The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1916-11-25
LETTERS TO EDITOR
England's Futile Attempt

To the Editor of The Age-Herald:
In a recent interview Field Marshal
Won Hindenburg declared that 'the Ger
man front in the west stood as firm as
a rock also, that the allies could
| smash it in 80 years, provided they have
men enough" Also. he said, THE French
show great tenacity, but they are ex-
terminating lives by their methods of
fighting. But all their tenacity will be
of no avail, for in the end there will
be none left. This fate of the French
nation is owing above all else to the Brit
ish. If the British ask next spring for
one more offensive campaign, they will
rob France of the remainder of her army
and her national strength
OF course, Won Hindenburg sees from
the German point of view, also maybe the
evil is the father of the thought with
him. But all the facts bear him out. He
is blunt old soldier, and blurts out what
he thinks, and his thoughts are well
worth considering. When Won Hindenburg
| says, "the allies can smash the German
line in the west in 30 years, provided they
have men enough" the question is, where
are the men to come from? According
to the official count the French have
lost 100000 men, or III per cent of their
total population. From which it will
be seen that Won Hindenburg is right
poor, bleeding, gallant France. That, too
with the richest part of France occupied
by the Germans. England has lost in
this war 100000 men, or two per cent OF
her population and she talks jauntily
about attrition. But the fact is the
French have been doing the fighting and
there is only too much foundation for
those German cartoons which represent
France, Italy and Russia urging tho
British lion to come out and fight. But
since England started her great drive"
last July, the war is coming home to her.
She lost 415,0O0 men, or at the rate of
about 100000 per month, up to October
l. Yet, after such a sacrifice of men,
'the German line stands firm as a rock"
and worse, still, we read that aircraft
observation reveals the fact that on the
western front, an elaborate and almost
impregnable system of German trench
defenses spreads back for fully eight
miles behind the front line
| From now on England must do her
| share of the fighting. France cannot af-
| ford to do it all. The English generals
say that "the German line can undoubt-
eddy be broken" but what is to hinder the
| Germans from preparing another line be-
| hind it like that observed by aircraft
| for the English ito exterminate lives
| on?" as the French have done at the
rate of 10000 men per month. for the
nghtlng on the Sonfne is only chlldS
play IN comparison with Yerdun or other
naturally strong positions, made stronger
| by military science of the modern kind.
| Nothing is surer than that "Kitcheners
army will melt away like snow wreaths,
in the sun before those German trenches,
as the French army did. and still the
! German line will stand as firm as a rock
when England is depopulated. The life
blood Of the flower of Englands man
hood will only make the poppies grow in
France. and that is all that will be
gained by this useless butchery.
! / wonder if the English think that man
| for man and officer for officer, Kitche-
ner's army is or ever will be the equal
of the German. 1t would be just like
| their self-conceit if they did. Every
German soldier has been drilled and
| trained from childhood while their minds
were plastic and receptive. Nothing has
| been left undone that would make eff
| ficient soldiers of them. while Kitche-
ner's army is composed of men in mid
die life whose minds and bodies are not
as supple as they were in their teens
Every one who has worked men knows
| how hard it is ito teach old dogs new
tricks and how great difference it
makes to take boys and teach them new
businesses and do the same with men
who have become set in their ways. In