GERMAN RESERVES.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 8, Issue 11, 14 January 1916, Page 3

GERMAN RESERVES.

APPROACHING THE END. The following dispatch was received in December from Mr. H. Warner Allen, special correspondent of the British Press with the French armies; In a recent dispatch I dealt at some length with the German casualties /and the efforts which the Germans /were making to cope with the enorj'mous wastage of the prolonged camjpaign. That the Germans are rapidly approaching the end of their reserves, so far as concerns men really fit for

.military service, is proved by a quantity of evidence. The' Serbian campaign is not calculated to decrease in any way the German casualty list. It I means the formation of a third front, on which the losses are bound to be heavy, since the enemy has to face not only the heroism of the Serbian people, but also the rigour of winter in a mountainous country. Germany has had to draw large • contingents from its last reserves for this front, and consequently has been forced to fill up the gaps in the depots with men who have had no military trainI ing, and who cannot be regarded as physically fit for military service. A number of letters written to German prisoners in France provide some 'interesting evidence on this part. Thi s following may be taken as characteristic; GORGAST, October 26. Very few men are left in the village; they have all gone to the war. Many are dead or seriously wounded; a few have only been slightly wounded. It is terrible. Those who are still here will soon be called up. The villagers who require workmen are going to ask the authorities for Russian prisoners. I received to-day a letter fom Gustave H. He is at present “Territorial Volunteer’ ’in a depot of recruits at Berlin. He is over 45, and Vfinds military training very trying at his age.

October,' 1915. It is pitiful to see the men whom they are sending to the war; men from 18 to 60, even these who are lame and one-eyed, in fact, everything that they can collect to throw into the furnace. It can scarcely last for more than three months more ,for men 'are falling, and cannot be replaced. October 10, 1915. (A letter from 'Norway). At present they are mobilising every possible resource. People who have for years been exempt from all service 'are being called. Here many of them have refused to obey, but in Germany they are bound to submit. YOUNG AND THE OLD. In Schleswig-Holstein camps have been formed for training youths of between IS and 19 and men of over 43. In many cases these men are suffering from serious physical defects. For example, some cf ithem have several fingers missing. No man between 45 and 50 is allowed to leave Germany, and boys as soon as they are 16 are required to go in for a pre-

limiuary course of military training. The German censor blacked out of a postcard the following phrase, which, with a little manipulation, was still legible:— Men who are absolutely unfit for military service (die untauglichen) have once again been called before the military doctors for examination. This information would seem to confirm the statement of the “Lausanne Gazette” at the beginning of November that all men between 20 and 45 who had been declared unfit for service have recently been submitted to a new medical^examination, and that CO per cent of- this number were passed as fit for service. It may be assumed that those measures will not increase the popularity of the war in Germany ,and there are signs that its unpopularity may eventually take an active form. We have already heard from certain parts of the empire of violent demonstrations against the dearness of living. A letter written by a girl at Duisbourg on October 12 to her fiancee,, who is a prisoner in France, contains the following sentences: “Don’t worry, for you might have been far worse off. Later we shall be able to tell you all. Hans and August are far worse off than you.” LOSING HEART.

A woman at Crefeld writes to her husband, who is also a prisoner: “At home we are altogether losing heart. Mother is terrible sad. Father ■has lost 23 pounds’ weight. But there is no use in tearing out one’s hair; it does not make matters a bit better. AA 7 hen I complain the others tell me that you at least have a good hope '■of coming back home some day.” Household objects continue to be 'ruthlessly qommandeeredj. A. wife write g to her husband:— T have had to give up our warmingpan and my copper saucepans. They gave me M 5.30 for them. Now it is the turn of my pretty little plated copper spoons that I used to have on the mantlepiece. I wa s so fond of them, but there was no escape. Amu can guess what they are to be used for.”