The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1917-09-27

The Anglo French forces did moi
follow this dilatory method: in April
they took up a vigorous offensive and
damaged the Hindenburg line in sew
eral places
rms battle of the Aisne and of
champagne april 16 to May 16, 1870
which will go down to posterity as
one OF the most sanguinary battles OF
the war, not only assured to the allies
the conquest of the positions-the i'm
portance of which was indisputably
revealed by the fury of the battles and
counter attacks-but it had consid :
erabie effect on the military situation
and the German military strength.
On the Verdln front from February,
1916, to February, 1917, Germany had
engaged fifty-six divisions and a half,
fourteen of which went to the front
twice and six three times.
From April 8 to May II. 1917, |. e.,
in one month only, eighty-four divi-
sions were massed by the Germans on
the Aisne and Champagne front Seven
of these divisions We're said to have
been brought up twice.
During that period the booty of the
Anglo French troops amounted to:
49,579 prisoners (976 officers).
444 guns of different calibre.
943 machine guns.
1856 trench guns.
OF the forty three fresh divisions
brought up by the Germans to the
French front from the beginning of
April, and which constituted the su-
preme strategic mass, that which was
to render possible the famous Hin
denburg surprise" there remained only
ten divisions intact in July. Four
fifths Of the German reserves had been
thrown into the furnace; the ambi-
tious plans announced with great blus-
ter in the German press during the
winter of 1916-1917 had all come to
nothing. Italy invaded, Petrograd and
Odessa taken, as we'll as Dunkirk,
Calais and Boulogne, the army of
Salonica driven into the sea, etc,
The Recent offensives..
And suddenly in August, 1917, came
the new allied offensives; there was
the successful battle of Flanders and
the English surrounded Lens The
French, SCATTERING forever the dream
of Verdun, which cost the German
empire so dear, thrust back the army
of the crown prince in few hours
to it's former lines. The Italians made
formidable advance toward Trieste,
Selling more than 10000 prisoners
from the Austrian rout. And on the
Baltic front Riga still held.
The above efforts certainly had fur
Their effects on the German reserves,
for instance, during the course of the
German defeat Of August 20 on the
Mouse a reserve division was annihi
division of Bandenburg, particularly
popular and particularly held in high
esteem by the kaiser-the same divi-
sion, or rather what remained of 1T,
which reached Donaumont on Feb
ruary rs, 1916, which event was her
aided with so much buster in the
whole German press.
One of the peculiarities of the above
mentioned German defeat was the pro-
portion of officers captured out of
500 men there were 201 officers. Now
during the offensives of 1916 the allies
only took 20S officers out of 1000
men. We have here an undeniable
proof of the diminishing value of the
German army and of the waste in the
officers ranks.
Allies in Far Better Case.
To the data given above it is easy
to make the following objection: If
Germany has suffered losses which
seriously compromise her reserves, is
it not the same or even worse with
the allies?
First of all, it is not worse The
allied front is not so vast, and it has
been proved, moreover, that in their
method of fighting the Germans use
more men, either because their gen.
eral staff processes a certain contempt
for what it calls human material
Oet us not forget the hetacombs Of
the User, Of Verdun and the Somme)
or because they persist in the eff
cheney Of attacks in massed formation.
But then these tactics seem to be
necessary, because the German soldier,
taken individually, does not possess
the qualities of "go" and initiative
which distinguish the French, as their
morale is not always good and also
because the best units have depre-
ciated little by little since they select
ed from their ranks the elite elements
of the famous shock troops (Stoss-
truppen).
| And meanwhile time is passing Be-
sides her interior problems, which are
becoming daily more aggravated. Ger
many has to solve real crisis in the
wearing out of her military strength.
"Mitteleuropa" is not, whatever one
may say of it, fairy country which
escapes the laws of natural equilibri-
UNI; a single glance at the map shows
that her reservoir Of men must mathe-
| ,r,s%l 1acoac--hn