The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1914-10-24
THE 1NoECIsIvE BATTLE.

Belgium, where she has had q greatly
inferior enemy In the aggregate to
deal with. there has been more night
ing, and Of . moro severe nature, In
what may be termed the eastern thea
ter OF the war without anything that
approaches decisiveness than the world
has ever heard Of. OF course. there was
tho sudden swoop Of the German le-
gions to within q comparatively few
miles of Paris. their initial objective
point, before the Allies got their forces
cohesively organized and working to-
gether. But the retirement of the Ger
mans to the vicinities Of what now con-
stitute the great battle line in northern
France was almost as swift. And there
the opposing forces have been lined up
with locked horns for several weeks.
For many many days now. the dis
patches about the activities in this
scene Of the mighty and equally terrible
war have been about the same. The
fighting has been tremendously heavy:
sometimes over a territory that meas
ures as much as a hundred miles and
more in length. Big and little guns
of the artillery on both sides have
banged away at each other. The in
1AHtTy anu cavalry nave OCCu JUST no
busy. Then comes a charge, a clash
Of sabres or bayonets. and one side
yields a trench or q position to the 9TH
er. The victors in this engagement
have gained but a few inches. figura-
lively, on the journey they have in
mind. Maybe this is a German sue
cess At some other point on the line.
though, the Allies gain as many inches
in the same way This goes on alter
nately every few miles along the whole
battle 'front.' And what IL gained by one
side one day IL likely to be lost by 1t the
next. The battle Gibbs and flows con-
tinually, like the tides Of the sea in
their cease1ess way.
In other words, nothing like a de-
cisive battle has been fought as yet
between the main forces Of Germany
and the Allies who have been at each
others threats for so long. and prac-
tically in the same territory in north
ern France. The fighting has been ter
rife. 1t has been a. furious as the
carnage has been awful. But victory
seems as far away to either side as 1t
did at the beginning Of their present
struggle in this locality.
And the reasons for this. There can
be only one. At least one Of the weap-
ons Of modern warfare. the aeroplane,
has made strategy; the strategy that the
victories with-such strategy is i'm
possible. These man-birds hover over
the scene of conflict like so many buzz
yards picking out their prey. No SOON
er is artillery placed in a clever posi-
ton and the infantry and cavalry
massed to take advantage of the hole
it might be supposed to make, than an
aviator of the opposing side spots it.
and reports it to his comrades. A
counter move is Immediately made by
them, and the fine plans Of their en-
envy are generally repulsed and go for
naught This must be the secret of
the indecisiveness Of the present strug-
gle between the huge armies of the
Allies and Germany in the seat of war
| in France.
| Neither can use strategy. And so
the only thing both can do is to stand
UP in their trenches and batter away at
each other. making their sorties and
charges and fighting hand to hand,
one side gaining here and losing there.
and the same thing happening to the
other side. further on along the extern
sive battle line. But at the same time,
and all the time both sides are losing
in strength. They are losing men.
They are losing guns and ammunition
and everything that makes fighting
possible. And 50 the great battle has
resolved itself into one of endurance,
hard. bitter endurance. And what the
end will be or when 1t will come, no man
can tell. But it isn't like to arrive
soon. the resources in men and NUM-
lions OF war appear 80 illimitable on
both sides.
| Everybody knows what happens when
an irresistible force strikes an immov-
able object. In northern France it ap-
pears that an irresistible force has come
in contact with another Irresistible
force. And that is one OF the problems,
just like sQuaring the circle, which has
not been worked out.