Another year of war looms
Country remains resolute
With the war about to enter its fourth year, the Observer marked the grim anniversary with a lengthy editorial.
There was, said the paper, disappointment across the country over its prolongation but that was nothing to the “acute warweariness” in Germany.
National unity in Britain was “unshaken in its determination and its faith in ultimate victory”.
The paper added: “It may be that we shall yet see striking developments on the Western Front before another winter – something more than the mere pounding of trenches into dust – but the internal collapse in Russia has destroyed any hope of complete victory in the Empires this year.”
Despite this, there was much to be thankful about. Three months earlier Britain had faced the prospect of being starved into submission by German attacks on Allied commercial shipping.
But there had been a reduction over the summer in losses of ships carrying food and supplies and it was hoped to launch 4,000,000 tons of merchant shipping in 1918.
Furthermore, prospects for the harvest that year were good and fears that the labour shortage would reduce the amount of land being worked looked to have been misplaced.
“There is this year an increase of 350,000 acres under corn in England and Wales,” added the Observer.
“This is cheering, as is also the fact we are at last likely to have an effective system of food control such as will mitigate the hardships of the population.”
While the United States had “only been on the war track” for four months, its rate of expenditure on the conflict was approaching that of Britain.
“We can judge what this must mean in the short time in gigantic additions to the military, naval, aerial and shipping resources of the Allies,” concluded the Observer.
“The coming winter may not see the war over but it will confront Germany with evergrowing forces on her Western Front and an undiminished determination on the part of the Allies to cure her of the role she has played for far too long as the world’s troublemaker.”