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Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16350, 23 October 1918, Page 6

Germany, in her roply to President Wilson, offers to allow a neutral commission to investigate the charges of devastation lhat have been la - d ngainst her. If that is to bo the style of Germany's negotiations for peace, the end ! of the war will come by fighting, and | not by treaty. A more impudent proposal it is impossible to imagine. Tho devastation wreaked by German troops in Franco and Belgium in the past four years needs no commission of investigation—tho whole countryside speaks only too elcqucntly of savage vandalism, not a village or farm or town where German troops have passed has escaped spoliation and robbery. « The Germans themselves have boasted of it. A circular was distributed in Spain this year which set out in detail, as a warning to neutrals, what had been accomplished in the way of destruction and theft by German armios. Tho authenticity of the document as being of German origin was officially established. It mentioned that three cathedrals and 27 churches had been destroyed in Belgium and France, and 42 others rendered unserviceable, besides a large number in Poland. The exactions on cities and individuals were stated to amount—this was up to tho beginning of the present year—to many millions sterling, and as for less valuable goods, it was claimed that tho Germans had taken away other booty in France and Bolgium—l47 high-grade watches, 5016 average watches, 18,073 pieces of underwear, 15,312 women's embroideries and handkerchiefs, 3705 umbrellas and parasols. 1376 silver spoons, 523,000 bottles of champagne, and many art treasures and old paintings. Of course this was not- a little of tho loot of this army of burglars, but it will serve the commission, if that body is ever set up, as a basis from which to prosecute its further investigations. Even in its entirety tho interesting despatch, in which Sir Douglas Haig deals "with the German offensive probably leaves a good deal yet to bo written. Tho British Commander-in-Chief refers only to the main features of the movement which threatened disaster to the Allied arms, and such details as are given only serve to emphasise the miracle of our escape from that disaster. The situation throughout the first three months of the year was that the German armies were steadily being reinforced by divisions brought from the Eastern front, where, owing to the collapse of Russia and the treaty of BrestLitovsk, they were no longor needed, and they were so placed in tho West that they could be thrown against more than one sector held by the Allies. ~—* A military ■writer, commenting lately on this period of the war, remarks that neither the British nor French armies "were as strong in infantry as they should have been to meet the menace, partly because their respective ments were husbanding reserves of men. but in our case chiefly on account of the unsuccessful offensive campaigns of the previous year, following upon the equally sanguinary attempt to Break through the German lines on the Somme in 1916." The available infantry, he adds, was not sufficient to carry out tho tasks assigned to it. This is putting it very mildly. How inadequate was our foroe is shown by Sir Douglas Haig's figures as to the relative strength of [ the opposing armies—"in six weeks, to the end of April, the enemy had employed 109 divisions against 55 British infantry and three cavalry divisions." We were outnumbered practically bv two to one. At that time the strength of a British division was about equal to that of a German division, for, a s Sir Douglas points out, the British divisions had had to be reorganised on a basis of ten instead of thirteen battalions. Our armies had indeed to be strung out along so extensive a front that General Gough could spare only one division for about every 3-J miles of a 42 milo front. In other words, on that long stretch, liable to experience the assault of great masses, of the enemy, the British averaged about two men, including ro- | serves and miscellaneous arms to every yard. No "thin red line*" of | past wars was ever asked to do what that khaki lino was called upon to do. 1 • Sir Douglas Haig's reference to General Gough is of particular intorest, 'because Gough came in for some severo criticism at the time, on account of his Fifth Army giving way at St. Quentin in the first day of the enemy's offensive. He was suspended, and went fcack to England, where his case was more than once the subject of questions in tho House of Commons. Evidently he returned to France to take up some duty of apparently a loss responsible character than the command of an army. We do not know yet exactly what happened to the Fifth Army in those strenuous days, but Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, some months ago, indignantly denied that the army had been broken, as was freely reported. "The miracle is," he wroto, "that under the most exacting circumstances conceivable the line was never broken; there was nevor a time when the Germans saw the open country before them and could push on where they would."

In seeking to fix tho responsibility for the Fifth Army giving ground as it did, Sir Arthur declares that blame really rested on "the idiots and traitors" who signed at Brest liitovsE the treaty which set a million German troops rolling back across Europe like a tidal wave." Where that wave struck it was bound to wash something away; it swept the British line back twenty miles or so, hut it was never able to break it —always some frayed, ragged line of indomitable men stood between the Germans and their goal." After quoting figures regarding the relative strength of the opposing forces, which are almost identical with those supplied by Sir Douglas Haig, Sir Arthur points out that the disproportion was much greater than the figures indicated, as the attack was not equal along the whole line. . The British

right, south of tho Oise, for instance, was not attacked at all.

Before evening tho g#cat weight of the enemy's attack, aided in the earlier hours by the heavy fog, had ponotrated the British line in three places, nearly all our reserves had been thrown into tho lino, and large German reserves were known to be close by. The only thing to do, was "to fall back steadily, fighting hard all tho way, so as to diminish the distance which reinforcements would have to travel." Tho retreat, with such an army pressing on it, is declared to liavo been a masterpiece of disciplined skill. Never have British soldiers been more tenacious. "When we get our true perspective, tho retreat from St. Quentin, with its hairbreadth escapes, its desperate rallies against monstrous odds, with brigades that were smaller than battalions, and divisions as weak as brigades, will rank with the retreat from Mons as one of tho remarkable feats of the war." Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's defence of General Gough may, possibly, err on the sido of generosity—if he had been ontirely blameless he would not, one would think, have been sido-tracked as has apparently been tho caso. But generosity is a forgivable fault, and the Fifth Army no doubt deserved all the praise it has received.