The Daily News. FRIDAY, JUNE 23, 1916. THE ENEMY'S MAN-POWER.

Taranaki Daily News, 23 June 1916, Page 4

The Daily News. FRIDAY, JUNE 23, 1916. THE ENEMY'S MAN-POWER.

The war lias provided a good many surprises. One of the greatest surprises is the number of men the Central iPowers have put and are still putting in the field. In the publication of their vital statistics the Teutons have been as wily as in other important respects. They told the world just what Suited their purpose. They could not afford to have sacrificed the millions of men they have on all the fronts unless they possessed greater reserves than was at first given out to the world. The strength of their armies, however, must have been seriously affected by the great losses sustained during the past few months. The Kussi'aii offensive has already accounted lor a third of a million Austrians at least, and the attempted subjection of Verdun has cost the Germans, so the cables inform us, something like 400,000. Here we have three-quarters of a million of the enemy put out of action. At the beginning of the war, Austria had an active army of 1,400,000, with two ail-

lions of Limdsturm and half-a-million of Wie Erstaz reserve. Her practice had been to retain under 200,000 out of the annual contingent of 500,000 recruits, and even when the contingent assigned to the Erstaz reserve is included she still had 250,000 young men every year escaping military service of any kind. Co„. sequently the severe blows and heavy losses incurred early in the war left her shaken, but by no means at tihe end of her military resources. There was, of course, an immediate summons o f'aH men of military age to the colors, but of those presenting themselves only a million and a-half, it seems, could be bandied at the depots. Last year the military age was extended to fifty-five years. The need of more men had become imperative after the big fighting in Galicia and Poland, and as a matter of fact the classes were called up a good deal faster than they could be equipped. However, by the end of last year men of fifty to fifty-five years were unquestionably being utilised in stationary services and on the lines of communication, luring the winter strenuous efforts must have been put forth to increase the strength of the armies, and it may be assumed that all the classes summoned in the autumn, including men belonging to the 43-50 age period, were equipped and trained. Mr. Belloc, in a recent article on the subject, states that Austria called up her 191T class of recruits as early as last October, and warned tlie 1918 class to be ready for service, and presumably he has his information from an authoritative source. On the

other hand, neutral correspondents have specifically stated tha* the intention was to deal with the whole of the men of military age previously exempted before taking the 1917 class in hand. The

position probably i s that the 1917 class h below the anticipated strength because of the numbers that had volunteered for service before tlie summons was issued, and that the numbers of men in the depots are not sufficient to meet the wastage of severe campaigns on two fronts simultaneously. It may be added that no precise estimate of the Austrian losses is possible. No casualty lists are published. Mr. Belioc calculates that the aggregate is between 2,230,000 and 3,000,000. One of the latest leaflets issued by the French War Publications Committee in the "Patience, Confidence and Effort" series deals with the Russian man supply. The annual contingent of recruits is more than a million, and when Russia calls the classes of 1916, 1917 and 1918 to the colors she will have about three million of young, strong soldiers in training to take their places in the firing line. These can be used as fresh formations, for by calling up the reservists previously exempted from training—only about half the year- ' ly contingent was trained in time of peace—she can make good all the cur- • rent wastage of the campaign. Ger- ' many (has warned boys of seventeen to be ready for service. To meet the de- ' mand for officers extensive schools of ; training were 'established last year, and i it is stated that no fewer than 10,000 i officers were sent out by the schools in ! twelve months. The Russian difficulty

was not to find men, but to train and equip them. When Russia realised the necessity for a vast expansion of war industries she was faced by a problem that had troubled all the Allied countries. She had mobilised her miners and her operatives and had used them as soldiers. It was necessary to recall them from the front, and it is stated that miners and metallurgists were brought from China, even, to assist in building up new industries. The progress of this reorganisation of industrial Russia has been fully described by the correspondents, and there is no need

to go over that ground now. The leaflet deals, also, with the help drawn from abroad, from Canada and the United States, from Japan, from France and from Britain, and a statement of Lord Kitchener's is quoted to the effect that during tlhe winter no fewer than six million Russians were equipped. Facing the Russians there are said to be 1,200,000 Germans north of the Pripet and at least as many Austrians and Germans south of the centre. If these figures are approximately correct the Germans are holding the northern front, on the average, weakly, but the character of the country compels a concentration on particular sectors and the weakness may therefore be" more apparent than real. The Austrian strength is concentrated on the Galician border and along the Strypn, but the details of the southern ground of enemy armies is very indefinite. During the spring, when the state of the country prevented large operations, the enemy relied mainly on his guns to hold the front, and it certainly looks as if Brussiloff had caught the Austrians by surprise with an unexpected artillery concentration directed , pgalnst a comparatively weak sector.