From the Archives (April 13, 1918): Submarine Campaign.

The reduction of sinkings is associated with the German offensive. It is recalled that General Hindenburg tacitly admitted the failure of submarinism when he assured a Socialist Delegation in Berlin a few weeks ago that the offensive in the west was certain of success. It would cost four hundred thousand German lives but peace would come in August. This is in striking contrast to Hindenburg’s Army Order of February 1917, when he said the submarine offered the best means of speedily ending the war. It is pointed out in London that two hundred thousand British troops crossed the Channel in ten days from the resumption of the offensive. It is believed that Germany’s submarine efforts are decreasing owing to the concentration of labour and material on the land offensive, while the work of the British Navy is having the effect of destroying submarines at twice the rate of a year ago.