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OCR
THE FATHERIIAND
23
THE MILITARY SITUATION A
By the Military Expert of THE FATHERLAND
THE week-end telegrams from the various war theatres convey a
feeling of certainty that the Teutonic lines are holding firm.
Not only this, but the Germans are even making forceful counter-
thrusts, giving fresh evidence that their opponents cannot claim ex-
clusive possession of the initiative. What is of importance to ob-
serve is that throughout its defensive the German leadership has
not for a day been deprived of its freedom of action.
The situation before Verdun must be judged in the light of the
dog-days. The German soldier is less accustomed to the heat than
the Frenchman. He consumes more moral energy to keep himself
in perfect fighting trim and under such conditions the German
leaders prefer not to count on the full measure of offensive power
which the German soldier actually possesses. This fact is known
and utilized by the enemy with the effect that we read of a tem-
porary loss of the ruins of Fort Thiaumont and the village of
Fleury. But the fact that these positions, which have merely a tac-
tical value, have changed hands more than once in a single day
proves that there are ample reserves on the German side with which
to return the blow, in other words, that the beleaguering force has
not been reduced. '
The “terrible" losses of which the Allies report are surely at least
counter-balanced by their own. The arguments which the French
advance to justify their "increasing confidence" that the fortress
will hold out can but thinly veil the fact that in reality they are pre-
pared for the worst to happen. The German positions on the heights
surrounding Verdun will finally act like a spring that, with St.
Mihiel as its support, is laid around the outlying forts. The mo-
ment the German general staff lets go its hold of the spring the
latter is bound to carry away the last remnants of resistance with
elemental force.
The Allies’ advance on the Somme has lagged. Since more than
a week the English are preparing their second gigantic blow, a blow
dealt in the open field to which they are attaching great expectations‘
The fall of Peronne, the leap forward to Bapaume, figured prom-
inently on the Allies’ program as early as July, and their war corre-
spondents were already marching on the high road to victory and
coveted Germany. Instead of this their gain of ground at the
Somme, compared with that of the Germans at Verdun,,is in ratio
as one is to two, in which connection it must be remembered that
the Germans have to blast their way through the giant masses of
concrete protecting the French forts, while the French are facing
in the north nothing more serious to overcome than the German
field fortifications.
The Allies are holding thousands of men in readiness for their
offensive just as you would trim coal to feed a boiler. The only
difference is that here you have a mechanism which will produce a
calculable effect, while a battle between two armed forces is a living
organism ever drawing new forces from within itself, ever creating
new conditions in order to stop the wheels of the opponent’s offen-
sive. The Allies’ offensive came to a halt before the coal was yet
consumed! Confidential reports from London offer comment of the
gloomiest kind on the newest British losses. A thousand ofiiccrs
lost per week means a loss of ten thousand men. It means a loss,
in the space of a month, of as much as an entire German army corps,
on a front of no more than twelve miles. “It is evident,” the Eng-
lish report says, “that things cannot go on like that. The German
casualty lists, though more detailed, show less than half of our
lossesl" This report, common opinion on the Allied side notwith-
standing, holds-as we do-that in the coming week, when fighting
in the open, the Germans have an easier task in holding the enemy
back with still greater losses to the lattergbecause they know the
exact ranges from their artillery to every square yard of the terrain,
and are in a position to predetermine the lines up to which the
enemy is to be allowed to advance before the concentrated fire of the
guns previously trained decimates him and brings his advance to a
halt.
The Russians have made hardly any progress in Volhynia and
Galicia while in Armenia and Persia they were beaten back every-
where with considerable losses. The Turkish army, which has been
reorganized during winter, not only offsets Kitchener’s armies but
will no doubt in the end show itself capable of destroying once and
for all the hopes of the British forces along the Suez Canal and in
Mesopotamia to effect a junction with the Russians in the north of?
Asia Minor. Even if they should not victoriously cross.the Red
Sea the Osmanli will be strong enough to determine the fate of
Egypt in their favor. But if they succeed in the hottest season of
the year to win against the Australian colonial troops in the‘Sinai
Peninsula, such successes may confidently be regarded as a prelude
to a powerful ran]: against the defenders of the “straight road to
India." -
. A NEW THEORY OF WAR
F all the fantastic absurdities that have been put forth by the
Allies, the most ingeniously naive is the proposal that Great
Britain and her confederates will permit Poland being supplied with
food provided Germany and her allies will agree not to requisition
any of the food supplies raised within Polish territory taken from
Russia.
The adroit character of this condition is seen at a glance when
two circumstances are clearly fastened in the mind: .
1. The Polish people were reduced to a state of starvationiby
the ruthless work of destruction inaugurated by the semi-barbarous
hordes of Russians when they were forced to retreat before the
victorious Central Powers. It will be remembered that the Russian
hordes proceeded on the theory that they could repeat the tactics
pursued by them in their retreat upon Moskow before Napoleon,
when they left a trail of blood and desolation in their wake in order
to destroy Napoleon's resources. I
2. These tactics proved unavailing with the Germans and Aus-
trians, who were not caught in the trap which forced the Corsican to
retreat with his shattered columns, but it left the same wake of
desolation. The Germans as soon as possible repaired the damage
of the Russian hordes by setting every available man in their armies
to till the field and grow new crops in the destroyed portions. To-
day we are informed by prominent correspondents writing to the
New York papers that the fields of Poland are one mass of waving
grain and whole sections are abloom with potato Vines. We are
told that the prospect is good for a large enough crop to relieve the
famine as soon as the crop can be harvested. But the Allies actually
demand that none of the supplies thus created by German industry
and foresight shall be used for the support of other than the in-
habitants. The Germans supplied the seed, plowed the fields, sowed
the grain and are to gather the harvest, but must not touch any of
it for their own support. The proposition is actually that the Ger-
mans must starve themselves in order to feed the inhabitants re-
duced to famine by-England's right-hand ally. On no other con-
dition will England permit supplies to he sent to the distressed
Poles.
This is conducting war on a new principle. According to this
theory, carried to its logical conclusion, the Germans ought to till
the Belgian fields and plant them, as they have done, gather the
crop and send what surplus there may be over the total required for
the Belgian population to London to feed the Belgian refugees who
are finding English hospitality rather irksome and not half as cordial
as when the “poor Belgians” first arrived in London to find refuge
among their pretended friends. We have this on the authority of
Belgian writers. In accordance with this theory, General Sherman
ought to have restored Georgia and North Carolina, after having
invaded those States, to their inhabitants with their fields carefully
tilled and planted. Having failed to do this Sherman, in the eyes
of our British cousins, was not a commander of an invading army
but a brutal savage-almost as ruthless as Rennenkampf and Grand
Duke Nilcolaivitch, we daresay.