The Washington herald., 1916-07-09
Army Too Weak, Navy's Job
Too Big, Declares Military
Writer in Analyzing Situa-
ton in England and in the
Trenches.
By JOHN L. BALDERsTON.

By JOHN L. BALDERSTON.
London. June 1s.-"EveTybody's fight
ing but the British" runs the refrain of
a song written by a disgusted partisan of
the allies in America, and there can be
no doubt that the line expresses a feel
ing widespread not cnly in the United
States, but in other neutral countries and
IN Russia and France. With this song
lying before me, | listened to the story
of a Yorkshireman. above military age,
who had four sons, the two younger II
and Il years old when the war began.
The eldest son was killed at Ypres, the
second boy died at Gallipon. The third
Joined a training corps. and entered the
army on his 18th birthday and was
killed in Mesopotamia, while the fourth
lad a midshipman on the cruiser Black
Prince, went down in tie naval battle last
month. The father. before the news Of
the death OF his last boy reached him,
himself volunteered and hopes to get to
the front.
An isolated case, it will be said Per-
haps, but only yesterday a member Of
Pc rliament who IL known as a student
Of American history assured me that the
casualty lists of this country for less
than two years of war show Great Brit
ain TO have paid almost as high a price
In blood as four years of civil war cost
the North. Before this summer Is over,
]
passed. Unfortunately. the British uo
longer permit the publication of their
total losses. but have no doubt the fg-
ures OF my informant are correct.
British Not shirkinx.
In this article I purpose to show that
Britain is not Sinking" to explain her
part in the war and show how her ef-
forts are the main prop of her allies.
Feeling against the United States is very
bitter here. efforts to disguise the fact are
hopeless and IL should be frankly faced.
That feeling Is probably due to inability
to understand the American people; and
II will not make for better feeling and
friendship after the war il the American
people return the compliment by pro-
foundly misunderstanding the British. l
am not a British apologist, and have
been savagely criticised and even threat
ened for critiCising British blunders and
making public unpleasant facts in the
past. nor is this recital to be read as
British propa ganda." for some of the
facts cited in defense Of Britain would
cause as much irritation here as the pub
lication Of the unfounded charge that the
empire is letting George do it," and
planning to profit by the economic ex-
haustion Of its allies as we'll as its enc
mics
The best way to cover the ground will
be TO meet and answer one by one the
current criticism and taunts. What are
Britains five million soldiers doing? Why
does the British army in France sit still
while the very lifeblood Of France is be-
ing sapped in the frightful Verdun srrug-
gle? Why, when the British do fight bat
ties. do they always lose? Since the Brit
ish navy is more than twice as strong as
Germany's, and since it is backed up by
the French and italian navies why
doesn't II go in and smash the Kaiser's
ships and lombard his ports? II the
British haven't enough guns and shells.
after all this time to attack on land sue
cessfully. why haven't they, since they
have all the world to draw on and their
enemies are blockaded? Why do the Brit
ish talk as though providing money, at
interest, to their allies were the same as
providing men. when it is really a safe
form of investment? l do not think the
author Of the Hymn Of Hate" would
claim that this paragraph exhibits per
hdious Albion in too favorable a light
Now for the answers
Answer Number One.
why don't the famous 100000 soldiers
do something"
Because II they tried attacking at pres
ent they'd get licked A brutal answer.
but I think true one. The British army
Is made up of amateurs learning their
joos. and It is up against a professional
organization which has been getting
ready for the present struggle for forty
years. There are nothing Ike 5000 ono
British soldiers at the front: the empire
is maintaining eighty-six divisions of in
fantry. which means at 5000 men to a
division about 10000 soldiers. of whom
not much more than 100000 can be
ranked as combatants. II is betraying
no military secret to say that not more
than sixty Of these divisions are facing
the enemy in the half a dozen theaters
OF war where British troops are station
ed. The remainder Of the five million"
are held in reserve to hll the gaps, un-
der Lord KitChener's scheme to keep the
army in the field at full strength for two
years more until the German units are
skeletons and a deciding blow can be
struck against the weakened enemy
Persons who know these things still
argue that Sir Douglas Haig should
attack with all his strength in Flan-
ders to relieve the pressure on YER
dun whether he gets beaten or not.
To DO so would be chivalrous, but
unless absolutely necessary to pre-
vent the fall Of the Meuse fortress
with the incalculable moral ocns,-
quences this might have, it would not
De war. Military men have told me
thst one OF the great aims of the Ger
mans at Nerdun is to force the British
Into premature offensive. and it is
possible that the allies will choose to
sacrlfce Nerdun rather than be coaxed
into a general attack at this time. My
recent discussion Of these questions
with British generals at the front
make ii impossible to go into the cues
ton thoroughly without delaying this
article by sending it to headquarters
for approval; but, speaking generally,
the British army in France is PLAYING
not its own game but the game of the
allies, and 1t Il under the orders not
Of Gen. Sir Douglas Haig, but of Gen.
Jorrre
Published army orders have shown that
the British offered to attack when the
blow fell upon Verdun, and that offer still
holds Gen Joffre, instead. asked them
to relieve one of the best French armies
elsewhere by taking over a French sec
tor between Loos and the Somme. and
this was done. From the stra tesicaI
standpoint, all the allied fronts are one:
II the Germans choose to strike hard AT
the French and mass thirty-ive of their
best divisions in front Of the British ex-
pecting the British to shatter themselves
against iYnpresnable defenses and SO de-
stroy the flower Of the British army ana
impair the hone OF yictor,, ,,pdar -.