IN FIELD AND RESERVE.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 8, Issue 125, 27 May 1916, Page 4

IN FIELD AND RESERVE.

There is probably no estimate of the strength of armies mere accurate and reliable than that given by the London Times' military writer at the end of March, because it was closely backed up by such experts as Mr. Hiliare Bellcc, and correspondents of other leading British journals. The Times man wrote: "We must reckon the German hold armies at 3,600.000; those o f the Austrians at 1,500,000 to 2,000,000; and th e Turkish and Bulgar armies at about ,anothfir million/. (Without publishing our figures we can say that the numerical superiority which we possess in the field is not

such as to promise decisive victory judged from the merely numerical point of view. On the other hand, our reserves, or potential reserves, are superior. If we take 2,000,000 for the German figure, and from 1,000,000 to 1,500,000 for that of Austria, and make due allowance for the reserves

which B'ulgaria and Turkey may still be able to bring forward, it is certain that we Allies can do much better. We alone in these islands have nearly as many men at home as abroad, and a third force of about equivalent strength in the recruits who are assumed to be available under the Derby scheme. Thus we alone have reserves nearly equal, as far as mere numbers are concerned, to those remaining for Germany and Austria, and our great task this year is to bring them forward for the field. France has not yet used her 1916 and 1917 classes at the Front, while she has ether men at her depots, and older men who might be called upon. Italy, for every man at the front, has two in her depots, and a third net yet called up. Russia has, actually trained and available directly rifles are ready, as many reserves as those of Germany, and an immense number still behind. Thus Ave have on th e whole, leaving the British and other oversea possessions of the Allies aside, a great preponderance of reserves, and the result of the war will depend largely upon the manner in which these are utilised during the month s ahead of us."