The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1916-08-03
TWO YEARS OF WAR.
Situation In Rival Empires Observed BY United Press
Correspondents
THE BRITISH ARMY.
By Ed L Keen.

London, July tBy MaiD Success
in modern warfare isn't measured in
terms of real estate
II it were, Great Britain and her AL.
lies might point with considerable
pride to the acquisition in the last
two years of more than three times
the acreage of the German Empire;
The second anniversary of the war
finds the Allies in possession of all
the former great Teutonic colonies
except German East Africa. Latest
advices indicate that this particular
parcel of land is about to fall into the
hands of General SHUTS and his Bel
gian and Portuguese friends-a mere
matter of some 3S4 079 square miles,
or in itself IT'S 299 square miles larger
than Germany.
But as Napoleon observed, the
smashing of armies is the only thing
that matters. Germany's armies are
today just as much unsmashed as they
were two years ago. The outposts
may be regarded as negligible. or
little more account, in their border as
poets, have been the misfortunes of
the Allies in Gallipoli, Mesopotamia,
and the Balkans.
The last year on the Western front
has been one of stale-mate. There
have been tremendous losses on both
sides, but the lines OF the opposing
armies follow much the same course
as they did in August of 1915. Each
has bitten few slices out of the 9th
ers territory; certain important po-
sitions have been captured and some
of them have been recaptured; but
one requires a large-scaie map and
fairly good eyesight TO detect the
changes. Both armies. their losses
recruited, remain unbroken.
Under the new style of intensive
trench warfare which has been stead.
lily developing on this front during the
two years, the defences OF each have
apparently become impregnable. The
objective OF the "big push" in these
latter days Is not so much to break
through to the Rhine, or to the Chan.
mel ports. as il is to inf1ict the great.
est possible damage upon the other
side.
"Attrition" has become the motto
on the Western front for both armies
Granted enough powerful guns, with
sufficient ammunition, concentrated
upon any one sector, either may at any
time clean up the Intervening wire
entanglements, demolish the opposing
front line trenches and occupy their
ruins-only to find further progress
blocked by more intricate and more
elaborate defences in the rear Ypres,
Loos, Hooge, and even Verdun are no
longer of especial consequence in the
military sense They are merely geo !
graphical points-with much more |
geography, even more strongly de |
Tended, spread out behind them.
Great Britain still is paying the |
penalty of preparedness; or if you |
don't like it put that way, Germany |
still is reaping the fruits of prepared |
ness. That Sir Douglas Haig has |
failed seriously to dent the enemy'E |
lines is no greater reflection upon his |
military skill than the failures of his |
General French, were up
on his. True, he has had more men.
and, within recent months, thanks to
the organizing genius OF Lloyd George |
more munitions-but he has had
longer line to cover. The British now
occupy trenches extending from the
Channel of Maricourt-with the eX-
ception of a very small sector held
by the Belgians--a total distance Of
more than 100 miles, or nearly one
fourth of the entire Western front.
he is maintaining
heavy reserves, subject to any call
for help from the French,
But Haig's armies are suffering from
the same defect as those of his prede-
cessor; they are inadequately officer
ed, especially in the staff department
In nearly every instance since the war
started, where the British armies have |
s4N l, F,.i1 pI 20 At
tain the immediate object of their
offensive, this has been directly trace
able TO inefficient coordination OF
staff work The reason is very sim
pie: il has been a game of amateurs
against professionals. England lost
many of her most capable and PORN
Using officers in the early days of the
war. She has not only to fill their
places, but to train others in suffi-
cient numbers to supply an army that
is now ten times the size of the one
she had on August 4, 1914 Manifest.
III this period has been much too short
wherein to compete with the staff
efficiency of a military machine OF
forty years standing.
But if Britain's successes in the
field have not been overly brilliant, no
one Will dispute lndL H6T achievement l
in recruiting, organizing, training, and
equipping an army of more than five
million men since the war began
and on the voluntary principle, too
has been one of the marVels of mill
tary history. -.
Adding to this number those who
have been brought in under the re
cent conscription act-somewhat less
than a million-and those employed
in the munitions and naval ship-build.
ing industries, the second anniyers-
airy of the war finds approximately
eight million men and women direct
ly engaged in war work or in other
words, one person out of every six in
the United Kingdom.
This feat is all the more remark
able when one considers that Britain
was not military nation, in the sense
that the others we're.
1t was Just this deficiency of vision
that caused the British public to pile
upon one mans shoulders what event
ually proved too gigantic a burden
for him--or any other man-to bear.
There is no discredit to the mem.
ory of the late War Secretary In say