The Sentinel=record., 1918-08-08

| derstand the number of men required
to man and maintain the British
navy and mercantile marine? There
are at least 100000, probably 500, :
600 or 100000 Of whom are of mill
tary age. There was an attempt to
comb out some OF these men. but il
was found impossible, for to do SO
would be letting down the British
fleet and to let down the British fleet
is TO let down the allies.
81 wish to point out the necessity
or not impairing in the slightest de-
| gree. the efficiency, strength and
| growth Of the British navy and mer-
camille marine. During the past two
years Germany has made two dis
tinct attempts to force a decision
' one on the land and one on the water
| THE American naval mission
which came over recently saw a great
| deal of the effort of the British navy
| and was immensely struck with the
yastness OF the work of which IS be-
| ing done. 1t was especially anxious
! that steps he taken to make known,
not only here, but in America, the
, gigantic character OF the task we are
| doing.
Il would like to point out, in deal
| ing with the army and its growth
| that the maintenance OF the navy and
| the mercantile marine il the first
| charge on the resources of the coun-
try. Our military effort has been
| subject to the demands Of those OBJ
| legations on our resources in men
and materials, yet since August.
1914, including those already with
the colors, Great Britain alone has
raised for the army and navy $780,
coo men. for the most part volun-
tarily. The Dominions contributed
one million and India l,250000.
''If America were to call to the
colors the same number of men as
Great Britain in proportion to popu-
iation 1t would mean nearly 15,000,-
GGG men.
"On the western front, after the
enemy had been relieved of all ap-
prehension on the eastern front, be-
cause of the Brest-Litovsk peace the
| Germans brought all their best divi-
/ sions against us and our allies.
| Therefore when the German often
sive began March 21, the allies were
| confronted by the flower of the Ger
man army, who had rested and made
preparations specially for the great
blow. while the French and the
British were tired hy the prolonged
offensive on our part under the most
exhausting conditions.
Considerable American forces
had been expected to reach the bat
tie front by spring, but as a matter
of fact on the Dist of March there
was only one American division in
the line, although there were three
which were brought up after the at
tack began.
"The weather conditions were the
most favorable that the enemy could
was not yet an accepted fact, in spite
of all endevors to achieve it and
each general was mainly concerned
over the perils of his own front so
that when the blow came the re-
serves Of the allied armies were not
available to meet 1t where it fell.
"Those We're the conditions under
which the long prepared and care
fully planned blow of the picked
troops of Germany fell upon the Brit
lsh army The enemy's object WAS
to obtain a military decision this
year before the armor could come up.
first of all by severing the two ar
mics and then attacking the French
and British forces.
1--WE must understand the enemy
plan in order to realize what the
valor of the British army achieved
If the two detectives had been OBJ
tanned the American forces could not
have arrived in time to save the
French army. That was the German
calculation, Let us not forget in the
light of what hapuened afterwards
that it was not such an impossible
effort
How did the German plans pros
per? There had been four and a half
months of such fighting as never be-
fore was seen on the face OF the
globe. What happened? At first the
German army achieved considerable
success and we had anxious mo-
ments-very anxious moments. Those
who knew most about the situation
We're the most anxious. Our losses
were considerable in men, In ma
terial and also In prisoners. The sec
ond German blow might very well
have overwhelmed the British army,
but before the battle was over, in a
fortnight's time, 100000 men were
thrown across the channel and in a
months time 335.0e0. Every gun lost
had been put back and every ma