Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1918-08-07
Number of Fighting Men i'm the
Kaiser's Army.

ing men still in the German army
(leaving out of account any estimat-
es of the Austrian army, the AM
erican, French and British soldiers
holding the lines of the allies in
Flanders and France have not quite
all that amount of Teutonic man
power to grapple with; nor will they
have.
During the past four months or
more-or say, since the start of the
drive north, near Belgium, on Mar.
21 last--many figures have been
quoted as to the respective numbers
of the armies opposed, each state
ment being sworn to apparently as
the only official census, and yet the
average man is confused still.
When one scrutinizes all the
statistics one fact only he can be
quite sure of. The armed forces on
the western front that are German
cannot be 100000 in all, and it
may be that half million less than
that is nearer the truth.
Still, one fact is undeniable, and
that is that the German army today,
its fighting men altogether on differ
ent fronts everywhere, is near twice
as big as was the kaisec's fighting
machine when the war began four
years ago. The latest reports this
week, declared to be authentic"
declare that the total number Of
fighting men in the German army is
now about 100000. While that is
not far from twice the number of
men in arms with which Kaiser Will
helm began the war, it is a full mil
lion and half less than he had in
August, 1916. These figures can be
trusted, always remembering that the
Austrian anywhere are not counted
in.
Germany cannot add from her own
country more than 100000 men to
the army-this year, and the annual
German loss is about 100000. But
the kaiser hopes to place a Ukran-
ian army on the western front before
the end of the war.
There are now on the front from
Calais to Belfort 203 German divis-
ions total, say, of 3,650,000. This
is 100000 more than Germany
had on the western front year ago,
and of the increase rs per cent came
from the Russian front. The re-
mainder is made up of recruits.
On the eastern front are half
million German soldiers, the poorest
part of the kaiser's arm. There are
in German depots 10000 soldiers,
and on lines of communication L.
100000 more. There is one German
division in Palestine, but none in
Mesopotamia, and none on the
Italion front.
These forces all total about $685.
900. Officers with Germany's allies
and other smaller factors would
bring the figure to about 100000.
German losses of a permanent ma
ture in the recent Somme offensive
summed, say, 100000. This leaves
a strength of 100000 as meas
ure of the military man power OF
Germany today.
When the kaiser started the war
in Auguts, 1914, he had an army OF
100000 in actual operation. One
year later his army had grown to
100000. BY August 1916, the
German army numbered 100000.
In August, 1917, it was 100000.
Now it is about 100000 fewer than
that,
Since August, 1916, recruits have
been put in at the rate of 100000 a
year. This indicates that German
losses since August, 1916, were q
100000, men. The German army's
total loss is placed at considerably
more than 3,000,000.
The Germans started the May Of
fensive with an infantry superiority
of 100000 over the French and
British forces. Many German divis-
ions have been disrupted by severe
punishment, and indications now are
that the enemy is repairing the ma
chine before hitting again. He has
abundance of man-power to feed the
machine as soon as it is fixed
That fact makes every soldier in
France and England needed now,
and Americans are performing n
larger military service than is often
thought Every American soldier
in the line anywhere from Calais to
Belfort adds one fighter to the al
lied forces. This means that every
American division holding line on
American sectors adds two French