El Nuevo mexicano., 1916-12-21
The French Again

There is something fateful in the mechan.
icaI precision with which the French armies
are carrying out the methodical successive
steps in their pushing back Of the Germans
from French soil, There the French mill
tary genius has upQuestionably proved its
superiority over the German war machine.
General NiveIle's Smashing blow" Friday,
a two mile advance on a six-mile front, re-
suited in nearly 10000 prisoners and the
destruction or capture OF hundreds Of guns.
Here is how John Buchan, in The Battle
of the S~ommer-First Phase, explains it.:
In the first two months Of the Somme
battle some forty-four German divisions
more than ever appeared at verdun-were
drawn into the whirlpool and many were
sent in twice. They represented the elite
of the German army. The allies have taken
heavy toll OF t~hese--some $4,000 u~nwounded
prisoners are in their hands; many German
counter attacks have been caught In our
barrage and destroyed; and every line OF
trench taken has meant many German dead.
They have drawn into battle and gravely
depleted the surplus man-power of the enc
my. They have done more; they have
struck a shattering blow at his morale. For
1.-TWO years the German behind the shelter Of
his trench works and the great engine Of
his artillery fought with comparatively lit
Lille cost against opponents far less well
equipped. Today the shoe is on the other
Moot and he is coming to know what the
British learned at Ypres and the French in
the Artois-what it feels like to be bonn
barded out Of existence and to cling to shell
holes and the ruins of trenches under a pit
less fire. it Is a new thing in his expe-
rerience and it has taken the heart out OF
men who under other conditions fought
with Skill and courage. Further, the allies
have dislocated the while military machine,
Their ceaseless pressure Is crippling his
STAFF work and confusing the organization
lot which he Justly boosted. Today Germ
any IS the allies inferior.
Now it Il a law Of life and Of war thar
in such struggles the power of the stronger
grows pari passu with the weakness Of the
less strong. That Is the security for the
continuance OF the allied plan. Repeatedly
for the past two months Germany announc-
ed that the offensive on the Somme must
slaeken; repeatedly she declared it had
ceased; but the beginning Of September
saw the assault as sternly maintained as in
the first days OF July. Like som harsh and
rbmorseless chemical the allied energy is
eating into the German mass. There is
thought and care in the plan and that reso-
lutien which is so strong that it can dare
to be patient. The guaranty Of the c%ontinu-
lily OF the allied effort is its orderly and ac-
curate progress. This sure and methodical
pressure is as resistIess as the forces OF
Nature. 1t is like a~ttrition, but attrition Of
the acute form-uot like the slow erosion
Of cliffs by the sea, but like the steady
crrumbling of a mountain to which hydrau-
lie engineers have applied a mighty head Of
water. The time must come when the far
flung German lines will be exhausted by
the strain and will seek to retire. In that
falling back. with the allies all around the
salient at their throats, may be fought the
decisive action OF the war"
This was written weeks ago Last weeks
developments do not tend to weaken the
reasoning.