Arizona republican., 1917-10-10
GERMAN MILITARY STRENGTH
 DECREASING; TEUT0NS HAVE
 MADE THEIR SUPREME EFFORT
Republican A. p. Leased Wire1
 WASHINGTON, Oct. 9.-Ger-


 shows a clear decrease for the first
 time since the war began, accord
 ing to review based upon data of
 the French general staff made
 public here tonight by the French
 high commission.
 Worn down and driven back by
 the never. ending pounding of the
 allies on the western front, the
 statement says, the Germans have
 made their supreme military effort
 after drawing heavily upon their
 inactive armies in the east and
 calling out their 1918 and part of
 the 1919 reserves.
 Thus, while the allies have reach-
 ed and are prepared to maintain
 their full strength while awaiting
 the coming of Amerca's great
 army, the enemy's resources are
 diminishing at the very moment
 when the military situation de-
 mands that they increase.
 "This shows,' concludes the
 statement, 'the decisive character
 attending the operations in 1918,
 when three great democracies,
 England, France and America,
 will unite their entire strength in
 attacking the enemy, in conformity
 with the only sound principles of
 war" -i !
 The commissions statement, issued through the committee on public in formation, follows:
 Both Franco German fronts on the Aisne, 1917 and Verdun. 1916, have already been compared and it has been noted that they are practically of the same length. It has been stated that the German forces occupying them be- fore the attack were equally com- parable: 12 and IA divisions. It is known today that during the same period, from May to September the Germans engaged 25 fresh divisions at Verdun, and that they have been obliged to engage 45 on the Aisne. Furthermore, during an equal period the French took 5.S63 prisoners at Ver- dun and S,533 on the Aisne.
 This comparison included only a small sector of the French front But it showed a very interesting result due to the increase of the material forces of the allies and the improved French fighting methods since adopted by the other armies and also as testified by the German staff itself, apropos of the battle of the Somme, in explaining their defeat: to the perfect use of technical methods
 If the above comparison is extended today to the entire Franco English front, if you consider that from April 15 to June Is the enemy engaged l0S divisions against the Anglo French forces, and finally, if one bears in mind that the successes of the British of fensive at Ypres obliged the enemy to engage fifteen divisions during the last ten days you can understand why the German losses on the western front grow heavier and heavier. They ad- init the loss of 116,000 men during the month of May, 140,000 men are esti- mated by the allied staff during the month of June, etc.)
 This is because the fighting on the western front, as a matter of fact practically never ceases. Whether in the French sectors of Verdun or the Aisne, or in the British sectors of Ar- ras and Ypres, the fighting is only dis continued at one point to be taken up at another. In addition to the big at- Jacks, quantity of carefully prepared small actions which have been crowned with success and of which the bulletins are not able to give a clear idea, in- crease the attrition of the Germans.
 This constant activity, coinciding with the weakness and inaction of the Russians, also explains why the Ger mans are obliged to maintain. and sue ceed in effectually maintaining, three times larger forces on the French front than on the Russian. tln the begin ming of the summer there were 156 German divisions to 700 kilometers or the French front, as against 130 Aus tro-German and Bulgarian divisions 77 of which were German, on the east ern front) It is known that the Rus sian winter practically puts stop tC all active operations and that the reac- tion of the internal events in Russia on the eastern front has allowed Ger many to consider it during four months as a veritable reserve for the western front.
 Tt clearly appears at present that the German staff, remembering the critical situation in which they found I themselves following the Anglo French success in the Somme in 1918 fears to see their western from l broken by the allied offensives in 1917 All the measures they have taken 1 have been defensive in character, in tended to strengthen their resistanc, in the face of Anglo-French forces l Not content with declining to give bat 1 tie and withdrawing portion of theil | front on the Hindenburg position they have transported to the western front between January and April a certain number of divisions drawn from the | eastern front. As this did not suffice Continued on Page TwO)