THE THING BERNHARDI FEARED.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 215, 6 October 1916, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE THING BERNHARDI FEARED.

Bv W. DOUGLAS NEWTON

The thing that Bernhardi feared is happening. In Irs cold 1 , prophetic vision Bernhardi saw Germany moving on the wings of heartless victory to the irresistible attainment of her own peculiar type of glory. Ho saw Germany doing tis inevitably, in spite of her enemies, and he felt that all the plans of Germany's enemies must fail against her —save one plan. Germany must conquer all things; but even his desire could not blind him to the fact that there was one thing she could not conquer. It is the one thing that ha? been fo rail time the terror of tyrannies. the thing that crushed Louis XIV. of France, as it crushed Napoleon. That one thing .is the implacable combination of Europe against tyranny ; not merely a oomlrnation in spirit, but the combination in actron. It was not the spirit that Bernhardi feared, but this co-ordinate military opposit;on. As long'as Europe was 'incoherent, Germany was safe; but once Europe cohered, bound itself in a girdle of numbers and power and plan alwut Germany, then, he felt., the crushing of Germany was inevitable. The girdle has been formed. Evei now, as we watch, it is beginning to crush. In the last few weeks (writes W. Douglas Newton, in "T.P.'s Journal of Great Deeds"), we have seen the wonderful fruition of the plan that previously had soenied to us no more than a bright theory. We have seen all tho eloquent special pleadings for unity, for co-ordination, become crystallise:! into practical and splend ; d fact. Wo have seen a sudden new movement of the Allied arms, and that movement, has swept with an enormous ripple of strength through the ranks of all tho Allies. There has opened a giant effort, not separate and' spasmodic, as before, but combining Poland and Ga,icia with the Tyrol, and the Tyrol \v:t'i Verdun, and Verdun with the urgent, eager armies of the Somm'e.

THE INCOHERENCE OF THE PAST. We can see some of the power of the present unversal advance of fronts if we consider what we must now adm.t was a lack of unified effort ;n the past. Germany, the aggressor, compact on his centre, and strifc'ng outwards from a solid base, had his definite means and plans ready. Arrayed against him, hurriedly and without time for defiuite co-operation, were a number of separate Powers. Combined, they mig'it have matched Germany in strength, but the swiftness of the calamity thaihad arisen found each fighting for its own hand in its own fashion. In this way strength was frittered away in individualistic effort. It is no good ignoring this fact. It is apparent, for example, that the Western Allies had set their plans upon an offensive through Alsace-Lorraine, leaving th« Belgians to hold the enemy until French victories -forced him to return to the defence of the Rhine. Belgium, then, fought on the lone hand, as •nd France, and both fought unsuccessfully. We can follow this failure .to coordinate through the early stages if the war. It can l>e sioen in General French's first despatch, when it is obvious that the French and British armies of te Allied left wing were connected up to give battle in the vague-t way, and with the vaguest knowledge of strength and dispositions. In the same way Russia had planned an advance on Germany through Lemberg, Cracow, .and along the Oder. A good plan, but in the tumult of events that followed that plan had to be checked so that the Germans might be drawn off to East Pruss'a. It was always the same in the early days—the best of intentions, the best respect for each other, showed among the Allies, butalways the fighting seemed loose and individualistic. A number of undisciplined blows were struck at Germany; not one great blow that had' all the Allied power behnd it. We can ticK oil the blows that failed on our fingers —Antwerp, the East Prussian offensives, Galiipo'li, the Galician offensive, tlio expedition to Bagdad, but sucn help was not deliberately co-operative enough to give the mighty leveragt necessary to overthrow the enemy.

AS BERNHARDI HAD FORETOLD

But we wore learning our lesson, and soon we had full knowledge. We saw that the way to win was to draw a girdle round Germany, to bu : ld up the strength of that girdi|.\ until every point of it had reached the requisite power; then, at the right moment, to set not a part, but the whole of that circle, in motion, so that in its narrowing ciTcumfcrence Germany must Iw inevitably crushed. We had hit upon the one thing to beat Germany. A* a cool and detached observer, the New York "Tribune," has it: "Patiently there has come about the thing that Bernhardi feared, and ,fearing, foretold would be fatal if it came. The alliance aag'nst Germany stands as firm as that which overthrew Napoleon in 1813-14; the conditions are the same: the odds aaginst Germany are at least comparable with those against France."

To-day we can see the great circle beginning its squeeze. It started in the North Sea off Jutland, the lvppla spread to Russia, and the circumference began to press inward from Lutzk and the Dniester. Then the movement spread to Italy; the caged enemy dashed madiy at the strong barrier that was to break his spirit. The barrier accommodated Austria with infinite patience, then inexorably it halted, began to press back on the exhausted foe, began to drive inward, even as Russia was driving inward. The movement spread. The ripple ran to that part of the girdle holding the enemy in Flanders and France. At Verdun the enemy for months had lieen dashing against the cage bars. The French had patiently permit fed him to exhaust his strength in. tli.s wild effort. Then, when the time liad come for united action, the defence hardened. The Germans fought their way over tluvr dead to Thiaumont, and at Thiaumont the Frer.-'h said, "No further." The patient line began to strike back. And even as it struck, the armies of the West took fire; and even as Russ'a moved, the ranks above and below the Somme, British ranks and French, were pushing their way forward, were movng inward. The tiling that Bernhardi feared had come to pass. View it as you will, we can see that the power e.f movement now lies wholly w : th the Allies, not with Germany. The patient work is bearing its fruit. t!;i • power that hems the Central Powers is dictating the line of action. There is no German aguressive. Wli.it movements Germany and Austra make are but the diashes of the captive "<)eki'tig to break loose, seeking to hold oil the inevitable end. The sea fightof the Skagcrak was a dash against the bars thai hold Germany to seaward What matter if Germany claims victory? The fact remains, the anxious

captive was thrown back with effectives cut down and strength depleted. Tho attack on Verdun was the dash of the captive aganst the bars that he felt were weak. France, considered Germany, liad suffered so heavily that tlie French line must give, or even it it did not give, it would suffer so terribly that «its power to attack would l be nullified; that is, a sector of the circle would be damaged and weakened, and again ths Allies (as in tho pastl would have to strike with but hall' blows. Verduji held, the enemy raged aaginst the bars, exhaust ; ng himself a little more, wea&enrng his, effectives a little more; then France, who should have been put out i>f action, leaped forward with splendd strides and pushed with fresh vigour towards I'eronne.

Follow the circle round to where Austria strove to damage a sector in the Tyrol. That great drive—6oo.l/00 mfcn ' and 2000 heavy guns—beat against the bars of Italy, made a giant effort to escape tho prison. Italy was equable. She yielded, since to yield was to take the force out of the blow, a great tract cf country, even to Assiero and Asiago, was given up. The pre-arranged t »K* of the Allies arrived, and tlie exhausted and weakened captive was thrust back; that sector of the circle that is Italy began to press in. With Russia the plan is more pronounced. Russia, with her greater spaces for manoeuvre, has made great movement. The Eastern sectors of the circle have swept inward over all Bukovina to the threat of the Hungary plains. l>eyond Kolomna to the danger of Lemljerg and all Galicia, lieyond Lutzk until Kovel is imperilled, and the whole of the German defensive system in Poland is menaced with the stroke of the sword. And then Russia, having mad a her gains, has paused 1 whi'le the imprisoned armies have flung themselves on her line in a wild hope of break'ng out and free.

THE CIRCLE NARROWS. Hindenburg on the Dvina roaches, Linsingen at Kove!, Bothmer in East Galieia, lmv been smashing at the encroaching front : n the hope of some release. The Russians have paused' to take the blows, have allowed their enemies to exhaust the'.r counter-efforts and than, when the German energy was dissipated, have moved again, striking inward against Hindenburg at Smorgon and Baranov.Hchi, against the Kovel front at Czartorysk, and pressing torward to endanger the East Galxian line by a march on Stanislait. '1 lie whole circle is pressing on to Germany. Even in the Balkans the Allied diplomacy has made its mow, and Greece has ceased to favour Germany, not by actual cr even intcnvonal help, but by ,a spirit of vacillation. The circle has become firm in Greece. It is possible that in time this sector of the Allied l'ne will connect up. and the great girdle, moving forward w th the crushing power upon doomed and beaten Germanv.