The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1919-11-01
ip year II might be seven. it
K oe a 30-year war.
Il SUPERIORITY OF ALLIES


! FELT SUPERIORITY OF ALLIES
, The longer the war lasted the more
acutely we felt the overwhelming SUI
periority of the enemy in numbers and
war material.
On our side the first two years had
exacted a heavy toll; the flower of our
fighting strength lay under the sod
But the army was still strong and
resolute and had been able to preserv
or liberate, not only the frontiers OF
the fatherland. but also those of its
allies in the European theatre
Only on the eastern front had we
now suffered a reverse. and that be-
cause the fighting power of the Aus
tro- Hungarian army was still on the
decline.
We had succeeded in calling a halt
to our retreat there. We were to re-
tain our power to do so. but it de-
manded further German help Aus
tria- Hungary continued to be drain
on German blood and German war in
dustries.
The same was true of Bulgaria and
Turkey. although the demand for troops
was not so great. but their concern
was for money, military equipment and
transport material Germans had 10
nelp everywhere. We did so in many
cases without the necessary return
WHOLE BURDEN ON GERMANY
The burden on us was certainly di-
rectly relieved by our allies. Withou.
them the war would have been IN
thinkable they did their share valiant
ly, but considered they had a natural
right to approach us with constant
succession of demands, although their
efforts in no way equalled ours. The
longer the war lasted the more detri
mental must these constant allied
nm
quadruple alliance as whole The
whole gigantic burden of this war law
on our shoulders
We had six millions at the front
against ten millions Of the enemy The
equipment of the entente armies win
war material had been carried ont an
d scale hitherto unknown. The batttIa
OF the Somme showed us every dav
now great was the ADVANTAGE of ~
enemy in this respect.
When we added to this the batrad ana
immense determination of the enter,te
their starvation blockade or strange hold
ana theH mischievous and lying proua
sanoa' winch was SO dangerous for us. IL
was quite obvious that our victory wa :
inconcelvable unless Germany and her
aihes threw into the scale everything thew
mad poth In manpower and Industrial re-
sources, and unless every man who went
"A
resoiute faith in victory and an unshak-
able conviction that the German army
must conquer for the sake of the father
land. The soldier on the battlefield. who
endures the most terrible strain that anv
man can undergo, stands. in his hour of
need, IN dire want Of this moral reinforce
ment from home. to enable him to stand
nrm and hold out at the front
DEMANDS MORE MAN POWER
In the situa ton in which the field mar.
shall and found ourselves and in view
of our whole conception of the character
of this war and the enemy's determine
ton to destroy us, We considered IL Sc
sential to develop the economic phvsica.
and moral strength Of the fatherland to
the highest degree
General headquarters demands on the
imperial government comprised man
power. war material ard moral resolution
We endeavored. as FAR as we could, 10
influence our allies in the same sense
Austria had already raised the age limits
OF the Landsrrum to IS, and Turkey raised
the limit of liability to service to 80 So
they made the utmost use of their man
power-at any rate on paper.
In such a situatOr general headQuar-
ters must devote more attention than ever
TO the question of using the resources of
the occupied territories.
These were the definite changes maze
by general headquarters for the future.
The chief Of the naval star advocated
unrestricted Submarine warfare, which