Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, SATURDAY, MAY 4. 1918. THE WAR BEHIND THE FRONT.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 14596, 4 May 1918, Page 2

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, SATURDAY, MAY 4. 1918. THE WAR BEHIND THE FRONT.

The 'information cabled yesterday tha t following upon the 'failure of the German drives m France and Flanders enemy peace agents are busy m various countries initiating fresh proposals for peace, coupled with tho further information conveyed to-day m Router's careful and conservative summary of the German losses, showing that his reserves are now no mentor than those at tho disposal of

General Foch, should strengthen public loufidoiico m the issue of the war. As mnell diipoudsS uplii) tile maintenance of a strong morale aniongM oui ; Civil population us m the army itself, for <is presently will bo shown, the Germans are calculating on seeming victory not so natch by the power and magnitude of their military .machine as by the prowess Of their peace propagandists, who have already achieved much, and are still m all countries more or less busily at work. Their presence m the United States is disclosed to-day m the arrest of a master spy and his agents, and we have also been informed during the week that they are busy at work m France with suggestions that Britain is a broken reed and that the French are being given a greater burden of defence than they should be called upon to bear. The fact that a Franco-German Agreement for tho exchange of prisoners has been arrived at may suggest, m some measure, a ten- 1 dency to cultivtae better relations with the French, 'but we- ddubt very much whether German wiles will succeed m eliminating from the minds and hearts of the French people the bitter resentment that is felt at the outrageous treatment of the population of Northern France. The whole subject is most interestingly dealt with m a late issue of the Scientific American. The .writer asserts that Germany continues to carry on the war, not because she believes she can obtain' a' military decision at the front, but because she hopes to win a victory against the morale of the civil, population behind the front. Her chance" of a military decision slipped but of her hands long ago. In 1914 when she set -a rearguard of reservists at her back door 'on the Russian front, and hurled the flower of her army against France^ Germany believed she had affirm grip upon that world victory which was to be the fruition of 40 years of preparation; but Joffre pried the- "Prussian finders loose and Britain tore. the coveted victory entirely from her grasp. From thbse days to: these ihe German General Staff have known that their dream of a military victory has passed into the realm of things that might have been. The impossibility of a German victory becomes clear if we look at a few simple facts. Thus, when the Allies hurled back the German army at the Marne, France had 1,500,000 men m the fighting line and England a scant 100,000. Such forces as they had were outnumbered m the ratio of five, to three; and they were outranged, m "artillery and outnumbered and dut-watch'e I <d m all the things that go to make, up military equipment. Since the Mar«e, the French army at the front has grown from 1,500,000 to 3,000,0000, and. the British army from 100,000 to 2,500,000. In 1914 the United States was' a spectator of the conflict ; but it will soon have several hundred thousand men at the front. Though at the outset of the recent offensive Germany was stated to possess a numerical supe"riority, that preponderance, with the heavy fighting, has'been rapidly diminishing, and Reuter tells us the enemy's vgenuine fighting reserve is half -exhausted. The: preponderance of gun-power is probably on. the Allied side. East, and by no means least important, is the fact that what is left! of the German army contains a far larger proportion than the Allied armies, of men who, by reason of age and immature youth, are ill suited to stand the 'terrific strain of modern warfare. Nor should we m this comparison forget that while m the German army there has been a noticeable decline m morale, due to the pinch of want and the sickness of heart which comes from endless promises that .are unfulfilled, the morale of tho ! Allied armies is uniformly good. But if Germany despairs of a great military decision m the field, why does she continue to fight? asks the American writer. She must be well aware that the' prolongation of the brutal war which she^ is waging deepens the resentment against her, and will make more hard tho; terms to which she riiust "subscribe when she is forced -to admit that she has lost the war. "The answer to this question," the Scientific American continues, "is to be found m the notable successes which Germany has won m that field of conflict back of the front wheve'.she is a far more skilled antagonist than she lias ever been m the sphere of military operations. We refer, of course, to that wide war — secret, subtle, deadly and; enormously effective, which she is ceaselessly waging among the civilian populations back of the military fighting lines of the Allies. Here she has won victories mdre complete,, of greater significance, and with infinitely, more disastrous consequences to her enemies, than, any wjjjeh she has won m the field. Witness the complete collapse of Russia and the partial collapse, m the fait of last year, of the hitherto indomitable Italian armies. Germany's hope of victory lies m the war Behind the front ■— aJvwar which m- its jsecrecy and cunning ■js as deadly and difficult to deal with as the, sub-sea piracy of the German U-boats. It was after Germany realised^ that-, she could never win on the sea and. m 'the open, that she struck below the seaV and- in the dark; So, realising that she 1 can never conquer with .the sword, sho seeks to win out against the nohcbmbatant population by means of the whisperings of disaffection, the little spark of rumor which runs through men's minds like fire through dry stubble; to say nothing of* the deliberate lie, craftily conceived, cunningly camouflaged and whispered by a thousand -trusted' spies into ten thousand listening ears.; In; carrying oii this, war there is iu> weapon, however small, that is so insignificant .as to be overlooked by the ■ German propagandist; there is no influence that is' considered too small for the patient, tireless effort of theso soldiers of secrecy. Many are the current phrases which have originated' in the secret text books of the Gerinarf Secret Service; 'Peace 1 without Annexation or Indemnities' (a peace which ' involves nb v acknowiedg'dmeiit <! df moral guilt by the vahijuishedj. 'The War is a Stalemate* (which suggests that Germany- is so- strong -Ihat.- she can never; be -beaten). 'Look at the' 'Map' (suggesting that Germany has Won, and ignoring the fact that her ri^an power has decreased in the proportion m which her Boundaries have extended). 'Peace withlj out Victory' (the most insidious phrase of :all; for a peace without confession of. military defeat would \. be acclaimed by Germany as a peace won by German for,ce of arms). It is a fact that the majority of people m this world never grow up, and that only a small minority develop .that mental growth, that sense of; proportion, which enables them to take a bread view of such far-reaching questions as are involved m this world War. Most peoples are intelligently concerned only with the things which are close at hand and readily obvious. They look, : as it were, through a knot-h<ke ins(tead^ of using the sixty-degree angle of > vision which Wvery intelligent man ought to have; and consequently such people, and it .is the great majority, are peculiarly sensitive to the suggestions of a (propaganda, which is as subtle and., difficult to detect as it is all-pervading anil pernicious,. The large majority of the rumors of disaster to our troops; of j discomforts , sicknesses, and deaths in', tho cantonments ; of delays, disorganisation, and even of graft m. the reat w»r industries, are of enemy origin;.. And. the pity of it all is that, unconsciously, there are thousands of wellmeaning citizens who, because they ' have an ill-regulated appetite for the scandalous and the shocking, assist this enemy propaganda by repeating the e*uemy rumors, too often with embellishments of their own/ Without shutting his eyes to defects or foregoing' his inalienable right to criticism, '■■ it' is the duty of every citizen to' cultivate iv these times of stress a spirit of healthy optimism. .'Thoughts artLTthings.' . A.' "lie persistently repeated arid 'idly passed on, even ■ though ' we believe it to be a lie, begins,' by virtue of its constant reiteration, to take on m our minds a color of truth. Therefore, it is the duty of every ;■ true patriot whenever he stumbles upou<! one of these calamity howlers, to ask him at once : for his authority, 'andrbri&g it sharply to his mind, that, whether;, he intends to or not, he is actively aid- ' ing the enemy m his attempt to shatter tho morale of the civilian population, back of the fighting line." The words wo have quoted were written, of course, for the American public, but they can well be passed on to the people of this Dominion. There are too many amongst also dispOvsed to show doleful faces when

the news is not to their liking. They change (heir perspective from day to day, and their spirits go up one day and down the next. They do npt realise how vitally necessary -it.' is for'liho'.vjhole of out pbep'leHo stick it" \manfully, preserving at alLtiniesia stiff upper.' lip and fearlessly* repelling anyv'suggestion that the war may , end* in -^ compromise. Thank (Jod, the British! Socialists! have at last, realised how* utterly ,-impossible ■ is suph an idejt. One of ithe most cheering things we' havererid lately was the statement of Mr. Henderson; the former pacifist, that they are all m the wttt to the finish. So say we all, and with such a spirit pervading and animating the nation we _shall . surely win.