The Washington herald., 1916-08-06
Generals Hope to Hammer
Steadily Along Fronts Un-
til Enemy Is Too Weak to
Escape Disaster.

field our superior numbers and at least
equal artillery would crush them"
''You have said that this years work
is a game of trading lives and that the
allies are not trying for a decision"
said. when will the allies strike to win
the war and how will they do it?"
Just as soon,' the officer replied, "as
German lines wear so thin that they
crack somewhere, or as soon as they try
But neither of these things can happen
this year. They are too strong Next
year. perhaps. If not. the year after
that"
Cannot the cracking process be
hastened by a general attack" l asked
I'VE tried to do that last fall, and failed, :"
he said. "and we learned. You must re-
member that attrition works the wrong
way If in order to wear down your en-
emy you attack him and lose three or
four men to his one. Russia sometimes
may be able TO afford that. but France
and England cannot Yet that is what
year. which were undertaken not with the
intention of wearing Germany down, but
of beating Germany right away.
IF we were to make general attacks of
the same kind this year Germany would
gain by them, for the result would leave
us relatively weaker than our enemy. II
your readers will remember that, they
will carry in their minds the key to the
whole strategy of the allied offensive of
1916. 1t Is our aim to leave Germany so
weak that by next year We can smash
her. 1t is Germany's game unless she IS
much stronger than We believe in some
or all of her theaters of war, to retreat
so that she can hold shorter line more
strongly. Her jaunt into Russia after
taking Warsaw was a colossal, perhaps a
fatal blunder for If she had remained on
the Vistua and northern fortress lines
her front in the east would be 200 miles
shorter than it is today, and 800 miles
means twenty divisions. She cannot, in
all probability. effect that withdrawal
now without losing more than twenty
result of one or more great retreats
would be most important"
In commencing this article with the
statement that the tide of war has turn
ed, that the second phase of the war will
be marked by a German defensive, the
inference that therefore Germany must
be beaten was not implied. That infer
ence is widely drawn here, but the most
dispassionate soldiers are doubtful.
The turn in the war means that
we have grasped the initiative from
the Germans, and that since they are
growing weaker we shall hold IT to
the end" said the officer l have quot
ed. cautiously, when I asked him
whether the attrition campaign meant
that Germany was sure to lose. Mill
tary opinion. l gather. holds that the
relative strength of the defensive is
so much greater than the strength of
the attacking side that it remains to
be proved whether the German armies
can be crushed even after they are
reduced to a fraction of their pres
ent size and after the munition sup
ply of the allies has reached unima G.
ined heights.
At present Britain alone is making
more shells every three days than
were fired in the battle of Loos The
oretically. it is possible to crush Ger
many by keeping up the attrition
process long enough; but practically
there are some lines to the process,
and personally I do not think the peo-
pie of the entente countries will give
their soldiers more than another year
to accomplish the task before the cry
for peace overwhelms the demand for
a victory that shall destroy the enc
my even at the cost of running one
self.