TRUTH ABOUT THE WAR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15948, 19 June 1915, Page 1 (Supplement)

TRUTH ABOUT THE WAR.

BT WM. SATCHELL. It is interesting to examine the state of stultification at which war has arrived. Let us make a brief resume of the engrossing and more or less veracious serial which has occupied so large a space in our daily paper for the past ten months. In August, 1914, the Germans, after suffering an irritating and perhaps unexpected delay at Liege, broke through the Belgian sluice gates and poured down upon the armies of France and England advancing to meet them. The latter were hurled back, suffering and inflicting losses—the Germans probably bavin" the advantage in number of prisoners captured and the Allies in enemies killed and wounded until, with the fortifications of Paris behind them, the huge concentrated mass of undefeated troops wag brought to a standstill. Exactly what followed is not clear. Either the Germans discovered a mistake in tactics and began to draw out, suffering the usual harassment that attends retreat-, or they were attacked, defeated, and had to retire in consequence. However this may be, they left their purpose unaccomplished, and falling back on suitable lines, dug and concreted themselves in, and there they have remained ever since. The history of the war on the east front is almost an exact replica of what happened in tho west. Summed up, it amounts to this, that after splendid victories on both sides the combatants are now practically where they were a few weeks after the commencement of hostilities. Farther east, on the Gallipolian Peninsula, the position is in no way different. On April 25 the Allies landed at Gaba Tepo. They landed also farther south, and began an advance on Krithia. I dedy anyone who read the first accounts of these actions to form any conclusion than that the capture of the peninsula was a matter of a few days. Every cablegram for a month past has spoken of an advance of the Allies, but we have not yet captured Maidos or Krithia. At the moment of writing tho Italian advance into Austria is going merrily forward. It is but the flourish of trumpets that has marked every begining; the trenches follow. The same paralysis that holds helpless the hosts on land hag overtaken the most powerful armaments at sen. The mine and the submarine have entirely, altered the Aspect of marine warfare. A battle squadron can no more dig out a mine-locked hostile fleet, without enormous and disproportionate loss to itself, than an offensive on land can break through a series of fortified trenches. Neither may itself keep the seas without the risk, the ultimate certainty of destruction by an underwater foe.

Th« political aspect may also be summed up in a few words. The controller of the great London dailies finding the facts as related unpalatable, turned on the leaders of the State. Fisher and Churchill, strong men, working, so far as we know, harmoniously together for the common ■ good, were pricked into suspicion of one another; a coolness roso between them, and both were sacrificed. Others fell with them, even Kitchener was discredited, 'and only Lloyd George, the greatest Briton of our time, still stands like a rock in the midst of the cataclysm. Possibly this may result in clearer vision all round, but the trouble is not with the leaders, it lies deeper than that; deep as the trench, deep as the submarine, lying on the floor of the sea waiting its prey. Such then are the main facts of the war from the, beginning of August to the end of May. If we are capable of looking clearly and calmly at them we shall seo that in so far 'as they are disappointing they are all traceable to tho same cause, to one master fact. It is not that 'the political and military leaders on either side are peculiarly inefficient, it is simply that man has hatched a monster he is unable to control. Thcro is the key to the enigma. Under its unlocking influence the things that have puzzled' us for months past are explained. Wo now know how it is that wliilo spring has passed and summer smiles on Europe the British Army has not advanced. Wo know how it is that while by a hwro concentration on tho extended Prussian line Germany can bend its back twenty miles and so secure momentary elbow room, she is still powerless to break through. Modern war materials and war methods have made these things impossible._ When England reorganises her Cabinet and creates a Department for the supply of munitions she admits that the problem of the trench is insoluble under present conditions. Germany makes the same admission when in defiance of all laws- human and divine, she attempts a solution with poisonous gases. The fact is there is only one chapter of the war book which is now worth the paper it is printed on, and that is the chapter on discipline: all the rest has gone by the board. War was once a spectacle for the pods; it is now but a sound, albeit a. sound of honor. True that there are luminous moments, as when the Australians scale the precipices under the eyes of the fleet, but in another moment they aro gone, and we seo but the bare hill sides. The battle is no longer on the earth but beneath it and over it, tJfS mine, tho trench, the reconnoitering aoroplanc, the screaming shell. Look as you will, for days you will see no more. Then, perchance, you are aware, of a scattered handful of human beings; there is a thin, faint sound which may be a cheer. The figures run forwardi one toppling over here and there, and disappear again into the earth. It all seems so uninspiring, so aimless, so petty in proportion to the vast scale of the war; yet a dov or two later you mav read in your paper: "On Monday tho French captured an advance trench at —It was worth cabling then? Yes, for on a creator or smaller scale it is all that is left of war and its strategy. But while was is thus stultified in its aim there never was a time in its history when the demands made on the individual combatant were greater than they are today. In addition to the old Berserk fury ho must possess the steadfastness of soul to endure through miseries o? bodily discomfort, through untold hazards and agonies, not merely for the hours of an old-time battle, hut for tho days and weeks of modern siego warfare.

What then am the prospects as regards ourselves and Germany? We were told right back at the Winning that the war would be one of attrition and exahustion, vet secretly overv man of us believed differently. We must therefore get into the state of mind that reaves to look for miracles. and accept facta as they are. Von Hindenburpr, in a moment of expansion following victory, is reported to have said that in the winning of battles numbers did not count. This is only in part tmo of battles, and i? quite the reverse of true of wars of attrition. Let us suppose that Germany is able to feed her army and her civilian population indefinitely, lot us further suppose that sho can continue to simply the munitions of war required for the continuance of the struggle, she is yet doomed to failure, from the fact that by no possible means can she overcome the continual depletion in her army. In spite of what is.being written and spoken in Germany we know that the military leaders of 'the nation recognise this fact. Their actions betray it. Their oulv alternative to suffering a slow strangulation is to burl their enemies, regardless of cost, at the lines enveloping them, and this is precisely what thev are doine. We must, then, givo up all expectation of a triumphant march to Berlin in the near future; we must cease to ask why or wherefore, or to impugn the capacity of our leaders; wo must steel ourselves against being disheartened by reverses and stand fast in the knowledge that though our enemy may be able to repulse us at any one point he cannot indefinitely hold us back at all points. For this conclusion only one assumption is necessary, namely; tliat whatever happens the Allies will 'not relax their efforts. To do so for months to come would bo fatal; to increase them, on tho otherj Jwaid, id to shorten tho war, J