Evening star., 1918-08-26
HUN ARMY NOW IS
INFERIOR TO ALLIES
Entente Hitting With Re-
neWed Vigor, Thanks to
Americans Arrival
TURNING POINT IS SEEN
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

fost tOupaAy.J
Gen. March quite recently made
1t clear that the gain or loss of terri
tory was not so important phase OF
the war just now as the blows oeins
inflicted on the enemy by the allies.
..The objective of each army,s he
said. 'is the other army" A can
vass made today of the best military
minds here leads to the conclusion
that the entente armies are meeting
with substantial success in every re-
spect and that both in morale ana
numbers the German army now Is IN
ferior to it's adversary.
1t is true that the allies have not
yet reached the same points on the
map which they occupied before the
Germans undertook their super-of-
fensive in March last, but II German
of the allies. IL the spirit of their
troops has been weakened by the
steady blows with which Marshal
Foch has been hammering away AZ
the enemy all along the line. then u
can be adopted as absolutely logical
that the entente is in the process OF
winning the war.
See Turning Point NOW.
The military men here are not swept
away by glowing headlines and spo-
radio successes. but are conservative
IN their judgment of the enemys
strength.
They are not inclined to rash
statement and they have been un-
willing UP till now to admit that the
war had entered into the final stages
They believe. however tnat Ine . .urn
ing point has come. Every report
from the other side which reaches
here shows that while the allied
armies were in a more or less oeS-
perate situation on June last, Wnen
the morale of the French was partic-
ularly low, the subsequent advance OF
the French and British. in co-opera-
ton with the American forces. re-
versed the situation entirely. While
the allied peoples were prooaoly
little more respondent in June tnan
they need to have been. 1t Is corre-
spondingly true that the initial VIC
tories carried them to point OF eia-
ton which was somewhat in excess OF
that warranted by the actual facts.
But the change in morale has had ITS
beneficial effect. and can be measured
in the increased offensive power OF
observers have modestly sought to
find the reasons for the allied success
in operations other than those In
which the Americans have partlci-
pated. but making every allowances
for the rejuvenated spirits Of the
French and the British due to the
presence of the bis American Army In
France. there is absolutely no preJu-
dice in the conviction which now pre-
walls that tsa +,ds Gen; n satsIs psTshinss men
Both the French and the British
were somewhat surprised at the
of the American troops
to European conditions OF warfare,
and there is good ground for the be-
lief that when the first American
Thierry. the French high command
promptly decided to use Americans in
great numbers along vital stretches of
the front. Details of what America
did to check the German offensive are
not yet collected sufficiently to pre-
sent in any comprehensive form, and
the speed with which the situation
changes on the western front makes
it impossible to form a careful judg-
ment of Americas real value In the
fighting thus far. But when the Ger
mans are finally pressed back to the
old Hindenburg line there will prob
ably be appraisals on both sides.
Must Let Germany Know.
From a publicity point Of view 1t is
Of the utmost Importance that the
part America has played thus far in
the actual fighting operations be made
known in Germany.
Already the German press reflects
great uneasiness over what the
American divisions of the future are
likely to do. The business of war so
greatly simplifed by the pooling of
allied resources. and the Germans can
expect the regular transportation of
American forces at the rate of 100000
a month for many months to come
Gen. March's own prediction is that
eighty American divisions can win the
war, and the rapidity with which
American drafted troops have been
trained in the past gives ground for
the further assertion that a large
part of the eighty divisions will be
ready for the fray in the early spring
of next year. Many American troops
have gone into action with upward
of three months training and have
given a good account of themselves.
Every lull in the situation on the
western front gives more time for
training. At present it looks as If
the policy of the allies would be to
keep annoying the enemy and forcing
his retirement at the least cost of
man power, but that the main effort
year or early in 1919.
German Retreat Forced.
Every examination of cabled and
mail reports from the other side leads
to the judgment that the German
is by no means voluntary,
but forced. and that it is accompanied
by hardly as much order and strategic
as was possible in previous
retreats The farther back the Ger
mans are pressed the closer will the
allied airmen be to German terrNbry
and the more successful will be their
bombing expeditions. The German
in usefulness as the allies force the
enemy farther away from important
French cities
On the whole. the military side of
Washington, which has proved very
conservative in the past and not in
the least affected by the occasional
advance and gains in territory in
which many military critics have pro-
fessed to see tremendous Significance,
now believes that the allied armies
are injuring the Germans far more
than they are themselves being in
jured, that the morale of the Ger
man troops and people is much lower
than it has been since the beginning
of the war, and that the morale of the
French and British is excellent, and
that with the prompt response of
the people of the United States to the
call for men between the ages of
eighteen and forty-fve, the end of
the war and the right kind of peace
are not matters of the indefinite
future, but can be definitely counted
upon for the year 1919.
Big Effort Lies Ahead.
uut the nrocess Of winning fhe
war has only begun and the maximum
effort of the allied peoples has not
been made in the past, but must yet
be made in the remaining months of