The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 1914. A WAR PREDICTION.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXX, Issue 7, 26 August 1914, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 1914. A WAR PREDICTION.

In the light of present events it is remarkable how right far-sighted thiftk- • ers and writers have been in predicting the present war and the aims and • ; methods Germany would employ to ensure, so far as she was able, her great ambitions being fulfilled. In the May . I number of the "British Review," ! Demetrius C. Bolger not-only predicted ' : war, but outlined with accuracy ttie '! form it would take. Probably alter a close study of such authorities as General Bernkardi, Mr Bogler set out clearly why any further delay on the part of Germany in provoking a conflict would militate against her success, and expressed the opinion that the deciding factor in the impending struggle would be the land forces if Belgium, France and Great Briiain. He argued that Germany would fir.t try to crush the military power of Franco before engaging in battle with . the British Navy. So far this has been the exact course of events: the unanticipated, however, happens in the splendid defence Belgium has made, the part Japan is playing, and the amazing defeat of Austria by the Servians. Mr Bolger, in his article, expressed the view that France and Russia, as Germany's neighbours, suggested matters of more immediate and imperative necessity than the direct challenge of England's superiority at sea. The writer goes on to say:— "For a time she thought she could lull England to sleep while she crippled France, but she discovered her mistake in September, 1911, and ever sine? she lias been concentrating all her naval power in the North Sea, so that she may give our fleet full employment, and render it impossible for us to send an army to the Continent during the first three weeks following the crossing of the Dutch, Belgian and French frontiers by her own armies. The ultimate and final smashing of the British fleet is to stand over for a subsequent epoch. What is immediately to be accomplished is the hindrance and damage of that fleet and of the naval harbors and arsenals behind it by a succession of sudden raids and desperate attacks from Wilholmshaven and Cuxhaven —seconded by the air- I ships and armoured aeroplanes win eh art* being concentrated north and south J

of Hamburg, directly opposite our coast—with the object of making it impossible for this country to send troops to the Continent in the first part of the campaign. For this task and mission the G<miui:J navj! untlion-' tie* hci.ovy , c;:o:.iatflvL'o to b: .r::Ay.\ while ..:.o a:;;! bnu'l: of r..; ir aat dep-rtmtnt hus mr.ds sue!) o::or:v..nii> siiidoji oi late that it, too. is ready to take on the task." Having notedj the means available for the realisation of German policy, Mr Bolger devoted j his attention to describing {.hat policy. Owing to the solidity of the Triple Entente, he pointed out that the "one and only aim"—namely to smash the British Xavy—would have to remain in abeyance until other matters' were attended to. He also stated that "it is now reluctantly conceded at Berlin that the decision of the military superiority on land must precede that on sea." Germany's most pressing need. therefore, is to have the triumph of 1870 "confirmed and completed." There would be no warning until the psychological moment arrived, except such oracular expressions as "war sometimes comes like a thief in the night," with which German official newspapers often qualify their optimistic predictions. "The word and the blow will be simultaneous. . . The German view has once more veered romul to the conclusion that the time will short ly be ripe to fall on France, and at the same moment deal Britain a heavy blow by a sudden and startling attack by sea and air." The die has been cast and the groat game opened almost exactly as predicted. In lace cf ;<ll this Germany's alleged pacivic intentions, her professed friendship for Britain and her almost every act of late, brand her as the most treacherously dishonourable foe England has ever been called upon to meet.