Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1914. FAILURE OF GERMAN STRATEGY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLV, Issue XLVIII, 18 December 1914, Page 4

Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1914. FAILURE OF GERMAN STRATEGY

THE military authorities are agreed that Gorman strategy has failed in. two main directions. In.the first place, Prussian militarism waged war on a written fixed plan. The second mistake anado by Germany was violation of one of the nxioms of Xapoleon—"the junction of different corps should never be made in the face of the enemy." The German advance, as is well known, was on these lines. The intention was to effect a junction not only in the face of the enemy, which, would have been a sufficiently difficult operation ; but, worse still, through the enemy. As explained by a. military writer, to have junctioned at all they must have won three pitched battles. They failed. Yon Kluck could only junction with von Bulow during a joint retreating movement after a crushing defeat. The whole strategy of the German advance into France, it is agreed, was defective. Wellington, to the last day of his life, always maintained that Nnpoleoirs advance of 1815 should have been towards the. coast. In 1914 von Kluck, it is stated, should have, been entrusted with the main advance by way of the littoral of Belgium and NorthEastern France, having as supporting movement on his left von Bulow's and the Crown Prince's armies in echelon. Germany, when surprised by the stout Belgium resistance, and the knowledge that the British expeditionary force was ready for embarkation, should, it is argued by one writer, instantly have abandoned its written plan, and fastened itself on the Channel and North- Sea littorals. It was not till after the Marne, after the repulse on the 28th September, of the. most determined efforts to break through the Allies on the line of the Aisne, after the Allies' enveloping plan began to develop, that Germany saw tht vital importance of holding the sea coast. She then saw it, but just too late, and smashed the ■ pick of her forces in attempt after attempt to effect an object which in midAugust would have been comparatively' easy of accomplishment. That the line of advance towards the coast by von Kluck, w-ith ven Bulow and the Crown Prince on the left, was the true stategy, 1 and the most stressing to the Allies, clearly appears from, the positive and impressive words of Sir John French's despatch. He spoke of the German attempt to turn the Allied extreme left as of vital importance, and it was calculated to lay bare the Channel ports. So vital did he think the question, so precarious did he think the position, that he himself took the initiative of conferring with General Joffre, and, being given full discretion, took the risk of desperate operations, and by the strenuous efforts of his troops prevented' being outflanked towards Calais.