme, and had been able to retain all the pood positions thus occupied. Fhewhere on the front tho British had driven them off the best positions notably before Arras on Vi my Bidge, near Lens on hill No. 70, and before Tprcs and all the f.ttneus heights from Messines to the flooded area northwest of the city of Ypres. In addition to holding the grood positions, the Germans had an advantage of communications due to two things, first, to the fact hat the region of France between Cambrai and St. Quentin was served by mar.y lateral railways and several trunk lines; second to the circumstance that the British on the line here had behind them the devastated area over which the Germans had retreated in March of last year, destroying

AN OVERFLOW WAR By Don K. Martin Publicity Mruiager, Columbus (Ohio) Chamber of Commerce in March

I'.y fillinp a War Chest with over $3,000,000 to meet war needs alone in less than live days Columbus, Ohio has bc-t an example for the whole country in practical patriotism. s?o strong was the appeal and o well was it put that almost SO, COO subscribers contributed their Pit to the fund. The self sacrifice called for in this campaign is worth infinitely more to the people of Columbus than the sum which was raised to help the soldiers "over there," and the result proves that at lat one American community has found itse-lf. In the success with which Columbus was organized for the War Chett drive and in the extent and nature of the publicity campaign conducted, this project is unusual in the annals of community efforts. The success is du; to the loyal and patient efforts of the men who were selected to supervise the various departments of the work. So complete had leen the preliminary MrahseincMits that in the tivo days closin? Saturday evening. Beb. lb the War Chest was more than tilled: : total of I-J. 071.0! had been subscribed by 7o.l2G people. Two outstanding needs prompted the organization of the Columbus community war .-ervice, which diicted the campaign; tirst. the necessity of developing some busineslike method by which Columbus, juickly nnd surely, and with a minimum of wasted effort. oub.l meet the steadily increasing financial demands tb;.t are being made upon the city to support the movements designed to protect our armies and give aid to war-stricken peoples; and. second, th- equally -:reat. or greater, necessity of building in C .umbus a -single, practical organization that could bring to the whole city an intelligent understanding of what this war means to America, and develop a community state of mind that would enable Columbus to respond instantly to eery national appeal for sendee. Stated more simply, it was an organized effort to enlist for the period of the war the dollars and the civilian manpower of Columbus, to give every citizen who cannot enter the army an opportunity to serve his country with his money and with his working ability. The first task the mobilization of money is the simpler of the two. Its solution lay in the plan to rill a great community war chest. The Columbus plan was simply the application of the modern budget principle to the hitherto haphazard system of raising special funds for special war need. The organization itself was the development of plarvs ''evised after week of study by the social service uutoiu of the Columbus chamber of commerce, in which organization the nucleus for the successful currying out of the project was found. Several weeks before tr.e start of the campaign a score of public-spirited .it.itns visited To.onto, Canada, at their own expense, to familiarize themselves with the methods used in

XI MEM

Pa '''"7( S )f yÄM I

Pre3enT firont. ra D all roads, bridges and habitations, and leaving a desert. While the British had built some roads and railways ;.i-ross this desert their communications were far poorer than at 'any other sector from the sea to th Oise. noii:n ix)i: gi.ilman im:aci:. As it has so far been disclosed German strategy was comprehended in the determination to strike one mere blow exactly such as was undertaken in the hat progressive Canadian community in providing1 funds for war needs. The Columbus community war service, comprised r;f a general committee of 100 appointed by the maycr vpon the recommendation of tho chamber of commerce, selected an executive committee 'of 11. several of whom were members of the chamber's social service bureau committee, which orginally advocated the project. The 7,000 workers in the campaign were divided , into the following 1- divisions under lü divisional chairmen: individual subscribers, outlying individual subscribers, township subscribers, factory employe subscribers, utility employe subscribers, retail emploje subscriber, public employe -ubscribers. general employe subscribers, homes division, meetings division, publicity division, and oflice or headquarters organization. Preceding the start of the campaign on Feb. tr p homes division organization sent ward and rrecinct iommittee-s to every home in the city to distribute literature and explain the meaning and purpose of the War Chest. This organization followed up its work by soliciting in the homes. The workers were instructed to take no subMTiptions from any organizations other than a business firm or corportion or from dependent members of families. In addition to the usual newspaper publicity cxol lining the project, full-page advertisements, billboard publicity, posters, pamphlets, and numerous kinds of literature wer used. Lirge posters Ave re carried by all the street cars, and one car was covert d on the outside with billboards anil driven through the city each day of the eaatipaign. On the morning thit th drive began, church bells and factory whistleskept up a continuous clamor for an hour. Among tho publicity features was a "kaiser board." erected in the state house yard, bearing 1j foot figuresof th? kaiser, the crown prince, and von Hindenourg. The head? of these Huns were on hinges, so that they Mew back when struck with baseball which were provided by committees on duty at the "kaiser board" constantly. The day before the end of the lampaign, "Kaiser Bill's" funeral was held at the "kaiser board," where a mock funeral oration was delivered, and the remains of his Hunship. in a large labVet, were carried through the streets in a dilapidated hearse drawn by four donkeys. Another feature was the placing of a hurdy-gurdy on one of the principal street corners bearing the placard. "Help grind up the kaiser." In the middle of F. Broad st.. just north of the state house, was erected an itumer.se War ("hst surmounted j- a Columbus Liberty bell a replica of America's original Liberty bell. After th" luncheon meetin-s of t;v campaign workers. vhi 'h were hebl -ach day. t'jworkers marched to the Lierty l-;i. where th total

- Jronf of 1916. jü&jö Marne campaign. The Germans believed that if they could defeat and destroy the southern half of thj British armies in France, drive a gap between Briti.-h armies and French and roll the former back through Amiens up on the coast and the latter upon Paris that the moral and the military effect of their success would be to compel the French ami the British to consent to a German peace. In preparation for this gigantic blow the Germans CHEST "American City." amount of .the subscriptions received at tha.t time was registered on a scale on each side of the War Chest. For two weeks preceding the campaign a mythical symbol of "1 to .'11 War Chest." appeared everywhere on banners, posters in street cars, on billboards and every page of aH the local newspapers. At the start of the campaign the meaning of this symbol was made known as an estimated individual contribution to the War Chest fund of one day's pay out of every month. based on annual incomes over and above $2,000, the following schedule of subscriptions was indicated: Incomes. $2,000 to J3.00, one day's pay out of U0. Incomes. 3,000 to 5,000. one day's pay out of 1 Incomes, 3,000 to 10,000, one day's pay out of 1" Incomes. 10,000 to 15,000. one day's pay out of 1J Incomes, 13,000 to 2"',0 0", one day's pay out of II Incomes. 20,000 to 23,000, one day's pay oüt of 10 Incomes, 15,000 to :J0 .oo. l'ne day's pay out of 3 Incomes, 30,000, to .55,000, one day's pay out of Fven the trafiie signs at the street corners bore reminders of the War Chest. Instead of the usu.il .Stop" and "Go" warning, tlry read, ".Make Our War ''best GO' and "The kaiser would like to ST"P our War Chest:" Elaborate decorations of flag? and standards were displayed throughout the down-town section during the week. On all the electric light standards at intervals of .; feet along t.Il the principal streets frame? Mere hung hearing pi.icards, which were changed daily. At the start they be re the message, "i to 31 War Chest." In the following days they proclaimed. "Welcome Canadian Heroes." "The Hounds Are Ixjose Today " "The Hounds Have Caught the .Scent." "The Hounds Have the Kaiser on the Itun," "Give or the Hound Will Bite You." and "Is Your Conscience Clear?" Perhaps the most interesting feature of the campaign was the visit of 23 wounded Canadian soldiers, who appeared at numerous public meetings and related their gruelling experiences at the front. Other speakers of national prominence appeared at the public meetings. The subscript. on of one large industry which has been manufacturing supplies for the government, including the subscriptions of its oflicers and employes, totaled $120.0-0:. A number of other individual or company subscriptions reached the J50.000 mark. The spirit of the campaign, however, was best illustrated by instances such as a subscription of $ 1 1 I marie by 11 blind men working in the broom factory of the state commission for the blind; a gift of $1 mad- b'" on oing girl who earns but $4 a week: a delivery wagon driver who subscribed J-,r,: a liberal sub-- ription oy a ivJuNTi.NL'KU N PAGF THIS KO.

, ' til- ' r p.irt t i t:.t'; po-ven. all the arttherv : i - .: ot tu the German a?. 1 A utt a :i - : Vase- :'. :.i the east .s a result of the Bu.-. ( p. .:.tp.-e, the guns captured !rom Italy, and sut h to w - . , i':e as had ': n manufactured. No -such .""in t i.t r : t. of ar'ilrv h.-.s been uown in human h. story. The main idea of Gtiu .iM .-tr.t:egy a.- the ntral notion of all previous western otfensrves. namely to obliterate the enemy trench litua by a trern' n iou bombardment an.l then pu-h through the gap th' s opened and, driving the British before them. dero them in the devastated arei and open a pap in tr." whole allied position thus compelling a return to tr.-war-of movement, in whict the Germans hheved their troop and their othrers were njpcnor to the volunteer armies of Britain. Hitherto in western warfare the major effort. '. treak through have inviu-iai ly failed because the artillery preparation h.'; r.ot succeeded in destroying a'l he tienches and defenses or in destroying them hefere reserves could tome up behind ti.e danger point. Invariably, too, the assai!.i nt has been lurider. 1 after initial ruccess by his inability to move h.s he.iv y tlrti! lery forward to keen up with his infantry. The rr-u't has been in the west that in every cas th ittai has been halted some five or six miles fr-un i'-- starting point and there has ben no break-thio igti. giulman co.vcirsTi: atin run: In the present instance the German con ' -nt t a t-1 Iiis heavy artillery in such quantities th.it h' hup- 1 and expected to destroy all the defense y.-tin of lo foe at the first bombardment nrst, .-.ond aid thud lines alike and then push on with his infantry and avoid tiie delays incident to th sirwv.il of cbnieu'of defense of his foes. ?uch survivals had wrecked tlr I'rench offensiv e in Champaigiu- in 1 5 and all subsequent attacks in the west. And in this expectation of. achieving such a complete Jestrm tion the energy vsasubstantially justified by the result. Now as; to the progress if events. ' n Thursday morning. March 1. came th- great b.imbardni nt lasting some five hours. It surpassed all prev ious artilb ty actions and it accomplished its main p.irpo.-e. Thwhole system of Briti.-h defense lines was fndei i untenable by the end of this bombardment. whc 'i reached the roads 20 miles behind the front h.ie trenches. With the artillery attack went the most intense gas emissions that have vet taken pl.n-e and th' British artillery men were compelled i.. s-re tlp-T uns in gas masks. In no detail was tb Jerman fliminary preparation more i.uccessful than in snethering and destroying British guns. On Thursday, despite the intense .MUilbry .ot, ,.. there was little or no real infantry advancing on large scale. Hut on Friday morning the flood burst an-I the British defense system, their battle positions, a!! tiie intricate and elaborate preparation- against jut tliis moment, were pierced i nd penetrated, pot at ai! points but at so many points that in this day and t he next, they had to be abandoned and a iim:i retn-c-ment begun. By Friday the Germans cre striaining forward in three well defined masse", thej- were pusbii.- d n t ri Camlrai-Bapaumc-Amiens road. .' . along t;.- u)-brai-Pronne. Amiens road and south alon tlie St Quentin-Ham-Xoyon road, which is one ,,f iin man highways from the north of Trance i, i.ribkitimi hold mm: i;ai; BKs. On this Frida, the British line near Arias b id. lion? was a marked decrease in the suceev.s ,,- the (b rman advance north of tho Bapaume n-ad b it -. the -,,j!i of this road, ab.ng the I'erenne hich-vay and :i the St. Qucntin-Ham rojd the German advan-e rapid and the British retreat was both swift and ( Miuii -disorderly. Haig had now to face tlie fituation whi'h . n f r -n ; 1 Joffre on the morrow c.f the failure of all I'rn'h offensives in the Prst month of tlie present war. pi fo.ip'.i and outnumbered with no chance of holding hi-, r. iu in any immediate future, the problem of the Tlroi-h Commander was to retreat preserving his ge.vra! fror,: intact, escapinsr enveloping movements, whieh -houll cut off portions of his armies and avoiding tip- insertion of a wedge between his armies- and the Prnch to the south of the Oise an I bet;veen portion .,f h!: own armies further north, until the strategic re scrv of the allies could intervene. On Saturday the British situation was rito al. Thnorthern flank of Haig's army was holding v. d .in..: had retired only to its thirl lin's. the ( . ( .?. r v crumbling rapidly and the Ge. rt.-o-i ns hai p.t.--e.j Tortille, were around IVropr.e ar:i wre tiiru-tir.g a deep wedse lutwi-i-n the J.rit:-h arriii's north .r..l south of the Somrne. t i ! 1 further to the i:h th whole British defense wa in ribi or.-; an ! hi.ikin:- a desperate but hopeless resistance along the s? ( ,-tt can ad. while the Jerman- we-,- rap, ob. m -!,!.; wedge between the Fritish ;.nd ti-e I'rrr.'u ;ib.;:g Oise The situation did r.ot improve on Fur; br.-. The i;; ish were now far writ of all th ir pr- p.ir' U .- .-u: -of defence on a ry wide iront. Ti.e war .f -.tio i had teen s-tuc eede d by th war of rnov rri' nt arid t h -cJermans were still enjovi'.g u) tl;e .!Jvar.t.c : to a superior concentration of numif rs and . ! artillery. On this; day the Briti.-h hop. . ,.f ..:; i t;.natural hne of d fenses from Aria.-, .Hi t!,:o g'r Peror.ne and behind trie .rutnf- t- H u.i a' .j ):.r. behind the St. Quentin canal n the o,-- u: '!..i jr.e.. s dltppeared. OT BAM' MUMrW. Moniuy the crisis vas r.ot yet pas-:. Index t.1. ',:- mans, having taken Bapaume and 1 'er'. t. r.' . hr..-: rlifht acrosra the old battler-ld f the Somme i to. ' Martir.!puich ar.d Courcelette on the w.-t sld f the Bapaume-Amler. read, thus driving a wedge '.vvtn the northern and eouthern forces of the Pnt.sh . r:iinander. At this mornent .u; retr.e (;. rman s -.-- ifemed within the gi-sp of the kai-- r' irr i'. 1,. ..'' riant.' at the ame t:me ti.e ?!tuat;-.n to w..i otJy beginning to improve as ,t .. h .-.owere arriving ruii going .n'o : . .. : 1. gi) e ( NTIM'Kb ' N A Till.- rl-C

t onccntrated ' '