The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1917-07-29
ADvANT TAGE
7 0 ALLIES
PAST YEAR
Entrance of United
States Makes Big
Improvement in
Prospective.
BY Associated Press.

ny Associated PfeSS.
London, July 2S.--America's entrance
into the war is the most important de-
velopment of the third year of the
great conflict i'm the opinion of Major
General Frederick l.. Maurice. chief di-
rector of military operations at the
British war office. as expressed in an
interview in which he summed up the
situation. General Maurice said that
today Germany, whose whole military
GOSPEL was to prosecute a Vigorous Of
fensiNe, is reduced to "a pitiful state
of military helplcssncss in which she
is barely able to hang on" In the hope
that her submarines will force the reo-
pie of the entente powers to demand
peace while Germany has the big
pawns' with which to make a bargain.
Entrance U. s. Big Event.
Speaking from the military point
of view" said Major General Maurice.
the greatest event of the third year
OF the war Is the fact that America
Joined us. Up to the present France
and Russia always have been able to
say to their people that when Eng
lands full weight was in the field the
pressure on the French and Russians
would be somewhat lessened. That
still is true. but only to n limited cX-
tent. Even England Is getting near
the point where she must say that she
cannot extend her work much further
in Franco. Meanwhile, the strain In
the continental countries i9 becoming
greater and the French are in real
need of more and more support.
"Of course. the same IL true. and
probably in far greater measure in
enemy quarters.
Biggest Reserve VIII Win.
''But the whole lesson of the three
years of warfare Is to emphasize the
military maxim that tho man with the
last reserve is going to win and we
still have got the whole power OF the
United States to draw upon.
Germany has made tho-s,ame mis-
take with regard to the United States
that three years ago she made as to
England. She found she could not
win on land. 1t was necessary to try
boat warfare. This said the Ger
man theorists. will defeat England and
bring the reign Of the entente to an
end. We do not believe that tn,
United States viii come In but, II she
does, she is an unmilitary nation and
certainly cannot become n military
factor soon enough to play any part
In this war
That reasoning sounds unbelievable
to us, but n drowning man clutches at
| a straw We believe the German
| theorists will be proved as wrong in
their estimates of the United States
! 4. 4.
land.
The first year of the war. broadly
| speaking. was an attempt by Germany
to put into effect elaborate plans which
her military strategists had been pre-
pairing for years. The first phase was
a concentrated attack on France and
Belgium during n certain allotted Pc
riod in which the Germans estimated
1t would he impossible for Russia to
disturb them In the east
"The attack on France was checked.
first on the Marne. Later on the User
and at Ypres
| Germany then, according to her
plan. took the defensive on the west
ern front and turned her offensive
eastward in an effort to knock out
Russia. Here again she failed al
though her attack enormously weak
ened Russia's offensive power.
Starts on New Plan.
TN the autumn Of 1918. Germany
| definitely abandoned her old war
strategic scheme and started In on "A
new plan. namely. an effort to upbuild
'mittel Europa as great block COM
posed Of four so called central pow
ers, which would command the road to
the east The autumn campaign of
1915 consisted Of the furtherance of
this scheme by conquering Serbia.
bringing in Bulgaria and halting our
Dardanelles effort by rushing supplies
| and soldiers to the assistance of the
! Turks.
by the winter of 1915 Germany had
gone long way toward realization Of
her ambition and this point represents
to my mind. the grand climactric of
Germany's offensive. All this time
Great Britain had been building up
armies and with the beginning of 1915
we, for the first time, had a real army
in the field.
with the spring OF 1915 Germany
!; had come to realize that Russia was
too massive to kill or crush. So the
German staff again turned on France
and the Vcrdun attack was the result
Turning Tide Of War.
with the defeat Of Germany al
Verdun came n turning of the tide in
n successful British offensive. Pre-
vious British military efforts had been
comparatively speaking. minor opera :
tions undertaken in support OF the
I French. At the Somme we started
n our new work and really great. impor-
e tant work it was, although a great deal
r of the contemporary effect Of the yer-
dun defeat and OF the Somme victory