FIRST PART.
MILITARY STRENGTH OF THE BELLIGERENT STATES.
1.—False Reports of the Enemy’s Military Weakness.
The figures of the strength of the various armies and their losses obviously must be ascertained in the first place. The principal question is how many fighting and military forces in general (reserves, provisions, supply department, railway service, &c.) the various States can bring forth, if the war is to last for a considerable space of time.
Just now we often read, even in serious papers, that the Germans fighting in Russia are beginning to be short of men. But this shortage (if it exists) can be only temporary, as the Germans and Austrians can still raise considerable numbers of men, and, indeed, are actually raising them.
Another very frequent statement relates to the quality of the enemy’s soldiers. Even authorities like General Galliéni proclaim (Sunday Times, December 5th) that the German troops are exhausting themselves, and that the quality of the German soldier is rapidly deteriorating. But in the same paper for November 23rd, in an article on the physique of the German troops, it is pointed out that the reports that the enemy has been compelled to fall back on unfit material in recruiting for his armies, are not trustworthy. The article quotes German official sources.
As a rule the figures of the enemy’s strength and quality, as given in the papers, are very misleading, because one statement usually contradicts the other. I am surprised that the Censors in England, France and Russia allow such statements to be printed; German papers are evidently not allowed to do so. I have observed that such statements have a bad effect not only on the general public, but also on the officers and the soldiers who read the papers.
It is surely of great importance that the officers should have a correct view of the quantity and quality of the enemy.
