South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1915-03-31


practically impossible.
"Of course there Will be a decisive
encounter. meaning an encounter
that will influence one side or the
other toward initiating proposals for
peace. But 10 my mind il is very
doubtful If there viii be decisive en-
counter in the sense of an over
whelming of considerable force Of
troops of any Of the larger nations
4 have friends among the officers
Of the English. French. Belgian. Ger
man, Russian and Austrian regiments
These are men with whom / have
been able 10 discuss this subject al
most as an academic problem. / must
say that in my conclusions a number
OF these officers did not agree with
me. especially my English friends;
but in checking up, 1 find that the
majority think the theory which I am
about 10 state is probably accurate.
Starve or Crush Germans.
The question of concluding the
war as we now see it depends upon
two factors, the starvation of Ger
many and the crushing OF the German
army; at least. these are the factors
as seen from the point of view of the
allies. The German point Of view as to
the conclusion of the war ] would not
venture TO suggest as there have been
so many changes in the plans of their
great general staff that at this mo-
ment it is almoct impossible TO divine
what they are driving at.
For the moment We will not touch
upon the question Of starving Ger
many out. Let us look at the posi-
bilities of tie French and English
and Russians closing in on their
common foe.
ION the Russian side I know il will
be a most costly operation to drive
the Germans from the positions they
now hold in Poland and East Prussia
An advance through Hungary how
ever, is feasible, and to refer back to
this question Of decisive victories, 1t
is just possible that if the Russian
forces are able to cross the Carpa
thians in the coming summer and
march on Buda-Pesth, that this Will
decide the outcome of the conflict.
so much has been said of what
the French and the English are going
to do this spring and summer that it
is on the western front that we must
look for the most active operations.
What Immediately suggests itself is
that these operations Will demand an
enormous toll in life.
1T is the contention of the officers
of the staffs of the French and En-
glish armies that during the last six
months the German wastage approx
mates 200, 600 men per month. These
figures 1 have on the highest au-
thority.
Allies Now on Offensive.
Taking these very figures as our
guide we apply them TO the operations
about to begin Heretofore the Ger
mans have always taken the offensive.
Now the allies have begun to reverse
the role. We have seen their first eff
fort in the winning of the line of
trenches at Neuve Chappelle. From
this battle we can get an indication
of the probable loss of life that will
result when the French, English and
Belgian line moves forward.
Let us say roughly that the En-
glish lost 10000 men in taking 1000
yards of trenches at Neuve Chappelle.
1t is only a matter of calculation to
see how costly an advance along the
whole line will be.
The question that arises is. will
this sacrifice of life be justified? L
know that the Germans have three
splendid lines of defense behind the
one which they now hold in Flanders.
These lines have been chosen, OF
course. with an eye to their military
requisite and the gigantic emplace-
ments are reinforced with concrete;
so. granting that it is possible for the
English and Belgians to drive their
foes out of the first line, they will find
themselves almost Immediately IN
front of another defense. As far as
l have been able TO find out the same
condition of defensive positions in the
rear Of the present lines exists where
the German troops now are in France.
This is also true of Poland.
so that it seems 10 me very pos
sible that the loss .f life will be so
great. granting an active offensive
and the advantages from this otten-
sive will be so small, that the non
fighting population will demand
compromise"
How does the artillery of the four
great powers-British, French, Rus
sian and German-compare which is
the best ?" was asked
French Field Guns Best.
The question of artillery is of SUI
preme Importance in the present wal
of positions" Capt. Fortescue stated
"In the early stages undoubtedly the
French field gun was the most et-
fective. Not only was the gun ltsen
better than any other piece of the
armies, but the French artillery
branch had been brought to the
highest state Of efficiency. In other
words I did not find the French army
up to the standard, but there certain
" can be no criticism of their field
artillery.
I'm the first phases Of the war the
Germans or. better. the Austrians
had priority of heavy artillery fire. II
was Austrian and not German guns
that were of the greatest effect In the
canture of Antwerp. These guns are
3O-5 or. according to American meas
urement. 12-inch guns.
"These weapons have been most
effective on the eastern and western
fronts. I have seen the damage one
of these tremendous shells brings
about wherever it happens TO land.
It makes a crater seldom less than ~
feet deep and often more than 40
PAGES in circumference"
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