The Press. Friday, January 10, 1919. The Military Defeat of the Enemy.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 16417, 10 January 1919, Page 6

The Press. Friday, January 10, 1919. The Military Defeat of the Enemy.

Tho most important feature of Sir Douglas Haig's final despatch is his decisive settlement of a point which was previously only provisionally sot--4 tied—namely, whether the German Army was actually defeated. As wo ■ pointed out yesterday, it was open to any dishonost German to declare that Hindenburg was retreating to a line upon which he could make a lengthy stand before retiring further by stages .'until he hold the lino of the Rhine. We ■were all convinced that tho Gormans ■were really defeated, in the sonse that the knock-out blow would come to them in a few more roands,. but it was not 1 clear, as it is now clear from the Com-manaer-in-Chiefa despatch, that the continuance 'of fighting would , have ended in a few weeks with the complete destruction of the German Army as a fighting force. It was not clear that the enemy might not occupy successive lines of defence for months, al- .. though the pace of our advance by Jfovomber, the great hauls of prisoners, and the quite general sagging of the German front, loft none of us in much " doubt as to the real truth of the mat- . ter. Now we know that the possibility of a successful retirement by stages to the Rhine had ceased to exist before the November operations. The landslide had begun, and the whole German front was slipping into confusion* and ruin. The reserves were used up; there was jio time to prepare any defensive lines ,io which to retire; there were no points pivots of resistance to which the

enemy could cling in the face of the | tremendous onward drive of the Allied I Armies. "When the armistice was signed, Sir Douglas Haig says, "the enemy's " defensive powers had already been "definitely destroyed. The continu- " anco of hostilities could only have " meant disaster to tho German armies, " and an armed invasion of Germany." Tho surrender cam© just ih time to avert this formal sealing of the victory. The war onded, in brief, through the military defeat of Germany on tho field of battle.

From tho beginning the people of tho Allied countries felt that nothing less than this would givo us the victory that was needed, and there will be tin -nsured satisfaction that a military victory was secured. Sir Douglas Haig's despatch will probably mitigate the disappointment of those people who dosired that the fighting should continue until the German front was pierced in several placns, the German armies enveloped, and the remnants pursued and battered until not a German division was left under arms. This programme could obviously have been carried out, but it would not have loft the Allies in a position better than that which now occupy, because their present position could not bo bettered. But to carry out that now obviously needless programme would havo cost the lives of perhaps a couple of hundred thousand more British soldiers, and we fancy that that would have been rather a high price to pay for tho satisfaction of such distant obsorvers as longed for a gory finalo. Marshal Foch soems to have taken that view, at any rate. He knew what his Armies could do. It was within his power to go ahead and smash tho enemy to pieces, but ho was unwilling to cay a single soldier's life more was necessary for the end which lie desired. He would not havo accepted anything less than complete and unconditional submission; but having the onemy in his power he humanely chose to receive an admission of defeat rather than to waste tho lives of brave | British and French soldiers in demonstrating a truth that was obvious to the High Command on both sides, and that was admittoci by the enemy. Tho victory was none tho less Complete and glorious for that; indeed, it is nil the more glorious and honourable in Foch and Haig. In tho confusion that at present reigns in Germany it is unlikely that thoro is anyone to write or anyone to iead an official German record of the fighting between July 18th and November 11th. One day, perhaps, some such record may be prepared, and if so, it will be the funeral service of tho military creed of Germany. "When the German Chauvinists used their famous phrase "Weltmacht oder Niedergang," they never really believed that downfall was tho alternative to world-power: they never in their hearts believed that downfall was possible, even if their bid for world-power failed. To a man they believed not more firmly in the law of gravitation than in the invincibility of German arms. Sir Douglas Haig's despatch is a shattering revelation of the vanity of Prussia's monstrous arrogance, and <;.:e can almost wish there wore a ruling Kaiser in Germany to whom the desolating fact could go home.