The Daily News. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1914. PRISONERS OF WAR.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 133, 29 October 1914, Page 4

The Daily News. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1914. PRISONERS OF WAR.

The cable from Amsterdam stating that Germany fias nearly 300,000 prisoner of war already is rather startling. News that is "made in Germany" has not hitherto pro rod very reliable, and this statement may 'he as inaccurate as the rest. Still the losses of tliAllic.i in captured must be fairly

heavy. The Russian prisoners are given as 2KU officers and 104.521 men. It, is known that the Russians have lost a great many men in their : campaign in East Prussia, from which they were subsequently driven by the Germans. The cables have shed no light on what really did happen in this locality. Nearly all the Pctrograd messages tell the same story—the wonderful successes of the Russians and tli; disasters befalling the enemy. But much of the information we are receiving from this source i 3 obviously misleading. The Russians have toy no means bad things all their own vrav. They certainly "nave effectively smashed the Austria us, a great many of whom lave surrendered without making air, show of for which racial affinity is probably responsible. In tho early stages of the invasion of East l'riioClU lllc Prussians met with succcs?. but they encomllered not tho main armies but second and illjrd-line troop,-;. A very different story was told when the. Germans got properly on the warpath. General Samsonoff's army, according to the English papers to hand by the last mail, was practically destroyed, and 80,000 taken prisoners. This accounts for practically the whole of the Russian prisoners in German hands. It is a big price to pay, but it will not cripple Russia, whose resources in men, munitions and mbney are equal to a strain of this immensity. "No doubt Russia has also captured large numbers of Germans. Indeed, if we can believe ♦he cables, nearly half of the whole German army must jbe cooling.their heels in Russian compounds. Germany claims to have captured over 150,000 French. The French have sustained great losses that we have not been told much about, and the truth is only now emerging. Their losses in Alsace and Lorraine in the initial stages of the war were enormous, whilst in the valley of the Sambrc the French were severely handled, thousands being killed and captured. The more that is known of French strategy in the early part of the war, the less one is ( impressed by it. Its failure almost wrecked the whole'of the Allies' campaign in the west. I 0 was suggested at the time that General Jpffrc deliberately withdrew; first faom Alons to Clia:-\ roi, then from Laou and even fmni Rheims on a deliberate plan, with t:i. intention of returning to the offensive at a calculated moment. But the theoi v was untenable.. The risks of such a plan were too great—the danger t.. morale, the loss of material, the burde:, thrown upon non-combatants. TiiAllies fell back in the first instance, because they were forced to fall back. They resumed the offensive when the enemy was weakened. The French failed to provide sufficient force to meet the main German spearhead, which M ; thrust through the Sambrc and Luxemburg; they were: too intent on 're vanche" in the lost province. Hence, the British .had to bear the brunt, It was well for the Allies that the Brit-

ish were there. They were greatly outnumbered and oui.-gumied, i„,t they held their ground and only retreated Hvhen the rest of the lino were in a position of safety. It was a touch and go, not only for the British, but for the -whole Allies' line, which undoubtedly would had been crlmipled up had not the Left been securely held. It was in this great retreat, a retreat that will live in history, that the British lost so many of their men. It is computed that a tentn of the force engaged Wl , re cap tured bv the Ccrmans. Against the total of ■300,000 Allies, the Germans claim to have as prisoners, however, has to be placed the thousands of Germans that have fallen into the hands of tne Allied forces. It would be interesting to know just how many there are, as it would he to know the number of men that have Llrcady fallen as the result of the Kaiser's colossal crime. It would not be surprising if the total of killed and wounded did not already reach two millions—a fearful price to pay for the insane action of the German war lord.