A MILLION MEN LOST IN 1916

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

A MILLION MEN LOST IN 1916

THE GERMAN CASUALTIES IN FRANCE. Tho total of prisoners taken by the Allied Armies on the various fronts in Europe dining 101G make up a mass of close upon 600,000. The French have; captured 78,500 Germans, the British'; havo captured 40,500 Germans. The Ital-i lans have laEen 52,250 Austrians. On.' the Eastern front the Russians have; captured somo -100,000 prisoners, lnoetVr; Austrians. Tho Macedonian Armv.hsS; taken prisoner 11,173 Bulgarians, Turks, ■ and Germans. This gives us the formid-1 ablo total of 582,423, a -figure which', leave.** out of account the considerable, number of prisoners made by- the Ru-i nianians in their irruptjon into Tran-! sylvani'n, am] the prisoners captured by I the British in Egypt and Gorman East; Africa.

Of the 110,000 Germans captured in France in 1016, the French toot 25,660. at Yordirn and.61,840 on the Sommc. Tli© Franco-British Armies havo taken hundreds of guns of various calibres from the enemy during the year. A: recent ofEoial statement in England claimed 150. heavy gune, 200 field {runs, and 1500 machino-puns lip to November. But this total will have to bo considerably in- ■. creased, for fho French captnrod 115 guns of all calibres at Verdnu on December 15 and 16. It is safe to put the enemy's total casualties in France duririg; the year at not less than a million. Reason- ■ able computations based on the enemy's; partial admissions make it considerably, more. The loss in prisoners alone is equivalent to tho bayonet strength of len full divisions. In thoir attack on Verdnn the Germans up (o July 1 had brought into engagement 42* divisions. On tho Soraino up to November 1, in »ll !t0 German divisions had participated in tho fightinp. The ureal revelation of the year as far tho French Army was concerned nav been Hint it has taught tho enemy.once, for all, that any plan of campaign based on the idea that the French. Army can ; bo either crushed or exhausted is oliira-; erical. A year after tho beginning of the; battle of "Verdun that army is roor<t : powerful, better equipped, moro confident j than over. And on this front the ascen-; dant has passed definitely to (ho armits, of Tfrnneo and Great Britain.—Keuwrl Special. _________„