The Daily News. FRIDAY, MARCH I7, 1916. REALITIES, NOT MIRACLES.

Taranaki Daily News, 17 March 1916, Page 4

The Daily News. FRIDAY, MARCH 17, 1916. REALITIES, NOT MIRACLES.

One of the most interesting and commonsense contributions to the war literature of the day comes from the pen of the official Australian correspondent with the British Headquarters in France, Mr. H. S. Gullet. IJe points out—what we are all now recognising—that there is no short and lucky 'road to victory, and that the Germans can only be defeated by sheer might, of arms, and that the war must be won in a "fierce hell of fire and death." The childlike faith everyone had, both in England and France, in the advance of the Russian steam-roller, and in the innumerable disasters (internal and on the battlefield) that must overtake the Germans and Austrians, has passed away, together with many other illusions. There are no longer thoughts of bloodless victories by blockade and famine, but hope and confidence now rests on the Allies having a preponderance of armed men, a superiority in morale, ami above all in the advantage of munition supplies of proper effectiveness. A sensible banishing of illusions lias taken place. 3[en now deal in realities and no longer believe in miracles, Nothing but force will achieve victory, but it must be force applied under the highest tactical skill and most consummate generalship. Not as the Germans have been applying it 8t Verdun in callously sacrificing Jiundieds of thousands of their men in a mad attempt to break through impregnable positions—a battering ram against a solid rock. It is a soldiers' war if ever there was one, says the correspondent, and with good reason. Night after night the French and British let loose a tornado of shells, but the enemy is not dismayed. They, too, can rain shells by the thousand, and the Allies cannot as yet get forward; but they are not depressed at the apparently interminable waiting, nor is the time wasted, for their forces are increasingand maturing, aiul their munitions are accumulating, likewise the confidence of our men in victory is becoming more deeply seated every day. They have kept the enemy at bay and inflicted enormous losses, and when the time comes to advance, then the old spirit of the British race will be an inspiration to carry all before them. "If I were asked," said a French General, "what is the most formidable quality of British troops, I .should say without hesitation that it is their apparent incapacity to cease -fighting until their enemies sue for peace. I sometimes think that even single-handed Britain would, in the long run, wear down the world. British troops may not always be brilliant," lie continued, "but they simply won't take defeat. Nothing but that spirit saved the Allies in the first battle of Ypres, which in my view was a finer feat of arms even than the success of the Marne. out-thoiucht the Geraan at the

Marne, but at Ypres tlie common British scldicr out-fought him. Justice can never bu done to the '>.ooll who stopped the Prussian Guards when they were put on to complete tlie breach when the line i>ns pierced, Tlie Prussians came on, enormous men and formidable lighters, appearing in their long blue topcoats as veritable giants o£ victory. There was practically nothing between them and the sea. We were all without reserves, but straggling British soldiers came up from somewhere, army clerks and batmen and cooks and bearers, as we row know, a,nd the Prussian Goliath was slain." This testimony from a French General is not mere flattery. It demonstrates the strength of tlie defensive, as well as emphasises the gigantic iiature of the task that lies ahead. Tlie Germans will soon be 6n the defensive, and then the real hard worlc of the Allies will begin. They are quite alive to the nature of the task that will shortly confront them, and they are eagerly awaiting an entrance into the final phase o! the war. At the present time the outlook inspires well grounded confidence, and the sensational decline in the German exchange rate to thirty per cent, below normal, despite German financiers' efforts to check the slump, reveals the world's perception of Germany's impending financial and military collapse,