WHAT IS THE GERMAN WAR STRENGTH?

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 4, Issue 20, 12 March 1915, Page 4 (Supplement)

WHAT IS THE GERMAN WAR STRENGTH?

AN ALL-IMPORTANT ESTIMATE

Mr. W. H. Mullock, of the Bachelors' Club, London W., writing to the "Daily Mail," says:—ln an interesting article published by you on December 30, your contributor makes certain calculations which' appear to me to be unsubstantiated. I rging the people of this country not to underrate the lighting strength of Germany, he puts the army which the Germans now have in the field at 5,000,000, and estimates that "early in the year 1915 there will be a new army ot the ideal lighting age—i.e., the late twenties"—amounting to 1,000,000 men, while there will be 2,000, 000 more "who have had some military training and are not vet forty-five years of age." Thus there will, early in 191">, be a total fighting force of 8,000,000 men who are in tne prime of military life.

Without tying your contributor down too strictly to the letter of these statements, let me put before your readers .the official analysis of the "male population of Germany, in respect of age. These figures, which were issued in Berlin about five years ago, may bo summarised thus :

Out of a total population of 02,000, 000, 30,000,000 are males. Of these, 12,900,000 are boys and youthi' under twenty years of ago (those under fifteen numbering slightly over fifty-five years of age number .'3,100,000.

Thus boys and youths under twenty and men over twenty-five account between them for 10,000,000, while the total number of men between twenty years of age and fifty-five is 14,000,000. These 14,000,000 men are subdivided thus :

Twenty to twenty-five, 2,800,000. Twenty-five to forty-five, 9,000,000. Forty-five to fifty-five, 2,200,000. Thus the total number of males in the prime of military life is 11,800,000. It is, however, obvious that no country, even in the greatest straits, can put all its men capable ol military service into the field. Food, clothing, arms, and transport are necessary. Therefore, an army in the field must have an industrial population at its back. Now tho number of male workers in Germany, of all ages, is 20,000.000, of whom men between the ages of twenty and forty-five form nearly 60 per cent. The principal occupations which an army requires for its maintenanco are mining, metal-working, transport, the making of hoots and clothes, and agriculture.

The number of men between twenty and forty-five norm'illy engaged in tliese occupations is as follows : -Mines. 580,000, outof a total of 960, 000.

Metals, 720,000, out of a total of 1,200,000. Transport, 000,000, out of a total of 1,000,000. Clothing, 480,000, out of a total of soo.ooo.

Africulture, 3,200,000 out of a total of 5,200,000. Preparation of foodstuffs (butchers, bakers, etc.), about 420,000. Thus these occupations', of which thelast three are essential, not only to the maintenance and equipment of the army, but to the life of the population generally, normally employ about 6,000, 000 of the 11,800,')00 men between twenty and forty-five years of age, leaving as available for army purposes only 5,800,000 men between the ages in question.

To put the matter generally, a German army of 8,000,000 would mean the withdrawal from industry of more than 60 per cent, of the men between twenty and fifty-five years of age who in norma) times are engaged in it.