WAR LESSONS OF 1916

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3027, 14 March 1917, Page 7

WAR LESSONS OF 1916

STEADY-SUPERIORITY OVER THE GERMANS • ■ ! NEW METHODS SUCCEED j (From H. Warner Allen.) in a review of tho military event*' on Uio Western front during 1916 ex- , ; cessivo pessimism is as much, to bo de* precaled as excessive- optimism. On?! the one band, tho fact that .tho Allies*] have failed to pierce tho German line* ' must bo frankly admitted. Against thisa fact, however, several important con-J siderations must bo set. It-is cleaifl enough, that the,enemy, has lost very? heavily in man power, and that it islj far more difficult for him to. fill up the| caps than it is for the Allies, who! have a practically inoxhaustiblo reserve; of men. Then the Allies have for th<M first lime assertcdvOii. tho Sonime a premacy in arfjlinry and munition!?" i that only a verv optimistic German cani over hope to wrest from us. .' Another encouraging factor of vitali importance is the steady progress inado by tho Allies towards the elabora* tion and application of the new tac-j tical system required by the dented deadlock on tho Western fronts Tho French High Command, in close! collaboration with tho British, has been steadily, in the field and hehind thd lines, devising a system capable or ending to the Allies' advantage the! deadlock temporarily- produced by the successful German defensive on the; present trench line. The. basis of suehl a. system events have shown must ba a very groat artillery superiority oveil the enemy at the point attacked. This i superiority depends not merely on the I weiaht of metal, hut.also on a master* of tho air, without which the gunners arc blind. An interesting instance of the nmiv ner in which the Allies are steadily adopting old methods and inventing methods to meet tlio new conditions is>' given by the way in which they have dealt with kite balloons. At the v bn ginning of tho war the enemy was ttoU provided with this means of aerial ob-> serration. Just before the battle of; Champagne a. German "dragon" was brought down by an aeropiano armed with a small guni firing an explosive shell, and this suc- : j cess had very considerable results, I since it shook the confidence of the . enemy's observers, and mado them far more cautious in running up their baW loons. Then tho rockot system was in-, vented, and, proved so successful cn ; . the Somme and also at Verdun that the= onomy, after losing a number of bal-, loons, only ventured to uso them at a-j considerable distance from the front, lines, and then only loft them in the' air for tho shortest possible time. ''■ ;' j Shell Hole Fighting.

Tbo unspeakable violence of the" enemy's tiro at Verdun annihilated the French defences, as tbo Germans had ' foreseen, but it bad also an effect that, they do not seem to have in tbo same degree: it provided such,; bravo inon as oscaped with some eheltepj against tho storm in tbo depth of shell' holes aud behind the wreckage. .! A solution of a, number of vital' problems rising from the Battle ofij Champagne bad been reached". The re-' suit of tho intelligent and unwearyinzi efforts of tho Frenob High Command" was that after between three and four, months of hard offensive on the Somme,, the French bad conquered far moreground, captured many more prisoners, than in Champagne, while they had; actually lost jewor men than they beds iu tbo iirst three days of that offensive..'

A new method o£ assault has been? devised, and the Germans, thanks to; raud and winter, have not yot felt its' full value. For that they must wait; until the offonsivo has been resumed.' Slowly but surely the offensive is getting on even terms with the defensive-. 1 The offensive lies in the initiative of the Allies, since we possess that artillery preponderance without which an offend sive is impossible. Events have shown; that the most 6trongly-fortified i posi'l tions can bo taken with insignificant losßes. The defensivo has but one resource. Tim defenders can burrow; 1 deeper .and deeper into the ground, and seek to strengthen: thoir shelters by a still more profuse use of annourv and reinforced concrete. But in this , . direction it appears that a limit has; been reached; To meet the conditions.' of the now warfare tho French ebvo drawn np a new scheme of inf antra, tactics. Veterans of every r.rm wbo>| have been through the -whole campaign , are learning the new methods just as the raw recruits. So at the close , 1916, if looking baok, wo must admit that the actual accomplishment falls; short of our hopes of last year, yet to ; have abundant proof that its lessons liavo not been lost, and we can look forward to tho events of 1917 on the Western front with full confidence andassuranco.