New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-03-18

]
very best of the British population.
The Best Material in Europe
! Physically my guess is that the British
army to-day includes the best material IN
Europe. Watching the thousands and
thousands Of troops along the roads, in
the training camps and back of the front,
the impression is unmstakable of young.
physically fit and well trained soldiers.
was in France during a period Of zero
weather, unprecedented in recent years.
/ Nothing was more striking than the inn
preston of health and of vigor given by
the men ! saw along all the roads. They
seemed well fed, well cared for and in strik-
/ ing contrast to the soldiers one saw in our
own camps during the Spanish War. Ger
tainly the question Of health has been set
ted with marvellous success by the British.
/ AS to the spirit of the army, it is hard to
exaggerate the confidence of officers and
men. For two years the British army
/ held its ground in the face of an army
superior in numbers, possessing every kind
OF implement of modern warfare that Ger
man provision could supply. The British
infantry was only in a ridiculously slight
degree helped by its artillery, because
there were lacking both the guns and tho
high explosive munitions which had be-
! come the prime essentials Of modern war.
/ They also lacked machine guns, having
only very few, perhaps one to twenty as
compared with the Germans.
Through all this period, largely through
the grit and determination of the private
soldier, who made bombs out of meat ting
and who used all his ingenuity to provide
weapons to meet his foe armed with all
the Krupp resources, the British stuck To
! it, They opposed flesh to machinery and
either died where they stood or were sacri-
+ feed in hopeless attacks-attacks made
hopeless by the absence of artillery support.
To-day the British are sending four
shells to the German one. British artillery
outnumbers and outreaches the German.
! The supply Of munitions far exceeds tho
German. At the Battle Of the Somme the
British aviators had complete control Of
the air, and German artillery "shot into
( the blue" 1t was the Germans who were
then handicapped by the failure Of their
artillery to support them.
Top Dog" at Last
: To-day, from one end of the British
front to the other, there is going forward
an endless and ceaseless pounding, and
under it the German strength is beginning
! TO weaken. The British soldier sees day
after day German deserters coming in; he
/ has the confidence which artillery support
gives; he has the confidence which a slow
but sure progress forward gives; and he
/ feels himself to be stop dog" Having
held his ground through all the terrible
months when he was destitute alike Of
munitions and Of implements of war, hesh
/ ing held the German at the moment WHEN
the German organization and morale wers
at their highest point, the British soldier
now feels that his superiority must giv
him a victory where, while still inferior,
he checked the most powerful German
tnrusCs.
There is little foolish optimism in the
mind Of the man in the trench. He does
not talk in terms of the capture of Berlin
or the collapse of the German army. He
does not talk much about starving Ger.
many out" or about internal revolutions
in Germany. But so far as he talks at all
he talks Of specific, definite evidences OF
German weakening, largely visible through
his periscope and disclosed TO him when
he goes on raids. 1t would be impossible
TO exaggerate the confidence of this Brit.
ish army, but it is not the kind of cenf-
dence that is expressed frequently in Brit
ish newspapers it is the confidence Of a
man who, having been for long time
under disadvantages, feels that he now has
more than an even chance, more than an
equal amount of strength, superior re-
sources, and knows that his own spirit is
mistaken.
! One cannot visit the British armies in
/ France without feeling that a sentiment
for "peace without victory" is non-existent
and that, while conscious of the greatness
of the task before him, the British soldier
! feels that the ultimate outcome is now
sure.
An American will find cause for gratia.
cation and cause for regret in visiting the
British army. He feels that the British
experience has demonstrated that democ.
racy can and will defend itself and can, II
time be given, raise great armies. equip
them with munitions and meet the sevefs
est tests; but he will also feel how great .
the price Of unpreparedness, for when
many of the best and finest in the British
army have already been sacrificed.