AFTER THREE YEARS' WAR.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLII, Issue 1012, 14 November 1917, Page 3

AFTER THREE YEARS' WAR.

THE ANXIETY OF GERMANY. (By W. Douglas Newton). The Gorman, newspapers continue to give their summaries of dho three years of war. The usual, and it might bo said, semi-official,' attitude of self-conscious and determined optimism is gen'crallv observed in tlie.se. commentaries. At the same time, they ate not without fairly definite sign s that the, military wiut'ors'oxporienwd some difficulties in squaring their optimism with the facts of the situation, There arc some 01 thorn, indeed, who fee! that tin.' only wav to enhcavten their readers is 10 paint.a strong picture of Germany, still powerful in the face of enemies rapidly This type of assessor of events invariably falls back upon -tlic submarine, apparently their one remaining hope of positive victory. It is insisted that the submarine is already"undermining the strength of the enemy. 'Some journals claim that the offensive in Flanders is hampered through nor being supported by such supplies ol munitions as were available at the time of the Somrne. The Lokal Anzeigcr goes furtlier. Thanks to the submarine; it declares we have not even an adequate- supply of men. England, it seems, lias been deprived of foreign labour, and bus to employ _at home those men who should be in the firing line.

Tho weakness of ibis kind of reasoning is noi merely that is missstates facts, butthat the Germans must themselves know that it misstates facts. They have only to read their own. official communiques to see this. i lie first sentences of tho German Headquarter report, issued on August. Ist. give such assertions the lie direct. Talking of the Flanders battle of July 31st, this report states emphatically "with masses such as have, never been Used in ar.y period of this war, nor. even in the east,"by tirusilotl", the English attacked on a 15 mile front." That is net exactly a hint of man shortage. There is no'hint of munition ghbrtap either. The ' same report describes the battle as "one of iho most tremendous of ihe third year of tin 1 war." <)n tho same cllv, August Ist, the German wirelcs:; paid tribute to "the extreme use 'of their (the British) .guns, war material, and reserves." The Lokal Anzcigcr and its. group are thus confounded by their own military leaders. Some of this school of commentators do not distort facts so palpably ;'their method of encouraging the Germans is.more subtle, I hoy- simply omit facts. Anything derogatory to Germany u not mentioned at all, 1 and the result is thus a picture of iin- ; blemished victory. _ .l.ieutenam-G-eneral I Karon von Ardeiine is a master of. this 1 method. In the Magdeburgische Zbitung of July 31st and August Ist, he published two long and copious articles which will convince"many of his readers that Germany has gone through three years of war.fwith; out losing a single battle, or meeting with a single cheek. The Baron's manner is best described in his own words: it is to look at tho outstanding points of tho war only "somewhat in (he way that when characterising a mountain one only speaks of the highest peaks and leaves unmentionecl the connecting hilly landscape and the lower 510p,.-." Quito an admirable, idea. especially when the only "highest, [leaks" one. notices are German, and all the achievements of the Allies are but "lower slope" affairs in one's eyes. Iji this way lie is conveniently blind to all that happened m East Prussia before Tannenberg. The out rage to Belgium and the great efforts o! the Belgian army become no more than "the su?prise of Liege and Namur," aftoi which tho Germans swept gloriously into France. The Marne. by this method, becomes not a. disaster to Germany so much as an indication—astonishing fact—of tilt "treacherv" ot Italy, which allowed. Joffrc to mass troops for this counter-stroke. ! .Win of the wonderful advance of tin Russians on Cracow in 1914, the only "peaks" perceptible to the Baron aie the I Austrian victories of Lysa Gora and Kras- ! nil:. The battles of Opole, Tomasov and ! Jtava Rttsskii are hot mentioned; apparentI | v lliey come mukr the designation of "con. ' liecting hilly landscapes. I .' All the same, j the battles chosen by the Baron had prae- | tically no effect on the campaign, while, the ! three Russian victories were so crushing thai th"v wen- the means of putting 1 Austria temporarily bi}t of action. 1* ft will be seeii bv tiles, examples exactly Lhow von Ardenne goes to work. It would I be tedious to follow all Lis points, but one 1 other instance will sufiico to show how unit rust worthy is his method, lie describes i the battle of Verdun with a wealtn ot nv ~.;] |f o tells how each of the successive li„'w of defences were taken. Ho colU it ~ "colossal attack carried out with endless uoublo and fearful sacrifices." _ lie dec ares that it raged right up to the middle o 191 f. But though he describes with so much care the German side 61 the light he does not „tter a. word concerning the sweeping French counter-strokes wmch *_> rapidly won back from the Germans practically all tut important ground. Roaduig n> account one would never'suppose that the Gpiman wer o driven back at Verdun. th battle is a German victory to him, but hi Id,snot tell ...why. lie certainly says i 'Scdl a French attack but ;;„,., he is aware thai the trench dtackid ''.."'l,,'Sonunc. and in a manner to make , 4 10 battle, as he says, "hug- war-epic, Ik I'm M-arcelv claim Verdun as a success oi. • Hiis count.' EurLhcr he dismisses the • - ' } , s -;ves of the Western Alhes and the San ß in 1916, as failures, because only Srt gains" of were ,von Then can,tho vtrv moderate gam . ntory attained at Verdun be ■ .^;- tl r ; I;,, tb'e lover gams of ground on lite while tin I Somme. ancl on . , . flouts represent only defeat Onh n l cr n a military critic .seems able to undoi,md ivhv these thmgs should be. herGo V nnnwritersonthethreeyear s of v, ..re not so prone to misstatement as tin HcalAtlleigerandVdn'Ardemm.yeUome; ;,•; ;! of their anxiety at. the .present, s.tualion can ho gathered from their tone. Uiiu \\ ,per like tho Koluisehe Zeatung. while "iffig sniisfaelio'n at the present sate o ,"| ,gs betravs its nervousness m a fnr.o.^ A, on America, who, "At last thre^ofl \ tIL mask and placed itself. Openly in the | vank of our ! nemies. for which IVesulen, Wilsot, found an excuse ,n tho submarine , vhic i, v,,. vvere compelled to resort The Rrcrikfurter Ze.lungs attitude ol L tfttTiot ,- co i ni towards America's part 'tfthj fourth year o Hip war also shows some S" r ,t trepidation. .The Frenk.utter Ihinks that, while America can -raise a. moat oi trusting such a f or ce—-which must number at least 1,000,000 men-to seas infested wuh German,

U-boats. Jn any" case the weight? America'! could add to the Entente has boon counter-' balanced by loss.es in the F.a:-f. This flighting attitude towards America, it will be seen, only loads to a rather vague liQpo for the- future.' Other papers have no sueh hope. The, Munchcr Neuosto Nachrichten declared bluntly, "Tito military importance of America is great. She only requires time to become effective." The Mutichner Nettcsto Nachrichten is, in fact, very uneasy about the general situation, on the ground that Gerihari dinllimacy lias led the country into an impossible position. In an article, "The Fourth Year of War" (August Ist), it. compares muddling Gorman diplomacy with efficient, British diplomacy., Of the latter it says. "Il has constantly brought new nations into the war, and is always making hew foe s, new tasks', and new difficulties for the German army, so thai now there are 1350 million foes against 150' million Germans and German sympathiser-. In an appeal to the judgment of humanity at a world conference or world tribunal, theproportion woiild be 135 to 15. In this command of the opinion of the world, England ha~ gained enormous strength; We have neglected to trouble about the opinion of the world, childishly supposing we can gain sympathy without it.'' No wonder this paper sums up the situation in the following gloomy Words: "On the entry cf the fourth year of war we dare not conceal the fact that the right for existence claims all our strength, and that we perish as a nation if the enemy is victorious. We must not be blind to the seriousness of the situation and foolishly imagine that people arc kept in better spirits by lies. On the contrary strength only comes out of truth." That- t'ne truth: is hitter enough, the Munchner Neiu >.ie Nach'riclileii has itself implied, but we only realise how bhter it. is when that firebrand, Reventlow, U betrayed into a melancholy comparison of things as they were and as thej are now. "In the heroic days of 11)14," he declares, "God gave us as our daily bread a daily victory. We must- fan into flame once - more the. glorious enthusiasm of those days. Our losses, both in material things and in human life, have been g.vat. Terrible, too, is,the havoc the war has wrought in our political, moral and religious life at home. I'lie high aspirations of-the early days have burned themselves away to ash.es. the spirit, at the front alas! has no'longer :i counter part in the V.ru'rit .-it homo." As Roventlow implies, the spirit has gone out of th>! Gernif.ii purpose, as the hope <.t success has gone. With difficulty, the illusion of an invincible German is kept up, the string of supposedly decisive German victories of wiiicii the military writers talk so glibly, hn.3 brought Germany no satisfaction and no result. -And moreover they are all in the past. Germany is living on its past, while it faces the future wit:: anxiety It- has before it a time which the Kblnirchc Volkzcitung lon-shadows under the little "Heavy Hours." These are the hours ibis paper warns Germany, m whicn the. worse hardships are about- to come, since ihe Alli.s are making u. threotolc offensive around Ypres, on the Aisne, and in the Homme, The enemy, the pniM-r declares, is determined to try everything to break through this time. It adds that Kjlindenburg's tak-nf is unbroken a.s yet in the confidence of the people and .he soldiers. All hopes centre on mm. I hoe is - pregnane seiire of qualification m thai » as v ,, t "; it would seem that Germany 5 confidence in wavering even in regard to their only hope. ,