GERMAN MAN-POWER.

Taihape Daily Times, 20 August 1918, Page 6

GERMAN MAN-POWER.

The allied leaders, both in the field and at heme, have always insisted that man-power is the factor which will win the day. From the time when Joffre initiated his famous policy of attrition, to the present moment when Foch is justifying before the world his method of husbanding his reserves until the moment to strike has arrived, it has heen accepted that no line is worth more than a certain price in lives, that bo retirement is a reverse if it involves an economy in men. And after all this insistence on the allied side, the Germans are writing deep on the ■battlefields of France testimony of their conversion to the same theory. The High Command, which talked contemptuously of “cannon fodder, ” and callously struck a bargain with its democratic parties, setting a price of a million and a half lives on the Channel ports, is now demanding that every effort be made towards economy in men. There is ample evidence that •stern necessity inspires this conversion. South of the Aisne and west of the Somme, the German armies are struggling to hold costly lines lest their abandonment should prove even more costly. North of the Somme and in Flanders, there have been withdrawals from salients won at a bitter cost, actuated obviously by the fear that retaining them would involve a price greater than German man-power could afford to pay. The latest estimate gives the whole German army on the west front an untouched reserve of only 16 divisions, -with II of them the share of Prince Eupprecht, who was to strike the death-blow of the British army. If the west front were the only scene of Germany’s hopes and fears this would be ominous enough. But the East is restive. Turkey, always an uncertain ally, is believed to be at open issue with her over-lord. The Bulgarian people show signs of tiring of their king’s compact with Germany. Austria-Hungary is a welter of depression and discontent. Beyond all, a thunder-cloud is looming on the Eussian horizon, and the German people have been warned that a reconstruction of the eastern battlefront is by no means unlikely. With the demands upon her strength increasing, with an unceasing toll of lives on the west front, it becomes daily clearer that Germany’s defeat lies in the inexorable and methodical wastage of her man-power, until her ability to resist is finally exhausted.

SUBMARINE CARGO BOATS. The Popular Science Monthly, contains an article by Simon Luke, M.1.N.A., a pioneer builder of submarines. He maintains that only submarine merchant vessels can claim safety from hostile undersea boats, and he submits a design fo a submarine carrier of 75000 deadweight of cargo. Mr. Luke says: “It is obvious that absolute safety could be attained If a submarine cargo-carrier could travel under -water. That is at present impossible for good technical reasons. But a cargo-carrying submarine running awash, with her periscope and air intakes just above the water line may approach within about five and three-quarter miles of any waiting military submarine without danger of -being seen. Her wake would be be- , -low the horizon. Such cargo-carrying submarines can be built and can cross the Atlantic Ocean in this condition, \ at a speed of about ten knots. If a j sharp lockout is maintained, they have j as much chance of seeing a German j ■submarine as the German submarine j has of seeing them. But the applica- 1

tion of certain tried devices, which I do not feel it proper to divulge at this time, but which are within the knowledge of our Government authorities.

in my opinion, the range of visibility can be reduced to less than one mile. The cargo-carrier can become entirely invisible by submerging. If she travels with a freeboard of five feet, she will become visible to a German submarine when she approaches within eight miles. In two minutes she can dive, under water. It is hardly likely that she will be attacked without warning lest she be a friendly submarine. She will be warned by wireless, sound, or other signals used by

German submarines to communicate with one another. When far from land, she can follow the Deutchland’s 'example by navigating entirely on the surface with a freeboard of fifteen feet. In that condition, she can make a speed of eleven knots without the slightest difficulty.