STRENGTH OF GERMANY

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2348, 2 January 1915, Page 7

STRENGTH OF GERMANY

AN ITALIAN VIEW

PROBABLE HELP FOR ALLIES

'An interesting opinion of the strength of Germany by an Italian writing, to.a friend in London iB published,in the "Morning Post.'. "The strength of- Germany iB truly, appalling; nevertheless, in my opinion' she has mado a mistake. She has called' to arms all those capable of serving-in any capacity, from seventeen to fifty years of ago. All Germans ore now sol-* diers; there are no reserves, and mean-i while slowly but surely the physical TC" V sistance of the German fighting body 13 daily diminishing. Men of .twenty'.-..to-thirty ■ will hold out for months—or. •years—against the terrible strain of the battlefield, but thofie of thirty to forty will find it harder, and still worse will: be the plight of men of forty to fifty.-' By spring-time, of the six million German soldiers there will' remain only, three capable of fighting; the rest-will be slain, wounded, and, above all, sick' or physically exhausted. They • will be compelled to retreat. point. Germany has made ■-. a grave miscalculation. In reckoning on the lightning rapidity of her action, she trusted to wipe out France in a'; month, and to subdue Russia in two months. To-day the situation is much', changed, and for the worse as regards Germany. Li France her army is practically established in winter quarters;' every day tho march on Paris becomes more difficult and improbable, and she. hos all her work cut out to defend her-' self and to hold her present position.. In ' Russia I believe the Germana:'will.advance, but at enormous sacrifice of men and material. Russia may check her, i but it is a mistake to look in that direct tion for great and. decisive victories.- 1 . The further the advance in Russia the' greater will bo the disaster in the/wake of Germany. And all this time the anny is diminishing, sickness is rife, it is becoming exhausted, while both soldiers and civilians must eat. Corn is being consumed and victuals will.be-. come scarce, and how is Germany going toiieplenish? She must conquer quick-.; ,ly, very quickly, in fact, immediately'.. 1 . Jl protracted'campaign spells her pros-, tration, effacementj starvation. : . ; . - "In .the spring the German 'Army., will have lost half its force—if not more.- < It will, however, still be a, terrible • force. ,'AII the more reason.why this sinister Power, which is the curse of. the whole world, must be., destroyed' once and. for all, never to rise again in coming centuries. If., Germany emerges victorious woe "to'.'all "Mother" nations, but especially woe to..England. She would be mistress of the Ftonch.) coast;' of tho Channel, .Dunkirk,. Ostond, and within ten years'h'er 'engineers (the foremost in the world, and do not overlook this fact) would- dispatch whole fleets of aeroplanes, and Zeppelins, so strongly armed as to-ren- , der futile any resistance on .the. part of "Dreadnoughts," : cruisers, or • forts. London would be bombarded:..from above, every coast defence'would be helpless, and there would assuredly be a German invasion! Thesoare not . speculations, but truths, to be speedily. demonstrated. So while Germany has perhaps slightly precipitated events, while possibly she has anticipated her dream by a.few years, her dream of - dominion- over all Europe and the whole globe, while we know her strength* the power of her guns, the limits of her ; resistance, while during the coming winter especially she will weaken both in men and provisions, while, in fine, there is still time, we must-overcome, -.humble, and wipe out, Germany now,;ai(di3for. all time. And this task is reserved'for: England, Italy, Rumania, and the Balkan States/possibly, too, for Spain! '

"And once and for all regard .this; as certain: All parties in Italy, all inen f i laymen and priests, pray for, loudly in-, voke, desire war on Austria . and Germany. You will find that when the' Chamber reassembles in November : every deputy will clamour for war—in' the spring. No Government can stand against the nation who is desirous of assisting in the destruction of: the bar- 1 barians. Perhaps for the, moment.it. is as well that Italy holds aloof: the ; Germans are still terribly powerful; by^ r spring-time they will bo much weaker< and then will be tho, time for; the addl-I tion of "a million fresh, well-trained troops, because rest assured that Italy, is now arming slowly but surely. 1 "On the other hand, .what has 'land done up to the present, who is the/ most interested party? Little. She has; sent some 200,000 men to France, and l against the German Fleet and the Ger-j man coasts she has achieved little,.very, little. England is preparing. for"., tW spring at least a million men. Italy; will by then have for certain ~• another million ready. A third million can be expected from Spain, the Balkan States, and the colonies. That will mean the beginning of the, end. The most terrible battles will bo fought on the plains, of "Westphalia, in the environs oi Berlin It will be the moment for England to assume her position as the head of the world. This war is for her a question, of life oj death."