Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-08-16
FOOLISH CRITICISMS

me business of a military critic is to interpret mill
airy matters ana out of the store of knowledge which he
possesses, to present the various phases of the changing
situation in such a way that the lay reader will be able
20 Follow these changes more understandingly. There
are writing for American papers some critics of ac-
knowledged ability. And there are others who nos. -
experts whose comments are so palpably absurd that
even the uninitiated can see their grotesoue defects
One of these, in a summary of war conditions, refers
to what he, calls the gross blunders of Hindenbure which
is a common form of expression of this particular writer
The reader who had no other means of information
would gather from the articles of this particular critic
tnat the entire German staff is composed of incompe-
tents, and that their campaigns have been merely sue
cessions of blunders.
OF course all this is nonsense. Abe German nation
has blundered. The German government has blundered
Doubtless German generals have blundered. But to denv
military ability to the men who are running the German
military machine is to deny the plain facts of current
history, and to pay a very poor compliment to the people
who are fighting Germany. as we'll. Whether tho Ger
man military plans have been made by Hindenburg or
Ludendorf, or by some other man or group of men does
not matter. If these men had been the only blunderers
the war would have been over long ago. Joffre would
nave occupied Alsace-Lorraine. Won Kluck would have
been outhanked and his army captured. On a dozen oc-
cas'ons lRretrlevable disaster would have overtaken the
German armies, for, opposed to the Germans has been
the best military talent that it has been possible to find
4 Germany has had the advantage of long and thor.
ough preparation. She has had the immense advantage
Of being able to operate on interior lines And coupled
with these advantages she has had that of military talen.
OF a very high order, men thoroughly versed in tho
strategy and the technic of war. Her generals have made
mistakes, but as a rule they have shown remarkable re-
something's in correcting them. She is not an advar.
sary to be despised. She is to be beaten only by hard
lighting and lots Of It, and by the best generalshin tina,
can be brought to bear on the job.
The ultimate defeat Of Germany, which is assured
because 1t is essential to the peace and progress ~ tbe
world; will. be due, not to lack OF military ability on thf
part OF her generals, but to the false conception of hu.
man relations which has permeated the whole Germa,
fabric. When Germany made war upon the world It wa,
Inevitable that the world should rise up and, DESTROY tina,
which made Germany a menace to the world. II wa,
inevitable. that the spirit OF democracy that lives i,
humanity should assert itself and draw to the very lint
on all 1ss resources TO remove this stumbling block from
~ path. And the task has proven such a tremendou
one. and ~ still very far from finished, because German,
had equipped herself with = military machine whic,
surpassed anything Of the Kind that the world had eve
Zen. TO win this war We must rely on supreme effort
nd not on any comfortable theory that the German gen
eEals are . set o. stupid blunderers.