GERMAN TACTICS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 75, 18 August 1914, Page 8

GERMAN TACTICS

BLOW AT FRANCE FIRST. ENVKLOPI.NO MOVEMENT.. ROLE RUSSIA PLAYS. CRUCIAL .TWENTIETH' DAY. Russia's role in a. European war was recently discussed bv Karl Percy in the National Review. The writer proceeded 1 en the. assumption that Germany was at war with France and Russia, and he made several deductions which already seem likely to prove correct. On France, he said, would fall the first blow. Germany's strategy , being to crush France before the slow-movm,; Russian army was ir.atle ready, and then concentrate her total strength against Russia. Earl Percy predicted that Germany would use Belgian, and possibly fewiss, territory for a great outflanking movement. The violation of Belgian neutrality seems to indicate that that movement is already in progress. Ear] Percy concluded that this movement would, if sucecsful. deal a blow so overwhelming that- .further French resistance would be* impracticable. He continued: —"It is doubtful whether Russia would, in that case, continue the struggle against the united forces of Germany and Austria, and if Great Britain refused to make peace the occupation of Hollaed and Belgium by Germany, and the utilisation of '-very Varbor in the North. Sea, Channel, and Bay of Biscay, as a base to attack British commerce and food-supplies wou'M, Germany hopes, soon induce her to come to termsv BRITISH HELP. "It will thus lie '-eon that this first {treat battle will be of supreme importance. For Fivnce. tho groat question is 'how much, assistance can "lie look for from Urmia and Great Britain for this first battle, which will take place about the 17th day aiior I the order for mobilisation has been issued? The. British Navy cannot afl'ert the situation. The British Expeditionary Force consists of six divisions. If , could, no doubt, be mobilise.! and placed I in the field within the required time, but its material support is greatly .tis--1 counted in France. The most hopeful estimate of numbers, that of Genera! Longlois. is IOfI.OOO men; other esti- ' mates are far less, but in spite of this , the moral effect t.-ev w.i'l exercise will unViOulitedlv be very great, and there [ is no doubt that French officers place great reliance on British support on their north-western frontier. Russian" .dispositions. ' "So much for Gn<at Britain. Let us 1 now turn to llus-da and see first what ■ help sli'e can give to France in re.-isting this first and all-i:r:portant attach, and next, what effect, she can have if the 1 French are succc- fill in resisting and prolonging the struggle. 1 "If she cannot t'cip France within 17 ■ days it is plain that she is of little value to her ally, for a rev/ British divisions will certainly not give the numbers re- - quired tc equalise the opposing forces. > The only possible ;;ieans, therefore, of ■ assisting her ally, .it the beginning of • n Avar, is to keen as many G.-rman J troops, as possible i;n the Polish frontier 1 and prevent them from affecting the 1 issue in the West. A nation which subdued the two gr-.tle.-;t conquerors of 1 modern times—Charles XII and X'a- • poleon—by luring i.iwir enfeebled armies into the heard of barren wastes, and then cither overwhelming them or con-

signing them to the tender mercies of the Russia 11 winter, a nation wi'iose great iwtt'Vg, such :>.s Ztrndorf. F.vlau, and Rorodino. have Income svnolivmoiii with lawful 'slaughter, stoeial Endurance, and. it liiiist he admitted, a -conspicuous lack of taetif.nl skill or le.idcr-l.-hip, cannot pprlui|<- In ok neon success in war in the light which nation* steeped in the tradition's of Moltke or Xapoleon regard it, either, as the triumph of superior organisation <v the lie'ult of 'aipremc energy and power of decision. "To innderstand the .problem confrenting ttw IliW-iaii Genera; Staff, it is necessar-,- to glance at the map of Poland. The westernmost portion of that country forms a block about ''oo miles square, sum iindod on the north and west bv German territory, on the south by -that of Austria. The natural defences of Russia ai;e its vast distances, its lack of .supplies, the deficiency and poor quality of its road's, .and its great nun-sites and rivers. The .hasty concentration of all iiMiilivble strength in Poland—the most valuable portion of the whole Umpire- -would moan the abandonment at tin- outset of all the natural defences of the country. >t was, therefore,, decided t.htit preliminary concentration of the Russian masses should take place on the line of two rivers, the Dwina and Dnieper, representee! bv the three main points—Dunaherg, Witebsk, and Kieff. THE TWENTIETH DAY. ICarl Percy says that this drawing in of tlie Russian line's -luas'eaiv-cd uneasiness .in France, but he thinks the nnvc is a wise one. Germany has nothing to fear from an immediate invasion in force by Russia on the outbreak cf war. But Russia maintains a very strong cavalry force in Poland, an I, handled with boldness, these troons might raid Germany's eastern provinces and produce such an effect that the German Government would be comix-b----ed to weaken the forces on the French frontier. In the 'meantime, behind the Russian cavalry the main weight of the Russian armies would be ]>u.-hin<; on, and by'the thirty-fourth or thirty-fifth

day, Germany might .'ee her territory invaded by no less : ':ui thirteen army corps. Summing \v Earl Percy calculi tes that up to lii-- twentieth day of tine- war France -.0:1.1! have to rely mainly on the moral effect of the Russian cavalry, and {/< >.: by the thirtieth ; day tin: situation in Germany would ho serious, if Germany had not by that, time inflicted a crushing defeat on France.