South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1917-10-26

forced 10 maintain with Austria a
considerable army on the eastern
front in order TO hold the territory
he mas won.
Whenever there has been serious
lighting this year. IL has brought its
steady toll OF German losses. The
quality Of the German infantry has
undergone a tremendous decline
during the past spring and summer.
battalion after battalion Of storm
troops have been cut up on the
western front by the French and
British. and their places have been
taken in the general roll by imma-
ture boys. poorly trained and with
no heart for the desperate. losing
game the kaiser Is now playing.
| This is no mere partisan statement
calculated 20 mislead judgment on
Germany's situation
10 was said as early as 1915 that
the quality Of the German army was
deterioratIng. 10 actually was. But
! its residum Of strength was badly
underestimate by commentators.
as il has frequently been underesti-
mated since. But now testimony Of
| all descriptions is pouring in from
an quarters TO show that linden
| burg's most pressing problem is that
/ Of electives. Numbers he has stiu.
! but not quality In the past nine
months ne has drained Germany Of
every fit man. and still his battalions
have faded away Unfit men have
| long been used as substitutes. and
/ in this way numbers have been
maintained az the expense Of eff
/ fciency Seventeen-year-Old boys
with six weeks training are lighting
side by side with seasoned troops sent
back after being wounded three or
| four times, and that not i'm quiet
sectors but in the hottest PARIS of
the western front This debilitatin,
process is going on continually and
"A severe winter whatever he the
. fighting, will thin out the young SOL
diers % an extent alarming for Ger
many
So critical has Germany's position
been in regard 10 electives this past
summer that the most important
points of the front have been left
| 10 a handful of men WELDING the
deadly machine guns which are the
/ real secret of Germany's escape from
military disaster The Russian col
lapse has enabled her to stave off
complete defeat upon the western
front this year. II she could force
the Muscovites 90 a separate peace
and concentrate all her reserves of
men and munitions upon Flanders
and France next year, she might
conceive bly, last through 1918 If mill
itary considerations alone could be
weighed independently of the steady
political fermentation going on in
the fatherland: but with the Amer
lean army looming up as a dominat-
ing quantity and with a great Jap
anese army. trained and equipped. in
the background. the ultimate fac
tors of the military problem Of the
war are dead against Germany.
Given the undOubted fact that the
American. French and British
armies will hold firmly together 10
the end. Hindenburg or his success
ors cannot avoid the final defeat OF
the German armies. II may come
next year if the Russian armies do
not entirely cease 10 exit; but at
latest II would come In 1919. Even
when due allowance has been made
for all the deplorahly false proph-
ecies of so-called military experts
Of all nationalities In the past three
years. the logic Of the plain facts
points Enthusiastically 10 the smashing
of the German armies within two
years
Already. before American troops
have struck a blow in the war. the
French and British armies have
condemned Hindenburg 10 per
petual defensive policy on the west