LATEST PHASE OF ATTRITION

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 13, 15 January 1916, Page 4

LATEST PHASE OF ATTRITION

There have been some unexpected developments in the war of attrition against Germany since it was .first commenced after the battles of the Marne and the Aisne. In Flanders and France the two hostile lines of trenches still face each other, each apparently -Inexpugnable by the other. Fierce battles are still fought to win a few feet of ground, which are of ten re-taken. Meanwhile another great division of the German armies has poured eastward, one branch across the western border of the Russian Empire, where the warfare has begun to assume something of the stationary character of trench warfare, another branch that was pouring across the Balkans and sending off detachments ! into Syria to stiffen and to organise "the Turks there, has been partially checked by the concentration of Entente forces at Salonika, and we shaU expect soon to hear the story of the trench siege in that ; quarter also. ' Yet in spite of the fact that in the three main directions in which they 1 have tried to force an advance their armies are either completely or partially ' held up, the Germans have conquered and occupied so large an extent of terri--1 tory that the situation might appear to " justify their confidence rather than that ; of the Entente. A German estimate of 1 their conquests up to last September set ' down the total area as 09,502 square 1 miles, in- Belgium, France and Russia; • and we may take this as accurate, since ! an English critic, writing in the "Nine- • teenth Century," set the satflel area down i as approximately 70.000 square miles. The • area conquered in Europe by the Western i Allies by that date totalled not much f over 4000 square miles. The proportions t have been altered since then still furthei • in favour of Germany by the overmasteri ing of Serbia. But it has to be continu- - ally borne in mind that tjie Entente 3 nations are not engaged in. a war oi 2 conquest, but of defence. And the osti 9 mat— given 4bove »£_d -i_ Euront ■A,:-" '~ ' _.j* — ~*^

only and left out of the reckoning Gerj many's hesyy 1p63 of all her overseae : colonies and- the South. Seas. ■ .And"though the process of attrition lias 1 been concentrated along the western ! front, it has not been confined to that ' quarter. The greatest drain upon Germany's vital strength has been the de- • struetion of her commerce and the closing up of all the Seven Seas—or their surface—against her. That the British : blockade has had a much worse effect than the enemy officially admits is abundantly proved by the bread riots, the • suppressed clamours for peace, the painful ' economies practised, the substitutes ' for ordinary iood recommended or enforced by the Government upon the people. In describing an earlier stage of the war o! attrition in the west, from January to of last year, Buchan sums up the operations as attack and counter- ' attack, '-'asandhill won east of Xieuport, a trench or two at Ypres, a corner of a brickfield at La Bassee, a few hundred yards near Arras, a mile in North Champagne, a coppice in the Argonne, a hillock on the high glens in the Yosges, and a village or two in Alsace." "But/ he adds, "these minute advances meant the loss of many German lives, the wastage of the now scanty reserve of German am- , munition, and the pinning down to their ( jtrenches of over two million German ! troops." That "gives the gist of the i matter. A war of attrition will succeed in the end, provided only that the losses of the • enemy are greater than those of the other side in proportion to their-total ; strength and resources. If other circumstances remain the same, that side ■ will be continually gaining in strength as compared with the enemy. By Sepjtember the proportion of German losses 'to their total population was eight times greater than that of Britain. Not only ; i t that, but these losses have greatly depleted the ranks of her officera'and beet . soldiers, and the new lev'.es necessary to repair her lossee must be of inferior effectiveness. Buchan reckons that a twelvemonth ago Germany had the maximum of her effort, while Britain had scarcely come within sight of -hers. The Entente nations not only had much larger resources to draw upon, • but they were gaining on their enemy ! owing to the German method of eacrifiei ing holocausts of men to attain an immei diate object. Hence the unshaken con- : fidence of France and England in their i own ultimate triumph, a confidence Con- ; etantine of Greece confessed he found ■. inexplicable in the face of German conquests. In modern warfare, however, it is never safe to reckon only upon the known L ! factors, especially with a people so deterj mined and so scientific as the Germans. They -have by a convulsive effort opened 'up a path for themselveG through the , Kear East, and their control over a large , j part of the Balkans and Asia Mnipr is helping them to .replenish their dwindling I resources in the way of food and sup- ! plies of material for war munitions. But j this is not an adequate compensation for I the closing up of their former markets. i Within the Fatherland additional proj duce has been raised. ' Prisoners are set Jto work in their industries to remedy ] the shortage of industrial workem. But j their far-spread conquests must before SfToßgStaa&GfiKS* miSfttfflP bsayily. They ]are drilling "and* organising targe armies !of .their allies—Turks, Arabs and Suli garians—and stirring up native tribes to jdo their work for them. But it is not i possible within the nature of things that i these alien and -half-civilised troops can j be equal to those of the Entente Powers in 1 I energy and.spirit. Germany is preparing \ future trouble for herself in making use iI of them, for sooner or later one or all lof the races she baa subjected may turn ! upon her.. It b not without reason that ! the military .-critic of the London. "Times" ' ;says that her military position is not • j brilliant. He reckons rthat up' to the I present date .she has mobilised nine mil- ] • lion men and lost three and a-quarter I million. Her average losses per month 1 J are stated to be about 200,000, and her • j present strength must dwindle away. , j The alien soldiers .the Germans have . organised are already more or less disaffected, numbers fighting under cpmpul--1 fciim. At the first great disaster to their ' arms, Turks, Arabs, .Bulgarians and the • Slavic races—Poles. Croals and Serbs— , will become a peril to them instead of a. ' help. The Entente commanders, too, it ' is'said, in order to counterbalance the ; ■ new increase of Germany's strength, have resolved upon a more terrible and, speedy foiin of attrition", luring up' masses of her troops to within range :of : the" :guns and .then blowing them tp [ pieces. Ttie special motive of this, k to be not increase of territory or /advance, but exterminatioa-«of ■ . large numbers of the enemy.