The Clio messenger., 1917-12-07
Relentless Machine on West
Front Sapping Strength of
Germans.
SOLDIERS ARE OPTIMISTIC
See Ultimate Success Through Growing
Superiority in Air, In Number
of Guns and Supplies Of
Shells.
BY JOHN LLOYD BALpERsToN.
Copyright. 1917. by the Mcclure Newspa'
per Syndicate)

General Headquarters, British Ar
mics in France.-It probably never oc-
Cured to a beholder, watching the
great steam dredges of Colonel Goe-
thals scooping out the Panama canal,
to wonder whether the job would ever
be finished. How long 1t would take to
dig the canal no man knew but that Ii
would be dug nobody doubted. That
is the way / feel whenever l see the
British military machine ut work.
Through the courtesy Of the British
staff l have inspected the battle front
along the whole line where active
fighting has been in progress this year.
The unsatisfactory military situation
in Russia, which has helped the Ger
man defensive upon this front, has
been responsible for pessimism In Lon
don. Out here, the men who are do
ing the fighting are optimistic. 1t has
not always been so; l left an optimis-
tic London in the spring of 1916 and
found the front, not pessimistic but
grinlly aware of the long and uphill
road ahead. 1t was the same In the
midst of the battle of the SOmlne, but
in the winter, when fighting had died
down, found the front more "bucked
up" than ever before. And now, the
have shot their bolt.
London guesses, but the front knows.
That is why these alterations of feel
ing are not only interesting, but i'm
pOrtant. But the back keeps murmur-
Ing our losses are heavy. No doubt
the German losses are heavy, too, but
we are not gaining much ground. We
read Of bitter fighting lasting for
weeks in the ruins of some insignili-
cant village.
Soldiers Think Differently.
Not even three years Of war have
taught the people who say these things
to think as the soldiers think. The sol
dier brushes aside all such talk as ir-
relevant. His job, he knows, is TO beat
the German army. When that has been
done the war will be over. Movement
as measured on q map does not inter
est him at all except as 1t helps to kill
Germans. He complains bitterly, when
he has time to consider public opinion,
that civilians cannot think Of ighting
except in terms of geography, of ad-
vance and retirement which, until the
final "break through" COMES, If 1t does
come, are relatively unimportant.
In attempting TO sum up the situa-
tiOn on the western front as the sol
diers see Ii, Il reporter is at once faced
with the factors that have misled Opin-
ion everywhere. Civilians have maps.
Progress upon map can be visualized
by anyone. All Infantry fighting re-
suits from an attempt by soldiers of
one side to reach IL point on the map
held by the enemy. The success or
failure Of these attempts is at once an-
nounced in the bulletins.
1t Is movement, and movement alone,
by which the public judges fighting.
because 1t is not allowed to know any
thing else. Each side keeps its own
losses secret, and can only guess at
those of the enemy. Neither side tells
the world how many shells 1t fired In
an action, how many of It's guns were
worn out. Yet these things are often.
indeed usually, of very much more i'm
portance than the loss or capture of
village like Fresnoy or Bullccourt. 1t
may possibly come about at later
stage of the war that the winning Of
q certain strip Of ground will decide
the fate Of an army. Most soldiers do
not think so. and they all agree that
this Is not true today.
Best to Forget Map.
The best way TO appreciate the prog
ress of the war In France, 1t has been
impressed on me again and again, is
to forget the map. There are on the
Franco-British front certain number
of British and French divisions. Op-
posed to them are 143 or 144 German
divisions. The object Of the allies Is
to go on fighting. under the most ad-
vantageous conditions possible, until
the 144 German divisions plus all the
reserves and units from other fronts
that may be brought up, are so smash
ed that they can no longer take the
punishment. Then, and then only, will
come the "break through" so much
talked about, but victory will not come
this year 1t may not be possible at all
without the help Of great American
armies.
The great progress toward the final
goal that has been made during the
1917 campaign by the French and Brit
ish armies must be measured not by
liberated towns, but by the losses suf-
fered by those 144 German divisions.
1t Is possible to give approximate fig
ures showing what the German SOL
diers have had to endure this year.
When the campaign opened in-March
the trench lines from Switzerland to
the sea were manned by about 100 Ger
man divisions, while grouped in the
rear as strategic reserve were A
divisions which Hindenburg hoped to
use In an offensive which was to re-
gain the initiative for Germany after
the March retreat had disorganized the