New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-09-14

AGAINST the French so far although they
have retaken a number of villages, tempo
rarjlv. from the British. In every case the
British have ultimately regained the lost
but there has not been that quick,
clean. decisive operation which has been
almost invariable in the French case.
This joint operation of the British and
the French holds out very useful and
obvious lesson for Americans. Foch's
army is made up, from the commanding
general down, of officers and non-commls-
stoned officers who have been trained IN
peace for war. Foch, to be sure, is the
greatest battlefield general, on the often
sive. at least, that the French have pro-
duced in the war. But as whole the
French army of the SOmme is well dis
cipined body of conscript soldiers operat-
ing under the command of soldiers tralne1
for the sort Of task that war IS.
All this is lacking to the British. They
have performed miracle in raising the
great armies that are now in the field, in
them and in munitionlng them.
This British achievement will remain
marvel in military history. But not even
miracle could turn this army in the bret
time allowed into the perfect instrument
which the French and German armies are
to-day. 1t will take another year, perhaps
two. before the British will have got their
army into shape, and that, of course, was
exactly our experience in the Civil War.
Meantime. and this is the vital point, It
is costing the British three or four times
as much in casualties to make their smaller
gains as it is costing FOch to deliver the
blows which are actually menacing Ger
man security in the Sonrme sector. This
is the price the British are paying for lack
Of preparation; this is the price they have
paid in every engagement so far, from the
bloody shambles of Neuve Chapelle, when
the brave troops who made the first start
ling advance died to their own guns, be-
cause of the failure to coordinate the guns
and the men. The same thing has been
rumored about the Somme battle, and 1t is
bound to happen under similar circum-
stances.
1t is necessary to keep in mind, in COM
pairing the operations Of the two armies
that if the British operation is more costly
in life and less productive of gains, 1t is
not less essential to the common cause and
IL ho Jo1ivaro1 Nv ranpb
armies alone More and more, as they
earn the art of modern war, particularly
as their officers acquire knowledge in the
higher branches of contemporary conflict,
The British will become effective. And II
s only when they have reached this point
hat France will be delivered.
At the moment the most important de-
Dartment of Anglo-French operations in
the West is that devoted to killing and
capturing Germans, not to capturing vii
ages or taking trenches. AS far as 1t IS
possible to judge, another year of this use
full but not spectacular effort will be re-
luired in the West. 1t is the summer cam
paign of 1917, perhaps the summer cam.
paign of 1918, that will do the trick. The
true measure of progress is shown in the
German casualty list, and the Germans
own figures placed their losses in August
at 100000. Meantime it is also worthy of
note that at the close of the eleventh week
the Somme operation is taking on new
vigor and the French are making gains
that are little less than astonishing, given
the time the Germans have now had to
make their counter preparations.