Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, MONDAY, JULY 24, 1916. THE GERMAN LOSSES.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 14052, 24 July 1916, Page 2

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, MONDAY, JULY 24, 1916. THE GERMAN LOSSES.

It is an interesting disclosure which is given us to-day. by the . ex -political editor of the Berliner Morning Post, whose brochure calling upon his compatriots to awake is being circulated throughout Germany. Tliis "writer; who was dismissed by his editor for desiring to tell the people the truth about his country's great war losses, computes that tjerihahy lias ioat. ii million]*}, T who are dead, three-quarters of . a million who are prisoners and missing, and three millions who are wounded^ 7 one million of that number being permanently incapacitated.' If these figures be correst. — and m all probability 'the person computing them has had access to official sources of information— then the computations that have ,6een made from time to time in' England .'have 'been well within the mark. On June*' l2th the v "British War OfjSce authorities published casualty totals,' compiled ' from official German sources, showing losses totalling 2,924,586, exclusive bf men lost m naval engagements;, or fighting m. the Colonies. The British. Government issued these figures without coihment and without explanation as to the manner m which they are compiled. .From the Government's poin^ of . view it. is considered best to allow the Germans to give their own losses and not to attempt -to explain them m case some zealous critic' shouW at. : pnee point out thatvthe British are endeavoring to put the best interpretation possible on the situation. Military writers havo ' riot hesitated, however, to declare that these official records are. not to be relied i on and that they greatly, underestimate the position. Of all the experts Mr Hillaire Belloc has probably made the . most exhaustive analysis of 'the. German figures. ' Last April ho. put the ; total German losses, up to March 31, ■ exclusive of Verdun, at a minimum of foUr. millions, and proved his figures from the German lists. These lists do riot give the josses np r to-date; that, is to say, wh|i(st they state the losses are up to the end of May..they d0..„0t give. ; tha casualties' of 'the ' previous three months.Thus the present German .figrires, states Mr Belloc, do not include the losses at Verdun. ' 'These losses, according ip the French, amount "to thb colossal tq^al of 780,000 men m, dead, . wpunqed arid captured. . .The, JFrenclij, riiost probably estimate.. the losses, .from ihe number ipit dead*, but they also check the losses by the prisoner's number, m his regiment. They know how many men were engaged, how many were taken prisoners, and m a great many cases they have been able to count the dead m front, of their positions. Thus .tbey are able to average - the number of Wounded and dead. If they take soiine prisoners from a certain regiment one day and the next week take other prisoners froni We same regiment but attached and attacking with anotheiA regiment, they can ascertain fairly ...- .-accurately , the losses the regiments myst have, suffered. .The Germans do riot form three or four regiments into one, m order to. spare their reserves. Aside from the> French computation of losses; there are the various lists issued by the friendly societies, •insurance companies, , and other nonbflicial lists m Germany which' give the numbers, of dead among their members lost before the official lists are issued, There are also, the various, rolls of, horior, made by churches and riiunicipal bodies. Tlie British Govemriient,, -as ha» been' said, takes no notice whatever of such lists. It' sticks to the German lists for publication- purposes though; it i» more than probable that for, private purposes they ijnow . almost exactly how many men the Germans have really lost. All the Allies have a statistical department Vrhose sole duty is to check the casualty lists, and estimate tho losses. The .French have made a special study Of this business for the simple, reason that the casualty list is the key to, the situation on tho Western \ front. It. may -.be taken for ."granted, that General Joffre knows exactly how many men Germany lias left m reserve, how many she' Can thro>y,!to the tJastern frprit, how - many , die will keep on the Western, front, and that he makes his dispositions accordingly. There Is a large body. of. evidence, says the London < Dally Teiegraph'i writ- ' ing on information received from a trustworthy French soureey-to show that the Germans have extensively drawn upon the reservoir which they had m the 1916 class. The French have good reason to believe that this reservoir is Very near to exhaustion. Thus a letter from Ingolstadt, dated 19th April,

says : "The reservoir is being emptied. Every, departure for the front was hitherto followed by the arrival of an equal number of men for their first training. Six thousand men left the other week and not one has come to take their places. Spirits are also depressed." So we may say the strongest reasons exist for the belief that with the opening of the Allies' offensive the decisive hour has struck. The great offensive has been resumed with the utmost violence and whilst British and French losses may be heavy there is no question that those, of the enemy will be greater and that Germany , is now ill able to afford enormous losses. The Russian general, Russki, may be right when he says that if>he Allied fprward. movement .ia pursued . steadily and systematically the end ' will come sooner than most,. people, expect.