The Timaru Herald. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1914. TURN OF THE WAR.

Timaru Herald, Volume CI, Issue 15448, 10 September 1914, Page 6

The Timaru Herald. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1914. TURN OF THE WAR.

In war nothing-" happens so often as the unexpected, and hardly any successes make it safe to prophesy, except for a long- time ahead. There is great- cause to hope, however, that the successes of the Allies in France reported yesterday and to-day will mark the turning point of the present war. The Germans are no longer advancing into France or threatening Paris. Along a great front of 150 miles, from Paris to Verdun, they are either being driven back, or are finding it the most difficult task to hold their own. The Allies have succeeded acmany places in forcing their enemies to give ground rapidly or stubbornly; the Germans hare not had success anywhere. The great war machine is being subjected to a new test, under whii.h it will almost certainly break down. Complex, highly organised, specialised to the last department, it was built to advance swiftly on lines which the German Staff laid down. The Allies have thrown it off the lines, it has to move now in coniifcions altogether foreign to the purpose for which it was constructed, I'.nd there is room to hope that >le very elaborateness of its coiitruction, which was the measure of its efficiency while the Germ vis could proceed on their own 7 lans, will npw be the measure of its inefficiency. All the world is convinced now of the political ineptitude which has been shown by Germany in connection with the present war, and on which we comment in another place. Some critics will not be surprised if it is proved now that the military policy in which her rulers felt such pride has been distintinguished by the same ineptitude. Events may show that the military rulers of Germany, who knew nothing about honour and nothing about the v dispositions of other nations, knew only the less important things about war. They tried to make war beforehand, and, to a very real extent, war can only be made as it goes on. An army must not merely be well organised. Since the chances of war are numberless, and the best laid plans of General Staffs will " gang agley," it must be capable of successful improvi-1 sation. There are many signs that the whole German system : has tended to discourage improvisation, as the British system, since the South African war, has tended to encourage it. General Joffre and General French have made all the prearranged plans which the German army was so excellently designed to carry out impracticable. Just so far as the German army is a fine machine , for special purposes it is likely j to prove a failure iu new circum- ' stances. Everything l ias been staked on a particular programme, md the programme has gone to pieces. Already this breakdown. is having its effects. The German soldier, who should be feeding on the fat of Paris, according to the programme, is beginning to go lutngry, Paris not having lent tself to his refreshment. Every jJerman boy and man is already it the front: the French, up to these latest days, have been able to bring fresh forces into action. [n Belgium it is necessary to arm ivhite-headed German troops with tncient rifles. The people arc beginning to confess their sufferngs ; they were not tangl 11 to lelievo that the army would be in ['Vance so long. And if only a small number of Prussian troops lave been brought from Archnigel to Ustcud, more will easily 'ollow them, and the Germans ivill be t'ucod twice by opponents ivhom they never thought to neet on more ihan 0110 frontier. "We are still left in confusion ns o the number of Russian troops vho have been brought by sea ',O lid in southern operations, aud vherc they will assist the Allies •hieily. It is impossible to beieve that they could have been ailed through Great Britain with>ut even the people of that counry knowing of the strangers in heir midst, but Ihey might have ■ome without risk through the Yisli Sea. or r-•■:!■■ 1 the outer jonst of Ireland. >\-xt month j

it would be difficult to ship troops from Archangel,- since the ice would normally be commencing to close mon the White Sea. Archangel is connected bv railwav with Moscow and St. Petersburg, but this movement must have been commenced from a very early moment of the war for the Russians to be iu France-or Belgium now, as thev seem-undoubt-edly to be. The Allies, it appears, have planned and carried out an altogether unexpected movement, which should go far to accelerate the conclusion of the war. But the war will not be ended quickly, even if the Allies are decisively and generally victorious in the battle in which they have won great success so far. When the Germans are fighting upon German soil the. hard struggle will begin.