NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16289, 13 August 1918, Page 8

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

The chief distinction possessed by von Hutier. tiie German generai who is now retreating from the Montdidier-Noyon line, is that he perfected the system of attack known by his name. This was tne system employed in tne great offensive of -March, and in each subsequent attack on the Allies —in Flanders, oa tiie Cliemin-ueb-ijanies sector —on tne Aiontuiuier-jNoyo.i sector, and in tiie tooissous-lineiuia offensive. It depended lor its iuit.al success largely on the use of a tremendous liunioer of gas shells, and on a brief artillery preparation of extraordinary violence ana intensity. Against trenciies von lluiter tired 00 per cunt, high explosive shells, 30 per cent, sneezing gas, and 10 per cent, aspuyxiatmg suui.s," against batteries the pioportion of sneezing shells was enormously increased, and only 20 per cent, of high explosive shells employed, while the bai l age to prevent reserves from coming up consisted of sneezing gas shells GO per cent., asphyxiating gas 10 per cent., and high explosives 30 per cent.

Following this preparation, the actual assault was made, as we know, in several waves, the first wave, which was preceded by the usual rolling barrage, being less dense than the others. Tne object was to test the enemy's line, so as to ascertain the points of resistance and those where broaches had been made. The wave that followed devoted themselves to the latter points, leavin 2 the points of resistance to be dealt with by the last wave, w iiicli attacked the thinks under cover of macnine-gun fire. Behind these waves, as described by one of the war correspondents who has seen the von Hutier method in action more than once, came support units in column formation, with specially organised light artillery and trench mortars mounted on wheels. The supports were ready at any tiioe either to reinforce the waves or form a Lne against coun-ter-attacks on the flanks. Behind the supports marched the divisional reserves. Much emphasis was laid on crossing the enemy's first position with great rapidity beiore the latter, dazed by gas and the effect of high explosive shells, could reorganise for dofeuce.

After the first zone was crossed tho attacking infantry could not bo supported by their guns, and they therefore began to advance in skirmishing lines, with light machine-guns in the foremost, supported by heavy ones in the rear and on the flanks. Wherever possible they avoided direct attack rn strong points, working round them to attack iroin the flanks or rear. It is admitted that there was no magic about this method of attack. It was based largely on intense organisation, but it depended for its success on tho element of surprise and a great, if not overwhelming superiority of As the later offensive showed, it could be, and was, countered by Foch's plan of employing thin, almost skeleton, lines and bringing up the reserves beforehand. In other words, tho von Hutier method succeeded only when everything was in its favour. At present what the General seems most in need of is some method of bringing off his army safely when circumstances are strongly in the Allies' favour.

Dr. Henri Beland, ex-Postmaster-General for Canada, who was recently released after three years' ifttornment in Germany and, as cabled a few days ago, has now reached Canada, was the victim during his enforced stay in Germany of one of the most heartless acts of cruelty of which the Huns have been guilty. Shortly before the war he married a Belgian lady and settled down in tho village of Capeiien, close to Antwerp, and only half a miie from the Dutch frontier. On the outbreak of war he saw the siege and capture of Antwerp, but, as the German, officers billeted in his house assured him that he would not be molested, lie stayed where ho was, instead of escaping to Holland. About the middle of 1915, however, other German officers caused his arrest and removal to the city fortress in Berlin. He had fairly comfortable quarters, but for the firut year ho never put foot outside the building. At Christmas, 1916, he was informed by telegram that his wife was seriously ill, but his appeals to l>e allowed to go to her were coldly refused. The messages from his former home became moro urgent, for his wife was dying, but his renewed entreaties to be permitted, on any conditions the authorities cared to impose, to see her before she died wero of no avail; he was.not allowed to loave his prison, even to attend her funeral, although the prison officials, to whom he had freely given his services as a physician, interceded for him. It was SfHrn some high official that by nnnM 10 flvL 4 e^ ,red Permission he could inflict mental torture upon a helpless prisoner. I

Dr. Beland's statement, on his return , home, that starvation in many parts of Germany is certain during the coming winter, is supported by German papers, documents found on captured German soldiers and the reports of neutral correspondents. Both the flour and the meat ration have latsiv been reuueed. It was reported some weeks ago that the • wnole cattlebreeding industry of Germany was threatened, and with it tne supplies- oi meat, miUc, and tat. In one iarge city the weekly individual allowance ot butter and margarine comb.ned has been reduced to om ounce. The assertion or the Berlin newspaper "Vorwaerts" that the physical and moral powers of the population of Germany to endure privation had been substantially diminished through another year of war diet, was confirmed by a conference of physicians -and scientists at Heidelberg. This conference sent resolutions to tlie Kaiser, the CnancelJor, and the Reichstag, urging the Government to take steps to combat the serious health conditions of tho nation, and declaring that the deathrate among women, children, and infants had risen to 68 per cent. Sanitary conditions were bad, and getting worse; four years of insufficient food had reduced the population to a condition in which it could not offer normal resistance to disease, and war workers especially were suffering terribly from abscesscs.

Returned prisoners tell the same tale. "Germany looks to me," said a Canadian captain not long ago, "like a hollow shell of its old self." Industry and commerce were paralysed, only the munition works were busy. Many railway tracks were rusting to dccay, the ports were dead, and scores of saops, among them many bakeries, were closed. "Boots, clothing, and blankets are almost unobtainable," said tho Canadian, who had spent three years in various prison camps, "and soap is sought after as if it were the elixir of lite. People cannot keep clean. Fats are almost unknown among either the civilian masses or the soldiers. At the prison camps we havo seen both civilians and soldiers digging our bully beef tins out of the ash heaps, scraping the remains of the fat from them. Motor cars, except for the army, have disappeared. Such vehicles as are seen on the streets are drawn by broken down horses. You can pick chunks, of sawdust out of the black bread. The so-called coffeo is made of burnt acorns, and the soup one gets is muddy, thin, and horrible." With a tin of bully beef a prisoner could buy his guards' souls, if they could sell them; in one case it bought a set of German ordnance maps, and

a pair of compasses. The old enthusiasm over officially announced victories has practically disappeaied—as long as peace comes soon, the average German, one gathers, does not greatly care whether it comes from a Gericnn or an Allied victory. So even I p present retreat may be accepted more phically than would' otherwise be the case, if the people can look at it as bringing peace—and food —nearer.