GERMANY'S WASTAGE OF LIFE

Otautau Standard and Wallace County Chronicle, Volume XI, Issue 561, 22 February 1916, Page 2

GERMANY'S WASTAGE OF LIFE

4^ MILLIONS OF CASUALTIES ALREADY. The following despatch has been received from Mr H. Warner Allen, the representative of the British Press with the French armies : — Much has been written, often of a contradictory nature, concerning the numerical strength of the German army after the wastage of over a year's warfare, and the reserves on which it can still draw to fill up gap 6 and form new units. Information derived from a variety of sources confirms the following calculations : — During the first 15 months of the present war — from .August, 1914, to the end of October, 1915 — the total German losses amounted approximately to four and a-half million men on the combined fronts. Of this total, three millions may be taken as definitely hors de combat (dead, prisoners, or permanently disabled), while the remaining 1,500,000 may be considered as having returned to the fighting line. The German casualty lists are incomplete. We have it on the authority of prisoners that men who are only slightly wounded are not included m the casualty lists. In one case a man was twice wounded, and remained several weeks m the hospital, yet his name never appeared m the casualties of his regiment. Moreover, as a general rule, these lists are delayed, and casualties do not appear on them until at least two months after they have occurred. A writer m the ' Koelnische Zeitung ' recently stated that the number of killed during the first year of the war was equal to the excess of births over deaths m the German Empire ; that is to say, about 850,000. This estimate would seem to correspond with that of the official casualty lists. We have, however, a considerable amount of other "■evidence, which shows that the German losses are very much greater than they admit^ Even when there is not what is now called "hard fighting," the drain on the resources of the army is very considerable. Between May 1 and June 20 four divisions under General Von Fleck suffered the following losses : — Killed. Wounded. Missing. 15th Reserve Division ... 42 131 16th Reserve Division ... 230 1,020 1 15th Division 208 862 1 54th Division 109 531 2 These figures show a total of 589 killed, including nine officers, and 2,551 wounded, including 25 officers, and four missing. This gives an average of 147 killed and 640 wounded during 50 days, artd of 88 killed and 384 wounded per division per month. This does not include sickness statistics. During the period m question these divisions were m Champagne, and took part m no serious engagement. The tradition of the German army is not one of economising men, but, on the contrary, of obtaining a result at no matter what cost of human life. Mt Belloc estimates that the German losses amount to an average of 400,000 men a month. Colonel Feylor, taking what he admits to be a minimum estimate, reckons them at 150,000 a month. The information at my disposal leads me to believe that the truth ' lies between these two extremes, and that during the last nine months of the war the German casualties have reached 300,000 a- month, exactly as they did during the first six months. Not more than one-third of this total is able to return to the front, so that the German net losses amount to 200,000 a month. To meet further losses Germany will be compelled to raise the age limit of military service above 45, and already a secrefc circular has been issued instructing the authorities to proceed to the preparatory registration of men between 46 and 50. For some time past the numerical strength of the German army has been stationary on the various fronts, with an increasing tendency to shrink. The number of men called up for active service since February last certainly does not exceed the number of casualties, and at the present moment the number of men m the depots does not exceed the number at that date. To keep pace with the wastage Germany has been forced to exhaust almost all the reserves of men, and the work has been carried out with ruthless severity. Acting under instructions, the army doctors have passed as fit for service men with one eye, lame men, hunchbacks, and even men suffering from tuberculosis, heart affections, and other diseases. Her last Teserves are being rapidly used up, and if the numerical strength of her army can still be kept up for a limited time, its quality has deteriorated, and must deteriorate more and more as the proportion of, untrained Landsturm men and those of 17 and 18 years of age, by no means fit to endure the hardships of a prolonged campaign, continue to increase. — Press Association.