The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-04-08
Last Installment of His torical Summary of the First Six Months of E,A- ropean Conflict
GERMANS RUNNING
 SHORT OF FOOD AND
 WAR AMMUNITION
Failure of Immediate Suc- cess of War Plans Has Disrupted Entire Cam paign, Claim French

London. Mnrch 2.--tcogresoenaence of the Associated press.p---rhc ninth and tcnth miscellaneous of the Ereneh official war review, which Tn previous chapters has dealt with the German cf- fort, the using up of German troops and officers and the material and moral sastuge of the German army, deal re- speetiveiy with military supplies and conclusions of thc conflict ID io date as found by the writer.
 The review points out that the chiet explanation of imperfeetion noted in German proiectiles is to be found in tho bad quality of the primary material rt rubber" and that stm more serious is the scarcity of copper which is indis- pensible for the manufacture Of shels and munitions The same condition. 1t is asserted holds true Of saltpetre and of the niuates necessary for its manu- facture
 The review presents tables and quota. tions from German writers to prove the scarcity of food supplies within the em- pife. It says: "It has been observed on several occasions that the revctual- ling of the German army has not been us regular as that of the French In the case of the battle of the Marue and In the weeks which followed the German prisoners we're famished and de- elared they had eaten nothing for several days
 Last inssallment
 In the tenth and last installment the recital has now been completed, it re- writer says:
 cor the events of which an abridged mains 10 appraise the results of these six months of war and to define the pos abilities which those results have in store for us in further operations. It may first of all be affirmed that the fun damental plan of the German general staff has completely failed. This plan has been superabundantly set forth by German military writers as also in the Reichstab by the minister of war. It aimed at crushing France by an over- whelmng attack and at reducing her to a condition of heplessness in less than a month.
 "Germany has not succeeded in this Our army is. as we have seen, not only intact, but strengthened. full of trust In it's leaders and profoundly penetrated | with the certainty of final success. Ger many has not attained then the essen tial object which it publicly set before 1t. But the defeat which she has sus- tained does not apply only 10 her funda- mental plan It extends also to the rious operations which she has essayed to secure partial advantages over us in default of the decisive advantage in which she had failed.
 ''To sum up. the German general stafc has placed upon it's record since the be- ginning of the campaign apart from the failure of it's general plan, which aimed at the crushing of France in d few weeks seven defeats of high significance, namely, defeat of the sudden attack on 1 Nancy defeat of the rapid march on l Paris. defeat of the envelopment of our l left in August, defeat of the same en- velopment in November. defeat of the at tempt to break through our center in September, defeat of the coast attack on | Dunlxirk and Calais and the defeat of the attack on Ypres.
 | "Thc German army. powerful and | courageou as 1t may be, has therefore succeeded in gaining the advantage upon 1 no single point and its forced halt after 1 six months of war condemns it a re- | treat, the pace of which may be accele- rated by the Russian successes. but tho necessity of which Is now a/foregone con 1 cluson independently of those successes.
 Against the extent of the German de- | feat has to be placed that of the French success All that our enemies have failed to gain we have gained. and first and foremost confidence in ourselves It l is certain and it could not be otherwise, | that at the outset our troops and the | country itself still remained under the impression of the defeats of 1870. The victory of the Marne confirmed by the victory of Flanders: the impossible bar rior set up against the most formidabls effort which has ever been attempted in the military history of the world, have l created a feeling of security which grows stronger every day.
 Needed Rapid Success
 "Everyone Is aware that in order to | gain the day against the coalition which encoses Germany needed rapid success. This rapid success lacking, her defeat is ! certain. If for the last three months the 1 French command has not engaged in a l general offensive it lias had three de- 1 csive reasons for this. The first is that 1 having time on it's side. 1t intends to\ l make its efforts only after it has assem- bled all the means upon which it can l rely, within a more or less near interval l of time, with absolute certainty Tho second is that the example of the Ger 1 mans at Ypres has shown us what may | he the price or an offensive, NlSOfOuS Fdeed but insufficiently prepared. The l third reason is that the weather has been almost necessarily bad.
 We have seen that the French army lis strengthening itself every day in lheavy artillery, in explosive weapons | for the trenches and in projectiles. It Is 1 known that the British army in France which at first consisted of four divis- ions Is today tbeginning of February) lcomposed of 70 British divisions, two Indian divisions and two cavalry corps lwith 800 guns, of which 100 pieces are of heavy artillery. It is known also that the number of troops now with the