Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1919-09-13


stores belonging to the German form
| atoms were left in Bulgaria or re
placed by special stocks.
We were well supplied with al
stores required for carrying on opera
lions in the west; but our recruiting
situation was still very serious. Gu
| representations had had no results. A
matter of fact, in the autumn o
I191S, under the influence of recen
| events, the war ministry did reIeas'
men of the home army and the gar
rison troops. who could have JOINED
| the field army sooner.
Eastern Army Combed Out.
General headquarters still had a re,
serve of it's own IN the eastern arm!
and the army of occupation In Rou
mania. AS the situation become more
settled, all men under thirty-five Were
withdrawn from those formations. the
strength of which was simultaneously
reduced, so that their fighting value
was greatly diminished by these
measures. The special arms and line
of communication troops formed
another, though limited, source OF re-
Inducements.
also tried to extend the system OF
replacing men by women and femalf
auxiliary telephone corps was to be
started.
The recruiting situation need not
have been so bad The loss by deser-
ton was uneommonly high. The num-
her that got into neutral countries
q Holland-ran into tens of thous-
ands, and a far greater number liveo
happily at home. tactily tolerated by
their fellow citizens and completely
unmolested by the authorities. They
and the skrimshankers at the front
of whom there were thousands more,
reduced the battle strength of the
fighting troops, especially of the in
fantry, to W hieh most of them be-
longed, to a vital degree.
If these men had been got hold OF
the recruiting difficulty would not
have been so great. More recruits
could have been raised if only the
fighting spirit had been stronger al
home 1t was on this spirit that the
ultimate decision depended-but 1
failed.
Losses Matter of Course.
War consumes men: that is its ma
ture. The modern defensive battle
is more costly than the attack, one
reason more in favor of the latter
The months of August. SEPTEMBER
| and October, 1919. cost us far moro
than March, April and May OF tn
same year. In the earlier months gu
| losses consisted mainly or sngntlS
wounded men, who came back. IN
prisoners we lost in the defense had u
be struck off as lost for good
That the large masses when were
led into battle would suffer heaV!
casualties, in spite OF all tactlca
counter measures, was unfortunatel!
a matter of course.
The recruiting difficulties were no
removed by March. 1918. although
few hundred thousand men were AVIAN
able. They continued to be an un
certain factor in the tremendous con
test. England and France had slmlla
difficulties to contend with. In IN
autumn of 1917 the English division
still had twelve battalions; now the,
were reduced to nine. Since the Aisne
Champagne battle France had als
handed far more than one hundre'
battalions, as well as territorial am
tentorial reserve formations.
The new American formations
which could not have much fighting
1
marine war had continued effective
we could not estimate the amount 0
tonnage the entente would set asld
for transport work.
secret Agitation in Army,
The army had thrown off the de
pressing effects of the previous year
| fighting in the knowledge that it wa
passing from the defense to the at
tack, Its moral appeared completel,
restored, but in March. 1918, 1t coul'
not be denied that secret agitation
was making progress here and there
When the 1919 class reached the re
crujt depots, we began to receive com
plants about its general quality ant
spirit. Moreover, many recruits
| seemed to have great deal of money
which must have greatly embitteret
the older men, who had been Ions
time in the field.
| Nothing had been done to strength
en- the warlike spirit at home TIT
abuses in the various departments O
war administration had become more
fragrant than ever The generally i'm
proved spirit of the army had tenn
porary influence on that at home, ant
| blinded us to good deal. But the
large mass of the people was unaf
| fected, caught in the tolls of enemy
| propaganda, wrapped up in its owl
| interests and cares, and utterly un
concerned about the doubtful issue o.
the war.
The nation could no longer brace
! the nerves of the army. it was already
devouring its marrow. How far thu
| secret agitation of the Independent
socialists had extended we were un
able to determine. The strike at thu
end of January, 1918. had thrown
another lurid light on their activities
| The party was continually gainins
adherents, and was firmly controlled
| hy its leaders, whereas the union!
were losing influence.
| The government itself. although
taking energetic action against the
strikes, failed to see the signs of the
] times in them, as they had in thu
naval muthy in the autumn of 1917
Everything turned more and more OF
maintaining order in Germany by
energetic action, even at the risk of {
temporary falling off in the manufae
ture of warlke stores. Otherwise. /
was to be feared that the REVOLUTIONARY
movement would do even more harm
| The imperial government was ac'
quainted with this view of genera
headquarters. During those days thu
revolution was decisively advanced II
Germany. 1t was at that time, as
have just heard, that the first German
| Soldiers and Workers Council was
formed at Reinickendorf. Thus fur
| Their element of weakness had de
veloped in our own body while VIZ
were in the midst of a struggle FOL
our very existence.
L.At that tina dsd mt attach vita