THE ENEMY'S LOST 4,000,000

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 58, 1 December 1917, Page 10

THE ENEMY'S LOST 4,000,000

DESPERATE EFFORTS TO FIND MORK

40 PER CENT; OF CASUALTIES THAT NEVER RETURN

Since the beginning of the war (wrote Mr. H. Warner „Allen from the French front in September last) the Germans have called up the entirety of the 1914, 1915,. 1916, 1917, and 1918 contingents, while a considerable part of the 1919 contingent cannot now long be delayed. Since 1914 they have- had to call up two contingents each year, with the result that their resources in men are gradually being' exhausted, and -their conscripts are being thrown into the battle at a progressively lower age. Recruits of the 1914 contingent when called up were aged hotween 19 years 8 mouths'-and 20 years 8 months; 1915 contingent: 19 years 4 months and 20 years 4 months; 1916: 18 years 10 months and 19 years 10 months; 1917: 18 years 2 months and 19 years 2 months; 1918: 17 years 11 months and 18 years 11 months; 1919: 17 years 6 months and 18 years 6 months. The 1920 contingent will be six months younger when it is called into the field —that is, between 17 and 18 exactly— and consequently its youngest members cannot legally be available before January, 1918. ■

Severely as tho French have been tried, tlioir. 1918 contingent is still in the barracks, while the enemy ■is incorporating his 1919 contingent, and will have to call upon his 1920 contingent at the end of this year or tho beginning of next. Presumably he will not attempt to throw boys of 16 into the firing line; consequently, to fil| up the gaps in his armies during 1918 he will have nothing left hut the 1921 contingent, which he will probably call up in quarterly sections as the recruits reach 17.

The total number of Germans of| an - age to bear arms, that is, between 17, and 45, on whom tho military authorities have been able to draw between August, 1914, and September 1, 1917, amounts to 14,000,000. This total includes tho 1920 contingent and also ■ tho men serving who are now over tho iegal military age of 45. At the moment of mobilisation in 1914 the German military authorities called up every man who had military training—that is to say, 4,500,000 men. Each yearly contingent in Gormany consisted of about 550,000 men, of whom about 450,-' 000 were passed as fit for active service. After mobilisation, in addition to'tho 4,500,000 trained men, tho enemy called up tho greater part of the Ersatz, whjch represented about 800,000 m'on, by far the greater part totally untrained. They were called to the colours by February, 19J5, and between May and July, 1915, the contingent of that year, with an effective of 450,000 men, had also been called. Unfit Called Up. In 1915 Germany incorporated the greater part of tho first ban of the • Landsturm, 1,100,000 men, and between May and July the 1915 contingent, 450,000 men; then the remainder of the Landsturm, 150,000 men, between September, 1915, and November, 1915; the 1916 contingent, 450,000 men. At that poriod tho Gormans seem to-have discovered that tho war was going to last far longer than they had at first anticipated, and the re-examination of men passed as definitely unfit for. service was legalised. This "combing-out process began in October, 1915. Thus Germany has mobilised: .. 1914 _. --: Trained men - 4,500,000 Ersatz-Reserve 800,000 1914 contingent 450,000 1915. Landstrum first ban ... 1.100,000 ( 1915 contingent •.•••■ 450;000 Remainder first ban , ra/uu% Landsturm 150,000 1916 contingent 460, 925 ' Combed out from "unfit" 300,000 1916. ' Combed out from "unfit" 200,000 Second ban Landsturm untrained 450,000 1917 contingent .. •. 400,000 Combed out from "unfit" 300,000 1918 contingent 400,0UU 1917. Combed 0ut........ •• 150,000 Part of 1919 contingent _ 300,000 Tot jl' ~.,.;. .10,500,000 To this total of 10,500,000 must be added the remaining men of. the uiv. contingent and the 1920 'contingent, toSE estimated at 700,000 men. making in all 11,200,000. The. remamimi 2,800,000 men required to make up the total of 14,000,000, 'given as the grand total of German man power, are to be accounted for as follows:— Men of military age employed in'undisaensable occu-

pations in Germany, originally 750,000, now, as re- >. 'suit of combing out ...... 500,000 Men of military age abroad 200,000 35 • Nothing lias so far been said as to tho present employment and wastage of these forces. Taking the ;MB>ot£ ant question of wastage n<st||| n a that the German casualty ltsMgpe up f U 31, 1917, the followm^ses: • Killed 1,159,005 ' wi'nd'd ';.; '2,922,320 MiTsi _™.° Total .'..•'■ 4,791,375 . 4,000,000 Losses. These list, give losses'which roughlv sneaking,'-were suffered by the "go. The figures given have bee tested bv every detail of mformat.oii It the Allies' disposal, and as a result a definite idea has been formed as to the amount of deliberate error that tha Factors which have been I real value in making these calcula r Hmns have been tho observed i on of dead to wounded (which ma? he civen roughly as one to three and a hill) the fact that" in an ordinary tranquil month of trench warfare the enemy'loses, on an average between 70 000 and '80,000 men, as also the ratio based on experience, that, on all average, if there- arc 100 men out of action, '10 per cent, may' be regarded as permanently lost for tho army. Such calculations result in tho conclusion that the real figure of permanent losses for. tho German army up to the present date should be given as about 4,000,000. ' .