The New York Times/1918/06/27/Spanish Influenza Is Raging in the German Army; Grip and Typhus Also Prevalent Among Soldiers

Spanish Influenza Is Raging in the German Army; Grip and Typhus Also Prevalent Among Soldiers

LONDON, June 26.—Influenza is now epidemic all along the German front, according to advices received from the Dutch frontier, and the prevalence of this ailment is said to be hampering the preparations for offensive operations.

The proportion of men sent to hospitals on account of influenza has risen rapidly in all the German units in the last few days, and special hospitals are being established in the rear areas dealing solely with this disease.

Thus far only the more serious cases have been sent to the hospitals, but the German army doctors say that, unless even the light cases are removed from the units, it will be difficult to prevent further spread of the epidemic.

The disease prevalent in the German Army is reported to be of the new Spanish type, which recently broke out in Berlin and other German cities, and is presumed to have been brought to the trenches by men returning from leave.

In the German cities the disease has been very hard to deal with owing to the shortage of doctors and the conditions of undernutrition among the city populations.

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WITH THE BRITISH ARMY IN FRANCE, June 26, (Associated Press.)—German troops on the western front are suffering from an epidemic of grip, which incapacitates them for a week or ten days. There are also many cases of typhus and dysentery within the German lines southwest of Lille.

There is no evidence, however, that these illnesses are responsible for the delay of the new offensive. It is believed that the German High Command has nearly completed its preparations for the next great attack against the allied front.

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[The prevalence of influenza and dysentery among the German troops on the western front was reported by Philip Gibbs in The Times of Tuesday last.]