Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1917-03-03
WAR STRATEGY now LIKE
THAT OF LEE AND NAPOLEON
Little Difference Between Principles
Governing Present Struggle and
Those Of Southern Leader.
BRITISH EXPERT GIVES IDEAS
General Maurice, Director OF Military
Operations, Declares Conflict May
Extend Another Winter, as Far as
Military Factors Are Concerned.
fBy Associated Press.


tBy Associated !ress.l
LONDON. March 1.-The war may
easily extend over another winter. az
far as purely military factors are con
cerncd. according TO statement by
General Frederick ID. Maurice, director
OF military operations for the imperial
general STAFF, in an interview given u
the Associated Press.
General Maurice is an authority or
military history. and has been chosen
as the biosraphcr Of Robert l.. Lee In
series published under the title OF
Makers OF the Nineteenth Century
In his opinion. there is little differ
encc between the strategy followed by
the commanders In the American Civil.
War and the strategy which governs
the great struggle Of to-day.
Strategy as immutable as time" he
said, lis dominating this war az it has
dominated all other conflicts. The
world has long recognized Robert T..
Leo as a great general. and in my
opinion. he was one OF the dozen great
commanders OF history, n place which
Is enhanced rather than dimmed by
his participation in lost cause. as
success gains it's own recognition. The
strategy OF which General Leo was
master does not change with time. and
in the year 20ol military leaders viii
bo acting on the princip $ Of Ma
polcon and Lee.
THE men over in tho trenches. SEQ
Ing only brief and intimate part OF
the actual operations. are inclined 10
assert that the major principles or
warfare have changed but this is true
rv,y, nS ~,
Napoleon. change every ten years, a
period which. had he been alive to-
day, he probably would have reduced
to flve years. This Is due to the in
crease in inventive power over the
time when Napoleon fought. In the
tactics OF this war are seen three trc-
mendous innovations, which can prob
ably be placed in tho following order:
first. airplancs: second. improved heavy
artillery. with highly explosive shells;
third. machine guns In strategy tho
immutablc problems az time and space
still prevail, and were Napoleon or
Leo alive to-day. the genius which
made them great would find outlet.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
STRATEGY AND TACTICS
I'm n paragraph. the difference be-
tween strategy and tactics may be en-
plalnrn To the my reader as lpl!OMS -
Strategy consists OF plans for the ma
ncuvers OF armies seeking definite
result, while tactics are the operations
when two forces are in ir,tual contact.
The victory OF the Marine WAS the re-
suit OF high strategy. as was tho Ger
man sweep through Belgium. and the
Gncircl!ng movement about Paris. The
trench warfare prevailing since has
been purely n matter Of tactics, with
out either side being able To make any
mancavers in the realm of strategy.
Stoncwall Jackson suffered a tactical
rerefse ut kcrnstown, but won "a Stra-
teEical success by forcing the Union
commanders TO move great forces in
all directions.
People wonder frequently why. with
superior resources in man power un
doubtcdly possessed by the allies. that
more progress toward victory Is not
made. The reason lies in the form Of
strategy which made your civil War
SO long, and enabled Napoleon 10 keep
his back To the wall so long when he
had coalition Of Europe against him.
Tee and Napoleon worked on in
terior lines from a central position, and
they had the genius To make the best
possible use of the great advantage
this gave them. The Germans under
stand this form Of strategy so we'll
that even In peace times their economic
necessities are frequently sacrificed To
military needs. In their transporta-
tion system alone the result OF this
policy can be seen.
GREATLY SUPERIOR FORCES
HELD BACK DY LEI;
Lee and his small army hold back
greatly superior forces for four years.
and there is no reason to anticipate. on
purely military grounds. AN early col
lapse OF the Germans. OF course. Lee
operated on battle lines measured in
miles. while the present fronts extend
almost across continents. but the prin-
cipIcs of strategy. covering time and
space remain the same. so the duration
of this war is not surprising.
II see no Indications OF what has
been asserted that the Germans are
withdrawing at some places along our
front because of Il desire to force open
fighting. This movement is retire
mcnt forced upon them They do not
like 1t any more than we did when,
after the second battle of Ypres. we
had to retire Il short distance to
stras-hten our line. You may be sure
no army likes TO retire. and. there
fore, 1t is certain that the Germans
will make determined effort some
where to restore their lost prestige.
I'VE are now merely gathering the
fruits OF our winter operations, the re-
suits Of which is that frbm Arras to
the Ancrc, Il salient decidedly danger
Gus to German positions has been
established. Our raids .on the Sonime
front gave us commanding positions,
from which our artillery fire was much
more effective The Germans, who are
no longer occupying snug and we'll
constructed dugouts. are more than
anxious to retire to a safer line. They,
also probably counted on making our
preparations for. AN offensive over }this
ground abortivc. by giving up their
front line and compelling us to alter
our plans
GERMANS STILL CAPABLE OF
if@i PUTTING UP STRONG FIGHT
( trT have no:Spatience with the idea
that theS Germans are at the end of
/. their fighting resources They are still
z capable Of, and will put up. a strong