THE WASTAGE OF WAR.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16339, 23 March 1915, Page 4

THE WASTAGE OF WAR.

While the War Office has been prudently observing reticence in respect to the details of the British preparations for participation in the great offensive in the west which the Allies propose to assume during the present' spring, there is evidence indicative of tho approach of a big effort. A message from Paris that came last week via New York hinted that during the last two months Gieat Britain had ' transported across the Channel a new army of a million men, that France had an equal' number of new troops well equipped and ready to take the field at a moment's notice, and that the carrying capacity of the railroads had been increased to cope with the enormous quantities of munitions being sent to the front. Mr Lloyd George's recent notable speech emphasised nothing so 'much as the need for an extraordinary output of munitions of war on the part of Great Britain. We have since learnt that the War Office is actively, engaged in making suitable provision in various parts of tho United Kingdom for the accommodation of an anticipated influx of wountied. Such a report sounds an ominous note, it may seem, and yet there can be nothing unexpected about the prospect that is heralded. The enemy of Europe and of the world's peace has to be crushed at any cost. It is the high resolve of the British nation that no effort shall be lacking on its part to bring about that consummation. Having put its hand to the plough it "will not, and in fact canriot, look bade. Its plan—the plan of the War Office and of Lord Kitchener—has been to subject the enemy to a steadily increasing pressure that will be rendered more and more possible as the process of marshalling the resources of the Empire begins to yield its results. Great sacrifices have already been demanded, but the demand for sacrifice on the part of the British people has not yet attained its maximum intensity. That will be reached when the army of Britain on the Continent has assumed dimensions commensurate with the magnitude of the great offensive undertaking in which ..it has yet to cooperate with that of France. The greater the numbers Great Britain has in the field, the more extended the front upon which her troops engage the enemy, the longer will be the casualty lists. Moreover, the nature of modern -warfare makes it inevitable that in certain circumstances the armies -which take the offensive must sustain particularly heavy losses as the price of their advance. The experience of the invading German forces has illustrated this very forcibly. "The population of Germany is one-third larger than ours, and the German casualties are ten times more numerous. What would we think if our casualty lists were proportionately as large as those of the enemy?" These words, penned by the military correspondent of The Times, have a significance which is apparent enough. They warn the nation against brooding over the sacrifices it has already made and give it cause to reflect that relatively it has so far escaped lightly. We cannot avoid the conviction that the British people must steel their hearts against the practical certainty that there will be still greater sacrifices in the days to come, before the end of the war is in sight. But it has to be remembered that such sacrifices as it may be called upon to endure as the inevitable accompaniment of a supreme effort to crush the enemy will be small in comparison with all •that it would mean to the nation were the war to be indefinitely prolonged. The cost of bringing the war to a successful issue will be heavy, but the cost of failing to achieve this within a. reasonable time might be too terrible for contemplation.