WAR AND WINTER.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 156, 17 March 1916, Page 2 (Supplement)

WAR AND WINTER.

WHY THE WEATHER BENEFITS THE ALLIES. (Bv James Dunn, in London "Daily Mail.") ROTTERDAM, Jan. 18, 191 G. Why wait for the cannon to boom in the spring Why not an active winter campaign in the west The activity seen in France and Flanders during the last few weeks proves that the rigours of winter cannot prevail before the remorseless demands of battle, and when lighting under climatic difficulties the odds are greatly with the Allies. Numerically and physically we are superior to the enemy. Our men are better fid, better shod, better clothed, better housed than the Germans. Therefore the hardships of winter should be our allies rather than our foes.

Germany is groggy from the body blows deait by the British Navy. Shrewd, strong blows at her head and face on the western front will make her totter for the knock-out we are all hoping for this year. But there will be no knock-out this year if the winter campaign is again to be one of "masterly activity." We must pound the Germans hard, and we must pound them as often as our supply of shells will permit, for at the present time Germany is passing through a critical internal crisis partially concealed by a strict censorship of her Press. What is the exact nature of this crisis it is difficult to say beyond the fact that it is mainly financial.

Many excellent articles have been printed m Allied papers from "neutral correspondents" in Germany, but as almost all these correspondents differ in essential facts their testimony is more confusing than convincing. As every trained journalist knows, so much depends 011 a man's temperament, his facilities and capacities of observation, and his powers of deduction in estimating and describing great events that, however honest a neutral visitor to Germany might be, he is liable unconsciously to convey an erroneous impression to his readers. Even 011 the obvious fact of fat riots these neutral visitors cannot agree. Again, it is not surprising; it is merely a question of the capacity for observation. Suppose there were a big dock strike in London and every news item concerning the strike were suppressed by the Censor. A foreigner might come to London, put up at a" West End hotel for a couple of days, and return home knowing nothing of the strike, except what he had picked up from unreliable gossip. Such are a few ot the reasons I sugi;e.:t are responsible for the divergent account of present-day life in Germany printed from time to time in the Allied and American Press. The best, in fact, the only way to obtain something like an accurate knowledge of what is happening in Germany is to _Jgle with the Germans not for days and weeks but for months; to learn their habits, their moods, to gauge the value of their confidences and disclaimers.

For many months I have been living among Germans in Rotterdam, the most pro-German of the Dutch cities. 1 have watched them at the Maas Station arriving from Germany. I have noted their commercial and journalistic activity in Holland, 1 have dined at the same tables, drunk in the same cafes, ridden in the same cars, and I may fairly claim to know something of what Germans themselves are saying and thinking. GREATER HATRED OF ENGLAND. The Germans are beginning the year with an intensified hatred tor England and an increasing fear of our Empire's resources. German business men are openly anxious over the continuing decline in their money value, which, unless speedily averted, means bankruptcy; German politicians are concerned over the growing spirit of revolt shown by the more influential Social Democrats. These two topics are the subject of conversation wherever intelligent Germans are gathered together. So far the Socialistic threat is a cloud only the size of a man's hand, but the money trouble is overshadowing the German Empire.

Prevailing German opinion is that the Government will adopt tstci n measures against the more active of the Socialist leaders, several of whom may be shot "to encourage the others." In bearing their financial burden, German business men are looking for help to Holland. It cannot be denied that very many wealthy Dutchmen believe iirmly in Germany and her powers of recuperation, and they are backing their belief with Dutch monev.

The danger of a premature peace is more to be feared by the AU.es than a German offensive east or west. A deliberate, calculated whine is now appearing in the German snarl against England. More and more wo hear of the British Navy starving German babies. Anyone who knows the German understands the hypocritical "tosh" about the massacre of the German innocents. Whatever happens to Germany, German children will not starve.

More than any other country Germany realises that her children are her greatest assets. Her past proves, her future demands, tluu care of her children must and shall be her first consideration. Once German children begin to die of starvation Germany will throw up the sponge. Germany's great trouble just now, especially in the country districts, is not starvation but disease.

Typhus has broken out in many villages, there is a scarcity of doctors, drugs, and hospital accommodation. Old men and women who arc now doing men's work in fields, mines, and factories are not equal to the stiain. Not in Berlin and the larger cities must one seek for Germany's weakness but among the urban and rural population. People in these areas have relatives in Rotterdam, and these relatives talk. "OIYi: THKM NO RKST."

Therefore again ] maintain now is tin' tine t<i deal Germany smashing blows in thf pla<-f she wil! fool tlicm most, and that i> on the western front. After the great bombardment that precede! the attack on Loos there were as many lunatics as wounded in the hospitals of Ghent. In youth, in vitality, in endurance the German army on the we-tern front cannot be compared with the Allies. I'nlike the Allied, they cannot be sent to the baiM' for a welcome rosi. from the terr bio ordeal of sustained shell fire. They must "st'ok it" day after day and night after night, enduring the uhi'e the rains, floods, snows of winter. The ( Jennan soldier i (instantly reminded by his officers that he and his machine gun are irresistible in defence. The maciii- • gun now practically replace., the riHe as the weapon of German infantry. The t-o!dior is chained to the gun. not to prevent him running :way from it but to help him to Varry ;t While the m-i''!i lie gun is Mio most deadly and effective of weenmi-, it also the mo-t del cat,.. \',,t only are the mivhuie gen, liable to lam bv a swift change in temp ■rature, 'nit also their delicate con-truction peeu'iarlv son-it ye t-. high-o.vplo-ive shells. Ifence it : s obvious that we fiL-iit the German maeliiiie guns with fjiii< k-fi w hen and v. le i'e <ye choose to attack. And attack »n must in some form or th" other. There i, noth.ng so nroductive of neutral sneers than the oft-r< !,ealo I some, t i.'ies put in the !::r>!ith of a St.-fT oifi-

cer, "Lot the Germans come. We are prepared for them." Surely, too long have we been waiting for the Germans to come. We may not he able to make any considerable advance against the Germans in winter, but we can harass and dishearten them by giving thorn no rest. Our men have the will to conquer and the power to strike. Every local succe.se of the Allies on the western front causes a tremor in Germany, already weakened by the silent, relentless pressure of the British Navy. A success by Germany on the western front would give her what she badly needs—a second wind. There must be no second wind for Germany. Otherwise ths war is going to be a damnable and shameful draw.