THE SITUATION IN DECEMBER.

Feilding Star, Volume XI, Issue 2601, 9 April 1915, Page 2

THE SITUATION IN DECEMBER.

liltsE are the facts of I lie campaign m their true order, says the review, which adds: "We know what heroic acts they havo occasioned on. the part of our'troops; but in conclusion we shall limit ourselves to stating precisely the position of our ■armies on December I. As regards numbers, the. French army is now equal to what if was ou August 2, all the units having been filled up. The quality of the troops has improved infinitely, and our men now light liko veterans —all profoundly conscious of their superiority and having absolute confidence in victory. And the higher command, ivith tho necessary alterations, has not during the last three months made any of the mistakes pointed out and punished iv August. Our supplies of artillery munition,? have

largely increased, and heavy artillery, in which we were utterly lacking, has been prepared and is fit for work. In November the English army received numerous reinforcements, and is now much stronger numerically than on its entry into the war, whilst tbe Indian divisions have completed their training uuder European conditions. - The Belgian army has been reorganised in six divisions, ready and resolved to reconquer tho national soil." The review also informs us that the German army had suffered seven defeats of great importance: (1) Defeat of the sudden attack against Nancy, (2) defeat of the rapid march on Paris, (3) defeat in the attempt to turn the French left wing in August, (1) defeat of their enveloping movement in November, (5) defeat of the alfenipt to break through the .French centre in Sept-ember, (6) tho defeat on the coast, and (7) the defoat at Ypres. "In these useless efforts Germany has exhausted her reserves, and the troops that she is now lining out aro badly organised and badly led; while more and more Russia has confirmed her superiority over Germany as much as over Austria, and the stoppage of the German armies is doomed by fate to be turned into retreat." This is the work of the last four months. And who will not admit that it was a splendid achievement for Britain, fhe unready, France of tho rcvancho of '70, and Russia the I whipped party in the Japanese war?