The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-08-03
SEES ADMISSION
OF DISASTER IN
KAISER'S WORDS
SidebOtham. Military Ex.
pert, Thinks Proclamation
Notable for Omissions.
LAUDS ENGLAND'S FEAT
Thinks Four Years Accom-
plishmcnt Wonderful i'm
Light Of Events.
LAUDS ENGLAND'S FEAT

special cdoe Despdfch 10 THE Sun rom the
London Times.
Copyright. 1sls: all rights reserred.
LONDON. Aug. 3 GSaturday) The
Times prints to-day the first Of a series
Of articles by Gen. II. Sidebothan,. one
NJ the foremost military critics Of the
udr. formerly Of the gtdG OF the Man
chester Gudrd,an. The Times prints Il
rs BY Our Correspondent on war"
The article foious:
ny Gen. II. sIDEBOTHAM.
The Kaiser's proclamation to his
troops summarizing the results OF four
years Of war was notably modest in its
claims on the western front He could
not have said less for the German army
in France than that II had kept war
from the homeland. made a fine defence
during two years in which 1t was out
numbered and dealt against us shrewd
blows after the detection of Russia had
restored the parity Of numbers.
But he said no more. and all the ad-
jectives in his vocabulary win not make
verb, which Is the only part Of speech
that matters. That he should have said
no more Is more remarkable because OF
the known differences OF opinion In Ger
man Governmental quarters about the
policy for the western offensive. For
the third time the German General
STAFF has staked ,ts credit on breaking
through after the first failure OF Won
Moltke. Won Falkenhayi had to go
after the second failure at Nerdun, and
now is Ludendorf TO go after the third
failure?
kuehImRnn Had Backing.
Won Kuehlmann would not have
spoken as he did unless he had military
backing to his opinions. Although this
backing was not strong or loyal enough
10 keep him from taking, +; may still
have been quite willing TO take advan-
tage OF Ludendorf's failure II Hinden-
burg's professions of solicitude for the
lives OF German soldiers are not to be
read as implied criticisms OF an ofren-
sive with which he never identified him
self
AT the beginning OF this fifth year of
the war ii Is our duty TO be honest with
ourselves as TO the causes of our past
failures. Even now they are not APP
parontly understood everywhere. but /.
would be unfair not to recognize at the
outset that great ms our mistakes have
been those of the enemy have been far
greater.
The whole of the German military
theory Is against long war, 1t has bat
tened down short wars To easy VIC
tories, There is strong if not a DOM
inant party in Germany which would
be only 'tCo glad TO barter on the west
for freedom and to do as 1t liked on
the east-parts of whose policy is per-
haps even more dangerous to this coun-
try than that of our mllitarists. This
party Will produce its historian later
the burden of whose argument Will be
something like this;
I'VE had an easy war in our mind.
which would have made the east n
German freehold. but the Camarilla
General Staff. working In alliance with
the Westphalian magnates who wanted
French and Belgian coal and iron
mines. must needs start pulling the
world about our ears. 1t has lost the
war twice over"
The work done during the first year
of the war was to carry the war into
the enemy's territory and to defend the
home land. lie betrays an uneasy sense
OF indictment by a military Germany
whose best notion OF getting peace
has been periodically to multiply the
war by two.
BY comparison with blunders so colos-
sal. our own may wei seem slight. The
chief defect of the British Government
is that II was Government by commit
tees policy determined upon any crisis.
sible, but the greater common dlvlsor
iito all factors OF opinion OF the huge
overgrown committees OF government 1t
Is not true that there has been too much
Interference by statesmen with their
naval and military advisers,
Same Causes at Work Again.
The same causes which turned the
forces OF the German offensive from the
west to the east after the first battle
OF the Marne are now at work as the
second battle of the Marne draws to
its close. | ct those of US who WORRY
over the fact that the second Marne
battle was fought over much the same
ground as the first and with much the
same result think now much more paiu-
fully that fact would strike them II
they were Germans
Russia restored 10 full communl-
Continued on Second Pooe.
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