New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-11-10

cisnls relating TO the progress U! "'o -" "
ish army az France.)
You will probably have seen that MAJOR
Moraht, the well-known German Critic mas
said that in the three attacks that have taken
place since September 20 we have lost hall q
million men. have always had respect tor
! Major Moraht up to this. He has been very
we'll known and a very sound military critic
but if he had thought for two minutes ne
must have known that We have not had hai'
Of half million men engaged IN the three
battles, and also if he had had the industry
or even employed an intelligent clerk, to SIT
down and count up the casualties land we
ALWAYS publish all the names in the papers)
no would have discovered that since the LIST
of January of this year our total CASUALTIES
in every theatre Of war do not amount 10
half a million. Therefore, that statement OF
our losses is grotesque. 1t is merely part
of the same propaganda which insists tha'
we are aiming at far bigger detectives than
we are and owing to the valor of the Ger
mans we fail to get them.
Naturally, we make estimates of the Ger
man losses, and may tell you that we have
made very careful estimate of the German
losses in the Battle Of the Somme, and that
estimate became known to the Germans
through the French press. Within two days
Of the Germans getting to know OF it they
stopped the expectation Of their casualty
lists and they altered the system by which
thew published them, which seems to us a
ota xuaa n
wrong or the Germans would not have taken
the trouble to put extra obstacles in our way.
We have made another calculation in this
battle on exactly the same basis as we MADE
in the Battle Of the Somme. ] am not going
to give you the figures, as ! do not want
more obstacles put in my way, but may
tell you this, that the total German casual
ties, according to this estimate OF ours, ex-
ceeds the total of British casualties, which,
of course, we know, by rs per cent. Major
Moraht can deduce from that exactly what
our losses are.
An Accurate Metaphor
There was q great deal of talk IN the
early days of the war about the Russian
steam roller l think the term steam roller
NAV effectively be applied to the British
not rapid. but it is insistent and il is ir-
resistible. and, to follow out my analogy
steam roller goes up hill much slower than
it does on the level, and our progress when
we were driving the enemy from the high
ground has been slower than when we reach
the top of the hill Since September 20 we
have been able to engage.in four battles fol-
lowing one another more and more closely;
our speed is getting up.
All that, Of course, means an enormous
amount Of work behind the battle front. Our
ewes are all on the events at the front and
we are sometimes apt to forget the immense
labor and amount of material which is be-
ing expended behind to keep this steam
roller moving, and | am going to give you
few figures to tell you little of what is be-
ing done / ask you to remember these
figures in connection with the German state
ments about the U-boat war. do not want
to minimize in any way the inconvenience
10 us which the U-boat war is causing, and
how delighted we should be if we had man.