Norwich bulletin., 1916-03-01
Technical Superiority.

gro what extent does technical su- periority discount inferiority in num- bers?' To this question a large num- Der of Austro- Hungarian and German officers with long experience at the various fronts, have replied that tech nical superiority, depending upon ter rain conditions, nature of the work to be done, and quality of the troops in volved, is today in all cases the ele- ment which decides the outcome of a military action.
 Bravery in officers and men was as essential as formerly, of course, it was said, but it had value only if coupled with a high degree of intelligence. A brave heart governed by a stupid head ceased soon to beat nowadays, the men asserted unanimously.
 The day Of brute physical courage was over Only troops in whom intel ligence, moral courage and a fair amount of pluck were inherent and had been welded by thorough training and discipline could be called first class today, because only such troops were able to get maximum results from the technical methods now used in warfare.
 Technical superiority starts with the character and ability of a general staff and ends with the quality of barbed wire, in other words, it's ele- ments and phases are as varied and manifold as are the means with which | modern war is being conducted. According to The Associated Press correspondents informants 1t was 1 technical superiority alone which de- feated the Russian army. This may ! best be understood in contemplation l of the fact that the Russians lost to 1 the Central Powers forces sixteen | Actresses in 46 days during the drive | in the summer of 1915. Here the 1 greatest single element of technical ] superiority Is declared to have been l leadership. Second in importance, is rated the great efficiency Of German 1 and Austro- Hungarian heavy artillery. 1 Third is the highly developed field | intelligence service of the Central | Powers armies, in whom air craft, | cavalry and infantry patrols, and the 1 possession of first-class military maps l are assigned an almost equal share. | The fourth factor was the high quail | tty of German and Austro- Hungarian machine-guns, and last, because in a class by itself, must be ranged the | excellent work Of the supply troops. | In every one of these departments, | say these officers, the Russian army | was inferior. The excuse made by its l general staff at the time that a lack l series of reverses, has been shown to 1 be idle. The stores of small arms and | artillery ammunition left behind by the Russians on their retreat are said to | be greater than the quantities used by l them during the rolling up."
 | It was not lack of bravery, however that prevented the Russians from l coming to a halt sooner. The courage | of the Russian soldier has never been | doubted by the Austro- Hungarian and German officers and men. What con- | tributed mostly to the debacle was the absence of capable officers in sufficient numbers; low military intelligence | and an uneven training of the men and the Russian tactical system which
 based upon principles of defense, was not equal to the n:mble-rnindedness possessed by officers and troops train ed for the offensive above all else
 No figures on the numbers employed by Germany and Austro- Hungary in the offensive against Austria last sum mer are available but officers claim that generally the Russians outnum- bered their aggressors from three and
 four to one.
 From what Is learned here, the day
 Is not far off when the trenches of the
 German positions in Russia will have l a machine-gun to every ten rifles and
 the most extensive barbed wire fields yet laid out, ready to meet the Rus
 sian offensive.
 To the Russians these things are moi
 unknown, of course, as the following
 description of a Duna sector, which
 appeared recently in Petrograd pa. per shows:
 '"The tremendous labyrinth of Ger
 man trenches" says the writer fir part
 grows more intricate as it hears oul
 own lines. The German trenches now
 have a peculiar character; they are
 wide on top and narrow at the bot
 tom with walls that slant considerable
 so that shell fragment: