Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1916-04-02
The Battle Near Verdu Has Completely Revouioni2ed Wa


bardments and driving you back in
definitely" | asked. He laughed.
Figure II out for yourself. They
| took. | understand. five million shells
/ to win four miles. against three di-
/ visions. Greatly as | admire the Ger
mans. | doubt whether they can keep
that sort of thing up indefinitely"
Unfortunate Part.
"Now tell me what the Germans
will do in their next defensive"
suggested. The officers face grew
grave as he replied. That is the un
fortunate part OF Joffre's new tactics,
They have succeed eded. almost. more
than we wanted them to. The German
staff is quick To learn from its one-
mics. They will do just as we are do
ing now when IL comes our turn to at
tack. II we try another offensive
either along the lines Of the attacks
last autumn or of the German at
tack now in progress. we shall expert
once unpleasant checks in the latter
part of the fighting as We have in the
past, without being compensated by
large captures and great numbers of
dead Germans in the grounds we
take They, too. will lightly hold their
first three or four lines in the face of
an approaching attack. and Will hold
back their masses of troops TO over
whelm MS with counterattacks when
our men advance"
"Joffre invented this method, but
he can't enforce patent" | said.
Now tell me why you military men
speak of battles revolutionizing the
art of war Are not all battles unlike.
and does not the way they are fought
depend on circumstances and gen.
cralship.
NO" said the officet "It Is per-
fectly correct to say that several bat
ties in this war have revolutioniZed
warfare. A standard battle when
the phrase is properly used. means a
battle which teaches to all com
manders methods of tactics hitherto
not in use, which are so manifestly
better than the tactics which pre-
ceded them that previous theories
are made obsolete.
"The battle of the Marne was the
last old-fashioned battle on the west
front. II was fought most brilliantly
under the traditional French formula
taught in our war college for twenty
years, that during retreat reserves
should not be sent to the 'front.' but
concentrated in the rear ready to
the retiring army reaches them. That
is most dangerous, because you risk
disaster by Withholding support from
the armies which are fighting and
are already. since they are retreat
ing, outmatched. But when it is
perfectly done, when the general cor
rectly estimates the powers of re-
sistance of his men and the time
when the enemy will be tired or run
ming short of munitions, brilliant
victory may be achieved. Under the
new tactics, you will see the spirit of
this old formula of ours in the re-
tirement on Douaumont plateau. and
General Petain's refusal of support
to our tired men until the Germans
carried the position. when he sent in
fresh divisions at exactly the right
moment to crush the exhausted
army.
Powcrlcss Attacks.
But at the Aisne the powerless-
ness of frontal attack against en-
trenched troops under existing condi-
tons was shown us by the Germans,
and when the Germans fooishly dis
regarded their own discovery and
hurled hecatombs at our lines around
Artois and Ypres. in October and No
vcmber. 1914 we proved it beyond a
doubt at their expense.
This revolution led us to believe
that artillery fire could overwhelm
the army ana enable us TO break MS
lines. and the feverish mobilization
of industry to make shells and can
non followed in all countries. Our
attack in Champagne in January was
trifling compared to what happened
nearly Il year ago in the same re-
gion, but it proved that the new
trench systems could he carried
Neuve Chapelle followed and then
the Germans, convinced by our sue
cess, tried the same thing on a vastly
larger scale and with better organ
ization, broke the Russian lines in
Galicia and changed the whole as
pcct of the war. ! suppose there
Will always be a controversy as to