New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-12-04
GERMAN RESERVE,
MILLIONS OF MEN
Zurich Journalist, Back
from Empire, Tells of
War Preparations.
tBy Gable TO The Tribune. ]

Zurich. Dec. "a leading Zurich
journalist who has just returned from
a tour around Germany which included
visits to Berlin, Frankfort, Leipzig,
Munich and Freiburg gives his impress
sions. While his sympathies are rather
pro- German, he was strictly honest in
describing all he saw.
Munich ostensibly exhibits the same
life as in times of peace" he said. "Ail
business houses are open, and the res
taurants especially are popular, beer
saloons being crowded. The streets still
are filled with the military, especially
with young men, as the contingent Of
1914 is being trained. 1t is not true
that young soldiers are already at the
front in Flanders. These are volun-
teers who were summoned at the be-
ginning of September and were in
training in barracks from the middle
of October. From the middle OF Octo-
, Der they were being sent to the front.
! Their number cannot be ascertained,
| BIT, it must be over half million
men.
Germany does not send any soldiers
into the field who have had less than
two and half months training.
was told that from among the volun-
teers alone three attachments of $780,
900 men each could be placed in the
| field up to the spring of 1915. Then
! follows the contingent of recruits Of
! 1915 to $4,000 men, and in the last
respect the supplementary reserves.
Altogether, Germany, | am told, has a
| further military reserve of about 600,-
! 600 men, who, however, will only be
sent 70 the front in the spring, since
the four million who now are at the
| front suffice for the conduct Of the win
ter campaign.
GAS a matter of fact, one still sees
| throughout Germany such q number
of young and strong men in civil life
that the absence of those at the front
is scarcely perceptible. 1t has been
said that Berlin is in a state of
/ despair because the Prussian Guard
has been annihilated in FLANDERS. |
was told in Berlin that al. the active
corps of the Prussian guards were in
Russian Poland, and that shere was a
reserve corps in the army before Ypres.
"Of a desire for peace but little or
nothing is heard, since everybody il
thoroughly convinced that the war
must be fought out to a finish as
otherwise there would be no tran
guilty. II only is in Bavaria that one
can hear sometimes in cafes such
phrases as that the heavy losses of the
Bavarians are due to the fact that they
are being everywhere placed by the
Prussians in the front ranks and re-
ceive the most difficult tasks.
"The small success OF the Austrians
against the Russians also is mentioned
here and there with disparagement, and
sometimes the fear is expressed that
Austria may collapse or otherwise give
up the struggle, so that Germany may
be compelled TO continue the campaign
all alone. AT any rate, so il is said
the further power of assistance from
the Austrian army will be a most un-
certain factor in the German wal
calculations if the central empires do
not succeed in crushing the Russians
in the present year The confidence in
General Won Hindenburg Is simply
boundless. No one, indeed, ever has
been so popular in Germany, not even
Bismarck in his best days, as General
Won Hindenburg is now. In this re-
spect he surpasses all other generals
as well as the Kaiser himself.
"ln every town ! visited, Berlin
Frankfurt, Leipzig, Munich and Fret.
burg, all theatres and other places OF
amusement were open and doing 9
brisk business. Many night cabarets OF
Berlin and Munich were thronged as
before the war, though there is an agi.
tation to close these haunts as being
inappropriate 10 these serious anC
stressful days, in which hundreds OF
Germans arc being killed on the bat
tlefeld daily. The assertions that a
state of fear exists in Berlin are to-
tally untrue. The German nation, like
the British, is determined to see the
war through 70 the end. II the Allies
ever succeed in invading Germany
both from east and west, the German
army, active and reserves, will fight a,
Il never fought before"