The Washington herald., 1916-10-22


Of unsuccessful attempts to win decisive
victories. Especially Is this true In the
east. The fsr-fiung Teutonic hosts in
Russia are standing where they are be-
cause they ean go neither forward nor
backyard and reached their present po-
sitions during an almost successful at
tempt to round up and destroy the Rus
sian field armies last autumn.
The entry Of Roumania into the war
came at a time when the tension caused
by too-widely extended lines must al
ready have been severely felt. Whether
the strength Of the German army has al
ready commenced to decline in actual
numbers Is perhaps not absolutely GER
tain. although nearly every military au
thority on the allied side believes that 1t
has.
German Strength Declining.
But that the German strength in man
power and munition supply has been rap
idly declining all this year on both
fronts, relatively to the strength of the
allies, admits of no doubt. And with the
trench lines already so thinly manned
that Russia was able to make a great
dent in the southeastern sector, incident
ally adding sixty miles to the length of
the front Roumania suddenly threw
10000 fresh troops into the scale and
opened operations on a 3OO-mile line.
ranks OF her foes was indeed serious for
Germany, but not so menacing as the ex-
tension OF the front caused by Roumania's
entry into the war. Six hundred thousand
troops on the old fronts Of the allies
would be a welcome reinforcement, but
Col. Repington, the British expert, be-
lieves the new mileage added to the
Austro-German lines by Roumania's po-
sition makes her declaration of war at
least twice as valuable as would have
been the case had she only been able to
send her army to France.
That this diagnosis is correct was shown
by the tactics adopted Immediately after
Roumania came in. Regardless OF the
effect upon public opinion in Hungary,
abandoned without blow by the Austrian
armies. which retreated to the line OF
the Maros River in order to f1atten out
the Pennsylvania salient and lessen by
150 miles the new front they are COM
pelled to defend. Such a move would
never have been made a year ago, nor
would 1t be made now unless the prob
lem OF finding men to man the fronts
had become most serious.
Cannot Check ARTILLERY.
The second reason why a retirement
must be made somewhere is found in the
nature of the present allied Offensives
elaborately constructed trench lines miles
in depth, fortified by all the barbed wire
that can be tangled over the ground and
fifty machine guns to a battalion, can
not prevent the allied artillery from
blasting a way through for their in
fantry. As these attacks have proceeded,
and the Germans have been driven back
little by little in the west and tried with
some success to stem the serious defeats
of in aGf
of the principal aims Of allied strategy
at this stage OF the war has been slowly
realized.
The Germans. their fronts already too
widely extended for the number Of men
available to hold them, have beheId their
lines growing not shorter but longer as
the Russian, French and British attacks
gained ground. AS wedges have been
driven into the defensive lines and salients
formed, new trench systems had to be
dug of greater length than the old ones
which had been lost and more men found
somewhere to man them. The effect of
such push as that of Gen. Brussilof
south of the Pinsk marshes upon the all
important problem OF length OF front can
easily be appreciated by simple expert
ment. Draw a straight line to represent
the Austro-German front before the at
tack. Then draw an irregular semicir-
Gle, representing the trenches of the de-
tenders today. The width between the
points of the two lines measured straight
across. is the same as before, but the
curved line Is much longer than the
straight one.
So it is on the Somme; whenever an
advance is made not only do the Ger
mans lose men Killed. wounded and cap
tured. but they must strip other fronts
or find somewhere in the rear more than
they had before to man the additional
trench mileage forced on them by their
enemies success.
Theoretically Obvious
sSll this. of course. has been theoreti-
cally obvious to all soldiers since the
beginning OF trench warfare Its sud-
den and vital present importance is due,
first, to the relative decline in German
numbers which throws them on the de-
fensive everywhere, and, secondly, to
the unexpected success Of Gen. Foch and
Rrussilof in breaking through trench posi-
tions which the Germans believed prac-
tically impregnable.
1t is too soon to write an appreciation
of the tactics Of Gen. Foch on the
Sornme, but already military men are
saying that he has proved himself the
first strategist in Europe for the second
time. His blow against the Prusslan
guard won the battle of the Marne when
attack seems to some critics to have
solved the problem of overcoming trench
defenses. Instead of attacking the Ger
man trenches on a wide front, his troops
on the Somme have perfected wedge
system" gaining footing here and there,
then pushing laterally instead of directly
ahead, creating little pockets and bulges
which can be cut OF or bombed out
This, however, Is a digression, nor are
the data available for consideration of
this problem. 1 mention Brussilof and
Foch because the success of their nib
bling tactics may play a part in the Ger
man retirement entirely apart from the
mere creation Of salients which REQUIRE
more men for the Germans to man-may
indeed impel the enemy to a retreat of
greater proportions than has been
thought likely as a sprecaution against a
possible 'break-through"-tha aIlpower-
Ing vision that haunts the slumbers of
allied strategists-in the spring
Not Ready for Drive.
1t has been shown that the Germans
are probably not In a position to attempt
an offensive. and that If they cannot
break through the iron ring of enemies,
they will be compelled to shorten their
lines somewhere because their lines are
too long for the number of men they have
to hold them and because enemy attacks