GERMAN RESERVES

New Zealand Times, Volume XLII, Issue 9719, 23 July 1917, Page 2

GERMAN RESERVES

STEADY EXHAUSTION ALLIES BREAKING DOWN THE BARRIERS. (From Our Special Correspondent.) LONDON, May 24. The official statements which emanate from time to time from the Gorman War. Department are often instructive even when they are meant to mislead. At the present moment th© German Headquarters Staff is greatly concerned to contest Sii Douglas Haig’s assertion that we have broken through the Hindenburg line. It is even contended that no such thing as a Hindenburg line exists, i'har ie true enough, since wo obliterated the German trench system prao tically all the way from Arras to Queant. But it is not true in the sense that tho Gormans imply. The conflict ot testimony is possible owing to the different meanings that are attached to this term Hindenburg line in Gern any and in Great Britain respectively. It is asserted m Germany that there is no Hindenburg line, “unless one likes to give that name to the whole ot the systems ot positions which were laid out by orders of Field Marshal von Hindenburg, and whicli in the Arras zone stretch in broad rings from behind the other.” Even if this definition is accepted (and there Is no reason why it should not be accepted), it is difficult to understand how the Germans ar ft able to contest that their defensive system has been smashed in over a front of some half score miles. It is quit© true that standing behind this Hindenburg line, or Siegfried line, as the Germans prefer to call it there is a second defensive system Which tho Germans call tho Wotan line, and which we call the Droucourt-Queant-Switch line. Now that the Siegfried Lino has been demolished, the Germans affect to regard the Wotan line as their main defensive position. But this lino was admittedly thrown up as a precautionary measure, ana, until recently at least, it was not even completed. In this we have an explanation of the' - very large reserves von Hindenburg has flung into the furnace east of Arras, in order to delay the British advance. Whether this delay has sufficed for the completion of the Wotan Line is a question on which information as yet is not available. DUST FOB GERMAN BYES. The manner in which the German Headquarters Staff is endeavouring to throw dust in tho eyes of the German people is indicated by the following statement officially issued to the Berlin press: “In the reports of the English Army Command there recure every week or fortnight, with unmistakable intention, tho statement that the English troops have attacked this or that point in the Hindenburg position; sometimes, again, a phrase is chosen to the effect that fighting is in progress at this or that point in tho Hindenburg position. In face of these statements it is worth while expressly to establish the fact that what we call our Hindenburg position has in reality never been attacked at all, with the sole exception of the district of Bullecourt, where, as is well known, fighting has been in uninterrupted progress for some days. Our Siegfried position has, therefore, in fact, realised all tho expectations which we placedin it; except in the area already indi- : cated, the fighting in the north of our Western front is everywhere proceeding within the area of the old positions which we have held for two and a half years.” All this, of course, is grossly misleading, but it is based on half-truths which it is not always easy to combat. From our point of view its main interest lies in the efforts the German Higher Command now deem it necessary to make to sustain the waf spirit of their civilian population. What is more material is that, with the destruction of the line between (Arras and Bulleoourt, we now standin front of the Drocourt-Queant switchline, which is the last barrier which lies between us and Douai, and, as fare as w© know, is the last serious defensive line between us and the valley of the Meuse itself. But it would bo exceedingly unwis© to assume that when in turn this barrier goes down before the weight of our artillery fire and tho indomitable assaults of our infantry, that the British Army _ will swoop on triumphantly and victoriously to the natural line of tho Meuse. One is inclined to attach considerable importance to the statement quoted at the beginning of this article, and put forward officially by the enemy’s War Department that the German defensive system between Queant and Leng stretches “in broad rings” one behind the other. What does this suggest? In the opinion of those best qualified to speak, it implies the determination on the part of the enemy to hang on approximately to his present ground to the hitter end. THE DANGERS OP RETREAT.

It will he in no sense surprising if this view should prove to be correct. Apart altogether from the loss of military prestige involved by a forced retreat to the Meuse —and the Germans are particularly anxious to avoid such loss of prestige in view of the situation that presents itself 'on the Eastern front —all military men are agreed that under modern conditions of warfare a forced retreat would be attended with immense peril and might easily develop into an irretrievable military disaster. We shall do 'well to bo prepared therefore for a continuance of the present more or less stationary aspect of the war for a considerable time to come.

The Germans mav be forced back mile by mile, but they will hesitate to attempt a general retirement. They will contest ©very inch of the ground even though thev have to fight on terrain highly unfavourable to themselves. And it is impossible to avoid the suspicion that this is precisely the result which Sir Douglas Haig’s strategy is seeking to bring about. There can be no military decision in this war until Germany’s reserves have been exhausted. And \be surest way to exhaust these reserves is to compel von Hindenbnrg to expend his divisions Under conditions so disadvantageous that the looses of the defence substantially exceed the losses of the_ attack. That those conditions prevail at present in the fighting to the east of Arras is pretty well established, W 1 en this process has gone on for a sufficient length of time it is inevitable that weaknesses will begin to develop in some portion of the German line—though not necessarily in that portion which we are directly attacking. Thun will eomp the great opportunity of the Allies, and we shall realise. as we have newer realised before, the supreme

importance of the aerial supremacy which wo hare succeeded in establishing. For it is by aerial reconnaissance that British Headquarters will got the first warning of the movement of reinforcements from sectors not immediately thrcatenel to sectors which the Germans deem to be in dire peril. THE RIDDLE OF THE EAST.

Wo must steadfastly reconcile ourselves to the fact that those results are likely to substantially delayed by tho virtual paralysis which 1 (at timo of writing) has fallen on the .Russian lines in the East. It is stated that since Sir Douglas Haig started his offensive on the Arras front, von Hindonburg, in this zone alone, has thrown no fewer than ninety divisions into the fight. Wc know enough of the reserves which the enemy have available to feel assured that a proportion at least of those divisions must have boon withdrawn from the Eastern front. The fact is disturbing enough, though it carries with it certain consequences which may be wholly favourable to the Allied cause if Russia is able to pull herself together in tho military sense, and assume the offensive in Galicia or at some other portion of her long front.

Compared with her trials in tho past, her task would bo a comparatively easy one. For it is not on tho French front alone that tho Germans have sent reinforcements from East to West. The same thing has happened on tho Italian front. The struggle whicli General Cadorna is waging has been rendered infinitely more strenuous by the fact that the Austrians have boon able to mass against him forces which they dare not have employed in this theatre if the Russian menace had been really serious. Tho nows from Petrograd fluctuates week by week and almost day by day. Perhaps the wisest course at present is to regard tho outlook in its gloomiest colours. A. military decision in tho West maybe increasingly difficult to obtain and may even bo impossible of attainment so far as the present summer _i s concerned. We might have to wait until America came in to redress, tho balance. THIS YEAR. NEXT YEAR, SOMETIME. An examination of tho situation from this point of view- emphasises the unwisdom of assuming that the war is certain to come to an end this year. If there is no military decision the food question at least is not likely to oud cue struggle on oitner side. It certainly will not end it in this country; for the War Cabinet is looking far ahead m its preparations, and is verv far from being content to ensure the national safety between now- ami the gathering-in of our nest harvest. And if the German people are semistarving, one marvels greatly that not the slightest reflex symptom of this Shows itself in the German troops at the front. The vapourmgs of some of the English new-spapers on this subject have to be received with something more than reserve. “Stale bread" is found, in truth, in the German dug-outs. And German soldiers are “sick of the war.” How wonderfully miraculous 1 Is there anyone who is not ' “sick of the war” ? Yet the determination to pursue it to a victorious conclusion happily does not diminish, at any rate, in this country.

If Russia, on the other hand, does indeed succeed in making her influence felt, then in actual fact there is an excellent prospect of peace in the autumn. For, despite the unexpected disadvantages under which he is fighting, the progress which Sir Douglas Haig is making exceeds all expectations. If we may base an opinion on tho famous interview he accorded to the French journalist a few weeks ago, It is by no means certain even now "that" his plans are fully developed. Surprises may still be in store for the Germans, and even for the public here at Home, and our example may well inspire the Russian command. it is not for nothing that the German newspapers are beginning to speak of us as the most tenacious people in tho world.