GERMAN VIEW OF THE WAR

Marlborough Express, Volume L, Issue 2, 4 January 1916, Page 2

GERMAN VIEW OF THE WAR

*'VICTORIOIiS FROM-'ARRAS TO

BAGDAD."

LONDON, Jan. 1. Tlic Frankfurter Zeitung, in the fit^t, German, review of the whole- war, adjnits that Germany's intended plans Wi£h regard to France have not- been fulfilled, and that the Russian campaign has been broken off beyond or.o '^Poland fortress area and east of •^ilna. That campaign was a glorio'is Victory, but the review admits the ti-uih. of the 'conclusion arrived .at _by <Dlausewitz that it is impossib.l'e to foxward thp conquest of ltussia. The Rattle on the West front, beginning' «n October, was tho .greatest defensive j»attle in h'v '■ ~y. The Balkan campaign jpine-' ■'•' rffianv- up with Buijrar'ia and 'i' tce,v, thus separating JFfussia fiom the- Western Powers, aiid £n.ally losing, tlie -Balkans to their I enemies. , ...... The, war," continues the review, "''under Britain's leadership, is being conducted with a far-reaohing policy. Untain has ooiloct«i a; mighty ooalijfcion, which has held tho Balkans iv fiiispense, brought in Italy, and in-j volved tho United States in tho ■frravest conflict with the Central Powers. But she has not succeedwl on the battlefield, and, realising the impossibility of forcing the German lines in,-the. West, decided to force tW Dardanelles. The plan was good, bui its execution .wretched. It might have succeeded if iuirnediatelj' Turkey had intervened, England had forced the Dardanelles with largo forces. But Turkey's rapid advance upon tho Suez Canal deceived and terrified the English and gauied, under Gerra,ari advice, time, which made the''Dardanelles underfcaUit'.g hopeleSvS. Tho Dardanelles attosnpt* was made with foices which were too .weak, and tho land attack was siot comprehensive enough.

"Lonoon then hoped to involve, the Ba\ T\ans-, but she had not the courage to: withdraw her troops, thus admitting a defeat. Now the withdrawal ha§ taken place under Turkish fire.

The same game is being repeated in Macedonia, where a difficult campaign with inadequate resources has proved to be a. miserable ■failure, and is being continued, at France's demand.

• "We have broken the spell which King Edward laid upon us," summarises the review, "and stand fictorious jiow from Arras ■ to

Bagdad." IClausewitz wpk a Prussian genera! s-nd eminent military writer, who was >orn in 1780 ami died in 1831. Tiis vritings on military affairs were of rreat merit, and led to si considerable "hange in tho theories of war, his 'doctrines'' being one of the main cuides to the German study of •trategy.]