WAR NEWS BY MAIL.

Taranaki Daily News, 28 February 1917, Page 7

WAR NEWS BY MAIL.

LEADS 2,000,000 MEN. FIELD MARSHAL HAIG COMMANDS BRITAIN'S BIGGEST ARMY. Paris, January 5. A special Havas despatch from the British front in Franco savs:— "Field' Marshal Sir Douglas Haig today commands the largest army Great Britain ever raised on her soil. The number of effectives in the British army in France on January 1 was nearly two million men, completely . trained and ready day or night to receive orders from their ( commander-in-chief. This figure only refers to the Britsih forces in France, and is exc'.uaiic of those civployed in the defence of Great Britain, Ireland, India, Salonika, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Africa." SWISS OPINION OF HUNS. OUTSPOKEN RE J [ARK OF A I CABINET MINISTER. ; Berne, Dec. 31. At a public banquet in Geneva on Saturday night, M. Motta, the ex-President of Switzerland, who is now one of the seven members of the Federal Council which constitutes the Government, made a potr.-ledly anti-German spe'if.h. No member of any neutral Government has spoken publicly against Germany. The following are outstanding passages of M. Motta's speech:— "We witnessed the violation of tlift neutrality of Belgium with poignant j grief. The entire Swiss nation wishes to see Belgium restored to complete independence and liberty. On January 1, 1915, on the occasion of the New Year's recepf ion of diplomatists accredited to Berne. I expressed this wish to the Belgian Minister, at Berne, and it ia shared by the Swiss people .with absolute un- 1 animity." M. Motta "The Swiss Govern-: lnent has drawn the attention of the German Government to the painful impression caused by the cruel deportation of Belgians, and in so doing we i made ourselves the echo of Switzerland's public conscience." referring to the origin of the war M. fotta said:— ' ''History will condemn, side by side with those directly responsible for the war, the exponents of the 'might is right' theory, those who ridicule moral obligations, the pioneers of aggressive imperialism, and the theorists who claimed superiority for certain races." These pointed allusions to the exponents of Kultur were franctically applauded by the Swiss audience to "which this courageous utterance was addressed. "WHERE GREW THE' ARTS OF WAR." FRENCH GENIUS OUTCLASSES THE MAILED FIST. Interesting notes on the evolution of war equipments since August, 1914, are Buplied by Mr. Henry AVood, the United Press correspondent with the French Army. Gei many, it is now clear, has been unable to maintain her former superiority in military progress, discovery, and invention, 'and has to adopt newer and more effective means of warfare developed by her enemies since the beginning of the struggb. ° All France admits that thirty months ago Germany rather led the world in military progress and invention. She had been quick to equip her legions with every new device, such as neutral-col-ored uniforms. She began the war with an uncontested superiority of equipment, materia! and methods. Now she is' copying her antagonists. A list of devices which she has borrowed, or stolen, or tried to adapt from the French has been compiled and authentically established. i In light artillery the Germans hive so | far failed to match the French, who originated, developed, and perfected the barrage fire which is now one of the most effective weapons being employed in the present war. The enemy can even yet. use this method only as'far us his j [inferior light artillery will permit. j ; The French were the first to equip ! their "deadly 75" shells with a prolonged nose and delayed fuse, which prevents the shell from exploding until it has entered deep into the ground. The | Germans since July last have substituted all of their universal shells fitted with explosives, No. 9 and No. 14, with this new French type of shell. The French light artillery also discovered the "Ricochet" shell', which explodes on the rebound. This, too, is being copied by the Germans. ' The French secret of locating precisely an Cnemy battery by the "sound waves coming from its discharge is said to have been since found out by the i Germans. ' ! In July, 1015. France adopted the steel I helmet that has reduced the head Wounds j in her Allied armies, as well as the I enemies, have adopted this protection, j "Fas est et ab hoste doceri.* - '