LAND OPERATIONS.

Taranaki Daily News, 26 January 1917, Page 5

LAND OPERATIONS.

SPRING CAMPAIGN. LOOKING FORWARD TO THE NEW OFFENSIVE. London, November 29. Although the Soramc offensive will go on, and there ia no intention of giving the enemy any respite oji any front where the weather and the condition of the terrain permit of operations bein;; undertaken, it is natural that thoughts should now be directed towards preparation; for a resumption of the offensive on a great scale in the spring of I!U7. The Entente Allies and the Central Powers both seem agreed that next summer is destined to afford the decisive period of. the 'var. lioth parties to the struggle, therefore, an' devoting themselves to the task of making their supplies .in man-power and munitions a? overwhelming as the resources of their respective States will permit. In this country we look forward to establishing next year a substantial supremacy in the matter of munitions over anything which the enemy will be able to achieve. Our problem is to reconcile a huge output of munitions with the putting into the Held of every 'man available for military service who can be spared from the munition works and from other indispensable national and commercial work of a kind which enables us to provide ourselves and our 'Allies with that assistance in supplies and. finance without which the war could not be prosecuted. Proposals have been made for raising the military age limit, but all the, experts seem to be agreed that the young men provide the best fighting material, and men for the army are being sought therefore rather by the process, of combing out eligible men from the starred and badged trades than by bringing in men of middle nge. But apparently this is not tho only direction from which additional men for the fighting line are to bo provided. Last Sunday, in reviewing some of the volunteers, Lord French made use of some highly significant words. At present any rolu'nteer may (scape from the military responsibilities I <■ has undertaken by the simple expedient of giving fourteen dayj' notice of his desire to "leave the ranks. This is to be changed. Lord French made it clear that the volunteers will shortly be asked to given an midMrtsking to serve "for the duration of the .var " Ho r«<!ed the highly important intimation that they are' to' be properly armed, nr.d ii-,- will he virtually entrusted 'with the future defence of our coasts. Ai 'i,j who is acquainted with the figure v thu enormous landing army whii -\ ''• still maintain within our chora* ' 'lt -«t wod to be told what *

far-reaching change in our militajry dU positions this announcement by tow! foreshadows. It has hmg bea& felt in many quarter.? that the men flat are being retained at home mere mort thnn adequate to meet any risk then might be that the Germans might ftfe , tempt an invasion. This invasion "bogey," aa It i» gomtf times called, is quite a real one, uri it has always been recognised that to long as her navy remained in beta* <<crmany might use it to draw off our mam fleet, and, under covem of a great naval action, seek to land a raiding army somewhere on our coast. Such ft' development would almost assuredly represent Ormnny's final gamblo in the "'iir. It would bo very much in the I nature of a forlorn hope, and no one bencves that it would be attended by anything more .than a temporary' and ' spectacular success. Our national pride Mould receive something of a shock even < » a single company of th© (Prussian ' ■imrd succeeded, .in setting foot on Eag- - lab. soil. But wo ought not to aHe-vr any sentimental considerations of tiua kind to induce us to withhokUrora our Allies in France a single division of oar Army that can bo legitimately spftrsd. 1-or it is on the western front tint tiaa *ar is going to be decided, and any «a- ---' necessary dispersion of bur enearieg elsewhere is bad strategy. And &„> 'I- is remembered that all naval ao* military authorities are agreed tiiai tha first essentials of a successful invsaica would ho (1) that the invading army should be a small one of not more than 70,000 or 100,000 men, and (2) that ife should he lightly equipped, tile useless- . nes.s of retaining in this country aa overwhelming military force must suriely lie [latent to the most nervous indarti dual. ■ THE ENEMY'S PROBLEM Cennany has her own man-poTAe* pr** blem, and in many respects it is more serious than the one which is per*; l.'krxing our own statesmen. In tie' army which Ira* hitherto been retained in this country we possess an enormous ' strategical reserve force which may a* any time be (lung into the scale in aotne perhaps unexpected theatre of the ww.' The knowlcjgo of this must be a source' of constant anxiety to the enemy. W* : ■ know titan even to provide the materia* for her attack on Roumania. las been forced dangerously to wealcea iuv lines on the eastern, on the western and on the Italian fronts. If any proof of this weakening were required TV* nave it in the sensational happenings; wliich occurred last month on the Vert dun front. And though Roumanda'9 en« trance into the war brought with it cen tain difficulties for the Allies which had not been adequately provided against, the accession of man-power which it gave to the Allies has had the incidental effect of upsetting the defensive plans of the Central Powers. Roumania brought into the wan armies, the * strength of which may be estimated at anything from 600,000 to a million man. The weight of these armies wiH be shrewdly felt next spring, when the Entente Powers are able to bring simultaneous pressure on all the enemy's fronts. How, then, is Germany to restore thafc equilibrium in man-power which Boilmania's entrance into the struggle ha» unquestionably disturbed? She is set* ting about tlie task with cl'Mactenstio energy and characteristic disregard, ol all international law and custom. Not / content with imposing something very neai akin to slavery on the unfortunate) industrial population of Belgium, she if. now seeking under the thin disguise of conferring independence on Poland, obtain a conscript army from tiiat raw happy kingdom. By conferring a mod independence on Poland she hopes no', only to increase the difficulties of Bus s'u when the Auatro-Gcnnanß are forced > to evacuate 'Poland, but to obtain else a new anny equalling in dimension* ibe army which Roumania has put In W» field. It is a daring hazard, and one cannot believe that it will be attended by anything more than partial success. There nre, oi course, a good many JffoGcrmana in the Polish provinces, Out the sympathies of the masses of the population undoubtedly lie with tha Allien rather than with Germany. Experience has proved, moreover, that a disaffected army, even though it is ' cowed and crushed down under the Iron heel of Prussian military discipline, is not an army upon which entire relkace can be placed. Even the Saxons are . gi\ ing the Germans cons-idemble trouble and anxiety. Their disinclination to fight and their tendency to surrender on tlie smallest pretext moro than onco threw into confusion the .enemy's defensive plans on the Soinme front. So little indeed eouid the Saxons fe trusted that they have now in large measure been withdrawn from the Sommc *HM tor.