Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1915-04-08
EIGHTH install ENT OF FRENCH
OFFICIAL REVIEW OF The WAR

bonba rdment Of Levantie, scarcely any
of the German shells burst. The proper
ton Of non-bursts was estimated at two
hfths by the British on December "a,
two-thirds by the Belgians at Furnes
in January and at two-thirds by our
selves in the same month. On January
9, at ge-Et-Comin, and at other
places since then, shrapnel fell, the ex-
plosion of which scarcely broke the en-
velope and the bullets were projected
without any force. About the same time
our fourteenth army corps was fred at
with shrapnel loaded with fragments of
glass an on several points Of our front
shell castings of very bad quality has
been found, ienoting hasty manufac-
ture and the use of materials taken at
hazard.
From numerous indications it appears
that the Germans are beginning to run
short of their 1908 pattern rife A GER
tain number of the last renforcements
Ganuary) are armed with carbines or
rifles of a poor sort, without payonels.
Others have not even rifles. Prisoners
taken at Woevre had old pattern weap-
ons
The upshot of these observations Is
that Germany, despite her large stores
at the beginning and the great resources
of her industrial production, presents
manifest signs Of fear, and that the
ot-icia, ortirnism which she displays
does not correspond with the reality OF
the facts
"Moral Wastease"
Under the caption Moral Wasteage OF
the German Army the review con'h-
ues:
."The material losses of the German
,r,,y have corresponded with moral
vasteage which it is interesting and pos
chile to follow both from the lnterroga-
zion of prisoners and the pocketbooks
and letters seized upon them or on the
killed.
"At the beginning of the war the entire
German army, as was natural. was an
;mated by an unsuitable faith in the
military superiority of the empire. 1t
lived on the recollections of 1870 and on
those of the long years of peace during
which all the powers which had to do
with Germany displayed towards her a
spirit of Cancellation and patience which
might pass for weakness.
THE first prisoners we took in August
showed themselves wholly indifferent &c
the reverses of the German army. They
were sincerely and profoundly convinced
that if the German army retired it was
in virtue of a preconceived plan and that
our successes would lead to nothing. The
events at the end of August were calcu-
lated to strengthen this conviction IN the
mind of the German soldiers.
THE strategic retreat of the French
army, the facility with which the Ger
man armies were able to advance from
August "a to Sept. gave our adversares
a feeling of absolute and final superiority
which manifested itself at that time by
all the statements CLEANED and all the
documents seized.
"At the moment of the battle of the
Marne the first impression was one of
failure of comprehension and of stupor.
A great number of German soldiers, not
ably those who fell into our hands during
the first days of that battle, believed fully.
as at the end of August, that the retreat
they were ordering to make was only a
means of Turing US into a trap. German
military opinion was suddenly converted
when the soldiers saw that this retreat
continued and that it was being carried
out in disorder, under conditions which
left no doubt as to it's cause and it's eX-
tent.
This time it was really a defeat, and a
defeat aggravated by the absence of reg
ular supplies and by the physical and
moral depression which was the result.
The severity of the losses sustained, the
overpowerng effects of the French artl-
lery, began from this moment to be noted
in the German pocketbooks with veri-
table terror. Hope revived, however, at
the end of some weeks, and there is to
he found in the letters of soldiers and
officers the announcement of "a great
movement which is being prepared, and
which is to lead the German armies anew
as far as Paris.