The sun., 1916-10-08

an Indirect bearing on the European
fronts. Less than 1000 German soldiers
are available for each mile Of front,
assisted by not many more than 1000
Austrians and Bulgars. and Of course
In point OF fact that concentration of
more than q million men IN a front Of
only . few miles on the Somme and at
Verdun cuts this hypothetical figure
down BY more han one-third.
The Previous Situation.
Until the Allies by their simultaneous
attacks wrested the Initiative from the
German stan h thinness Of the Teu-
tonic lines In most parts of the front
uiu not matter greatly, for they were
aDie TO Keep their enemies more thar
busy defending themselves. Moreover.
the munition supply Of the Russians and
British did not until this year permit
concerted allied onslaughts upon a huge
scale.
Lack of team work by Russia,
nritain and france made still easter the
ae,ensive task OF Chief OF Stan Won
ralkenhayn. who by his famous shut
tie and loom" system used the net
Work OF German railways to rush
troops from one front to the other either
Tor attack or defence.
Inc allied strategy at present, exem-
piined by the great operations stimuli
taneously carried out In Plcardy and
9aiicia. successfully prevents the trans
fer OF troops In this way. and one Of the
most brilliant triumphs of German pre-
paredness and organization can no
1S.n w repeated.
.ne present herman lines on neither
W were CHOSEN LOT the purpose OF a
psooneeu oeIensiVe. out are the result
:, unsuccessful attempts to win de-
S,s'.e victories Especially 10 this true
east. Inc iar hung Teutonic
. IN RUSSIA are standing where they
me Sseauso tney can 20 neither forward
y pscAwar ana reached their present
posi'.ons ourlhe an almost successful at
mp. " rouhd up inc destroy the Rus
a neIu armies iast autumn.
nuhhanias entry INTO the war came at
q ,nIo wneh 'ne tension caused by too
mrueiy eAtenoed INES must already have
zen severely ieit' Nhether the strength
oI me Serman army mas already COM
Inencea 70 oecilhe In actual numbers II
perhaps NOT apsoiuteiy certain. although
nearly every military authority on the
aii'eu size peieVes that II has.
-
"~ rover
But that the German strength in man
power and munition supply has been
rapidly declining all this year on both
fronts relatively TO the strength of the
Allies admits of no doubt. And with
he trench lines already 80 thinly
manned that Russia was able to make a
great dent In the southeastern sector, in
cidentally adding sixty miles TO the
length of the front, Rumania suddenly
threw 600, 900 fresh troops into the scale
and opened operations on a 800 mile
line.
The addition OF a big army to the
ranks OF her foes was indeed serious for
Germany. but not SO menacing as the ex-
tension Of the front caused by Ru-
mania's entry into the war. Sig hun.
dred thousand troops on the old fronts
Of the Allies would be N welcome re-
enforcement but Col. Remington. the
British expert, believes the new mileage
added to the Austro-German lines by
Rumania's position makes her declara.
ton Of war Mt least twice a, valuable a,
would have been the case had she only
been able 10 send her army 10 France.
THAT this diagnosis is correct was
shown nv the tactics adonted imme-
aa rs,.ss -, .,a -, - n,h,'. -
ion in Hungary. the fairest lands in
Pennsylvania were abandoned without a
blow by the Austrian armies. which re-
treated to the line OF the Maros River in
order to fiatten out the Pennsylvania sa-
lient and lessen by $50 miles the new
front they are compelled to defend. Such
a move would never have been made 4
year ago. nor would /, be made now
unless the problem OF finding men to man
the fronts had become most serious.
The second reason why a retirement
must be made here II found in the
nature OF the present allied ofensives