Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-05-21
The Battle of Reserves

When the British Director of Military Opera
tons says that the end of the present battle in
France and Flanders will come when one side or
the other exhausts its reserves, he simply phrases
the common sense of the situation. The unprece-
dentedIy furious struggle preciptated by the latest
German offensive may be expected to continue, with
occasional lulls, long there is enough
available man-power to keep it going. The Ger
mans cannot rest where they without broadly
confessing defeat and without exposing themselves
in a peculiarly vulnerable way to the Allied
counter-stroke which soon late is certain to
come. Their advance. after its first momentum
was spent proved so much slower than they had
calculated that all their plans put of gear.
A speedy victory would have solved a thousand
problems which now beset them and grow
stantly more formidable. However costly the at
tempt to press again may be, Hindenburg
his successor doubtless considers it the only alter
native to a far-reaching retreat 1t seems prob
able. therefore. that when his battered divisions
have been reorganized. he will strike again
furiousIy as before
Then will come the decisive test II the Hun
loses heavily in the first part of the battle
and still fails to break the Allied line he will in
evitabIy fall back to the defensive and a greatly
weakened defensive at that. 1t is estimated that
he began this drive with some six hundred and
terror depots His losses are conservatively reck-
soned at three hundred thousand. If half of these
represent wounded men who will recover suff-
GENTLY 70 return to the front. may count his
naming reserves at four hundred and fifty thou
sand That number is sufficient to feed another
gigantic offensive hut not sufficient to tide Ger
man confidence over another season of vast and
futile sacrifice. As for the Allied reserves. it APP
pears that those of the French and British
still for the part intact, General Foch having
found It unnecessary thus far to draw largely upon
them for the needs Of defense. This will be OF
great advantage to the Allies when the hour comes
for striking back in force. Though have had
no intimation as to the number of those reserves.
IL is fairly safe to assume the available Allied
forces on the Western front at least approx
mateIy as large as the German forces. In that
case. all the that the United States is pour
ing into France may be considered ever
INCREASING increment to the Allied reserve and.
therefore as having decisive influence the out
come Of the present campaign and of the
How many Americans there now in the var
zone? And how many are likely to be there with
in the twelvemonth: That at least FIVE hundred
Thousand already there, we know from Sec.e
stary Bakers explicit statement. Including those
I'VE have upwards of two million men now with the
scoIors It is improbable that by the end of the
year or by next spring the latest shall have
an army OF a million and half men in France.
Furthermore. shall have in training and under
Registration enough men to double that army. In
sum, then. we have this situation: the French and
British with their recent Italian achievements
are about as strong numerically the Germans;
If the German reserves counted at four hundred
and fifty thousand they are more than balanced by
The Americans in France and just across the
Channel: and finally the number of Americans tina:
will he at the front or near il within the next eight
or ten months will give the Allies overshadow-
ing remembrance. This is contingent, of course
a5on the outcome OF the enemyS renewed drive
nnt il the French and British lines continue to
mold the factor OF reserves decisive factor in
this long test OF endurance-will inevitably go
against the EiIn.