GERMANY'S STRENGTH.
MAN-PPOPWER AND THE TIME FACTOR. ENEMY DRIVEN FROM PILLAR TO POST. Eour years ago yesterday began the first battle of the Maine (write Mr. Gerald Campbell to the Toronto Globe on September C). Then the French and British Armies were opposed by and got the better of 90 divisions of the enemy. But that was only the beginning of their resources, which were so great that today, after four years of war, in which over 5,000,000 of their effectives have been placed hors be combat, the number of divisions they still have arrayed against the world is 230, whereof 200 "are employed on the Western front. Over four-fifths of these are on the line, and are almost equally divided between sections on tlie front west and east of Rheims, and the rest are held in reserve. Five months ago, when they opened the March series of offensives, the number of these reserve divisions was So. To-day it is •50 less. From a simple calculation based on the proportion of casualties which make it necessary to withdraw divisions, it appears the number of losses they have suffered since they began these offensives is over a million, whereof between six and seven hundred thousand return to active soldiering after an average period of four months in the hospital. Besides the supplementary effectives, whereon they can count from this source, they have from the 1920 class 450,000 already at depots and partly trained.
But that is the end of their resources till the next class comes. On the other hand, the French have only in the last few days enrolled the 1920 class, and so have a clear year's advantage- The German 1920 class, owing to conditions in which the boys have lived for the last four years, are physically feeble, and the 1921 lot will be worse. Moreover, fresh, vigorous American troops are coming at the rate of 300,000 a month, so every two months they more than equal the numbers of the German class for the whole year, and in the spring their army will actually tie larger than the whole German force on this front.
These facts are beginning to be realised in Germany, and naturally produce a discouraging effect. They have not so far tended to excite the German people and army to symptoms of revolt; soldiers and civilians regard the war from the point of view of passive fatalists. They are still under the heel of the militarist party, which is gambling its very existence and will struggle on in the hope that some lucky chance may save it, and so far it is allowed to manoeuvre its retreats and the whole of its policy on the field with the object of again building a reserve which may be sufficient to turn the tide. When they started the series of offensives they made the mistake of allowing time between each to recover breath. That is where Foch has shown himself their superior. His blows have followed immediately one after the other, and the Germans have been driven from pillar to post without respite. The position of the Allies is thus enormously improved. But final victory will only be won if the pressure is relentlessly kept up. Any slnokenin? of effort on the part of the peoples of the Entente, any foolish tenrlencv to think it is all over liar the shouting, would be a fatal error.
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Taranaki Daily News, 25 October 1918, Page 3
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570GERMANY'S STRENGTH. Taranaki Daily News, 25 October 1918, Page 3
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