The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1916-03-05
Great German Offensive Made Necessary
By Depletion of Ranks by Wars Ravages;
Kaiser Forced to Stake All Upon Big Drive
leuton Alliance Now Estimated Have 6500OO0 Men Oppose of
Entente But Has Only 100000 Final Reserves 100000
derston English Military Authority, Foees Attacks West Front
ice Written Before Start Of Verdm Battle E@s

We employed Il at Neuve Chspeue and
we carried all the ground our runs prop-
erly covered. The Germans studied that
6attle, and the similar tactics OF the
French In Champagne, and using Drum
| fire tentold more intense than ours thew
broke the Russian line In GaliciA- There
| after, at critical moments during the
great drive, they always cracked the-en-
eHy's line by drum IRE"
Drum fire Il 80 called from ne r.
semblance the hurricane boubarcmerfs
| from thousands Of cannon bear 70 the
beating OF drum. a drum about as big
as Pixies Peak. You must remember'
broke In the Fastener. that the Rms
slams were crushed because they had no
guns
DO you know" said the weste-per
impressively. that the Germans have
never employed drum FIRE against our
front, and that wherever Il has been en-
ployed by either side il has carried all
the ground properly prepared. We used
( II In Artois, at LOos and in Champagne.
but the Germans kept in Russia all their
guns they were not using for defensive
purposes against US. Now they are bring
/ Ing them west and we shall soon have 10
| lace the biggest smash the world has
ever known, a smash as much bigger
I than Champagne as Champagne was big
ger than Nerve Chapelle"
Even So" the other retortsd .,surb
an attack would fail, and you know H.
But against Russis-that's different
Linstngen and the Austrians will demon
/ strate in the south. fight a great battle
| against Ivanov, and then In the north
| Hindenburg will break loose for Petro-
grad, counting on the Russian peans
| party TO win over the Gar II he Eet1
! there
Gives Two Important VfevFs.
/
views of two important currents OF optn-
ion, and the important point is that both
are firmly convinced that the Germans
| will strike for a decision, either east or
| west, just as soon as they possibly can.
| because time is inexorabIy against them.
Nothing has been said about the Itsl-
| ian front since II is believed everywhere
that Italy IS fighting for Trieste ana the
| Irentinor not for her allies. and that, in
view Of her sttitlde, she will not be At
lacked by Germany, nor will she persist
| IN her campaign after her detectives
have been gained Her one usefulness TO
the entente-and most important one Il
! Isis that she keeps away from the Rus
sian front between 10000 and 600 Aus
TRANS. Her signature TO the no-sepa-ste-
peace pact is generally reported 10 have
| been eNtorted by Britain in return for
large advances Of money and supplies
While Germany is preparing her great
] INV NAtAAltE IN east west. what R-p
the allies doing7 Why do not they strike
FIRST? These are fair questions. and tbe,.
cannot be answered as frankly as I
should Ike The supply Of guns and shells
heaped up by the allies on the western
front Is enormous. and M Lloyd -Georrs
told a caller the other day, IF told YOU
we had ten times as many shells now as
We had year ago today, 7 should be
guilty OF a ridiculous Unoe-statement.
And we never have been able 20 catch ,Ip
with the French output"
| Perhaps the allies will strike fr~t IN the
west, perhaps their great offensive viii
coincide with a forward shove bv the
Russians. and with q fresh storm along
the lsonzo. II. under the supreme dfr.~-
ton OF Jorre. Alexeir ana Robertson
Gen. Haig and the leaders OF his three
Ispear-heads-Gens. Monro. Of GaIlipoU
fame. Cough and Rawinson-str1ke to-
lEether with Gen Castelnau's armies m
der Foch. DUbsil and other famous lead
'ers' together with Cadorna- together with
lvanof in Galicia. Ewarts in the centrsI
marshes and Russky in the Baltic prov
linces. the Germans may be unable sue
Icessfully TO meet their enemies every
where at once This seems the obvious
STRATEGY. II is not possible 10 attack
everywhere on the same front but Il Is
theoretically possible for all the allies At
the same time 70 drive against selected
Good Reason for waiting
But there are very good reasons why
the allies may play the waiting game and
let the Germans attack first. I was told
by an officer whom regard a. one ~ tbs
ablest strategists IN England. 1T is some
times wise he said. TO let your enemy
attack YOU first and then when he has
developed his attack you check Il and
/ counter-attack somewhere else. and his
resistance IS COMPROMISED by his Conren-
iration elsewhere for his own attack tn.
Germans have had the initiative from the
livery beginning OF the war. with isolated
exceptions II may be to our advantage
to let them retain II for the moment II
lis true that the financial strain upon IL
is terrible. hut we know our enemies are
lin worse case and we can AFFORD 10 plsv
the waiting game ! am not telling You
what is going to happen. because I do not
know. but 7 think It wise to allow the
new German attack 10 develop before we
make our move"
There is another consideration
have heard urged against an allied Of
fensive on all fronts before the Ger
man shock is met and broken. II IS
based on humanitarian grounds we
could break the Germans up by a gen
eral assault everywhere, but IL might
cost US more than two million men.
East and West alike, because Of the
strength OF the German lines and the
advantage conferred by the defensive"
these people say. I'VE should wait for
| the German assault that must come.
| for we know we can break It and II
Will be enormously expensive to the
enemy. Then we should start killing
Germans with our shells and econo-
mize the lives OF our soldiers"
| The theory embodied in the last cen
tence Is drawn from the experience OF
all the great battles in the West since
drum fire was first used at Neuve Cha
pelle, just year ago. In every case.
the German advanced trenches against
which the principal artillery attack
was directed were literally blown to
pieces and occupied practically with
out loss. but IN each case the infantry
as IT advanced farther was swept
away by machine fire from concealed
redoubts not destroyed by artillery,
and suffered loss far greater than the
enemy in the concluding stages Of the
/ battle.
The new strategy advocated as a re-
| suit of these eHnerfeures rrFebN -.