Newspaper Page Text
SUNDAY. APRIL 27
V.' -Why the Germans Failed on the
Western Front
(Copyright. 1 r*i r ». ! t McClure News
paper Syndicate.)
(Bv PHILIP GIBBS.)
The Kf'fier f-lUj' u»i<l • lass v.-url: of
the German A rmv w.r m • •i r, v wr* yn
masterly, and far higher in <*fflri‘*ncy
and kmnvl.iip' dtirinur the first two
years of th*- v.ar than that of the
British, and even of the French. It
would he absurd to pretend th*t Tlrl
tisli generalship wan in tin* early
<lays a match for the enemy's. There
Was hi
Army who had ever handled inoro
than a division of men in the field,
«nd army corps or groups of divis
, lons wire unknown to our start offi
cers. They had to learn how to move
men in mass's. whereas the German
generals In tirnts of peace were f»-
mlliar. during autumn maneuvers,
with armies on the full scale of mod
ern warfare In strategy and tactic*
they were trained scientists who had
devoted all their mental energy to
the study of the actual pr hi cm of
the war Ip whieh they <l. li l>* r;i tei
engaged hy the most minute study
of everv detail which might help for
ward its success, in their war col
leges and lass schools thev had ana
lyzed every alternative plan of at
tack, every poslhh method of strik
ing Rapidly and effeelively so as to
destroy their enemy by weight of
number hurled upon unprepared po
sitions. and thev were certain when
they moved their troons toward the
French and Belgian froutiers in July
of Ifn4, that according to the unal
terable laws of mi<it.,'»rv science, the
game was In their hands.
And yet they failed.
GERMANS IGNORED
THE HUMAN SOUL.
fly rdrlklnK through Belgium, which
was almost defi nI. : .ii- iini l ! tti*-ir on
rush. they gain* •! their first and fright
ful ad .int ie-- Ti Ii • nr)i G -mta!
Staff who on, : t In V 1 •. n through
thefr Intelllj; •• < l.;-ti. ! wi.Mi ■ » otti -
man talk In German military circle* long
before the war. faded to anticipate this
i
to Its thrust by rot > ent> at dig all their
Ik-sI troops behind tie eastern frontier.
In spite also of Hi fort. yi*:n- mtiiiae
fLgalnsl them, the J ni ' h v. t r»* utterly
tin prepaid for war of the kind that
was to happen, and were desperately
short of equipment. h« a gun« amon
nltlon and transport Tl. eommlttcd
many grievous mistakes ■•ml had • • •»• i
a frightful prle. foi them ny it • t»m*
they had weeded out tin r older and
Unscientific geio nils, »• d their
methods of defense d>rot<-d tin whole
eners> Of tin nai.«n t., 11 .• |iodintnn
of war n..t<rlai ami »*;•'« Important
command* to younger rm n of scientific
S l>llt ty Tin \* ere 1.l- in e n. .
reforms and th* G»tj m had struck
deep down Into France in-for* they were
made And vet the Gt naans failed on
the western front
Why?
To answer that question it Is rn*« s
sary to take the whole of tin* German
war plan into consideration, both Must
and West and to analyse a little the
peculiar psychology of tin German mind
in my opinion tlvy lost the var ••niircly
hy reason of tln d psvet olnrdcal stupid
ity, which was the overwhelming weak
in*ss behind thGr military technlotn In
other words, thev had manufactured a
terrible wat* inacbln* almost perfeet in
Us mechanism, but guided bv tin n stone
blind to the soul in human nature.
GERMANS OBS SSEO
WITH RUSSIAN BOGEY.
Iletore dealing. How'-mt, with that part
of the subject. If win be well to re* all.
simply, lh*» *'Kflv rvenlß 6f the w;«t\ Tin-
German General HtufT. with the nmui
ptHiplc, had tonic l> *«*i» obMcssed with the
bogey of Hum In. and v% li*?t* the Russian
arniie** I.HM.n to move w rut w»t <1 they
wen* undoubtedly stricken wi'h f**<*r at
lh« vialmi >x the Rttssinrv "Hlearn roller''.
For two years they sacrificed vast mint
ber« of their troops to put their
weigh! it tea ia*f that Russian mass and t<?
roll 11 hark tl rough blood and mud. pain*
imr apactartilat* mid high-sounding vie*
lories which *•-! th« Jov-heJN rlnaim* In
tlrnitHlty, BIP> led to ItolftMt VIHIM. Tllflt
anarchy wits the revolt of m**n who had
Men th«dr sons and brothers sent for
wsrd In vnaaacH, without mit*|K»rl of guns
and often without rifles. against German
armies with the most powerful at till* rv
ill til wOl id and non hili -tin hi ■
killed men in swaths M was Hi I
and fierce vengeance of mobs n| ainst
leader* who had governed by bribery,
corruption and treachery. and had » dd
th- bodies of their cotintrym n to the
tdriures for roubles paid by Oerrnanv. or
I M'h
ii h later cruelties, worse than thos* oi
beasts If there Is any truth 111 reports
from Russia, the fire* Instinct behind the
movement of the llolshevikl was an
agonised cry for brotherhood In place «»f
human erueltv of castes and war lords
Th** spirit of that orv caught hold of the
German troops In Russia and before tl
war ended weakened them as defenders
of German castes and war lords Pn»m
s mllltarv stsmiuolni the Gertnon ob*M
smn In ItuSMhi divided their armies, and
our western front, heavily pi.-swed jis It
was did not •recover the full weight of
German attack. In all available strength
until March 21. l!»l* Ac dn and ngnin
it la almost certain -th* enemy would
have broken th# w-stern front and roll*' 1
up the French and British armies If he
hfid just put In that extra bit of Wright
needed at the exm t moment of *»•♦*» 1
success That he hid not do so was Pint
ly lack of metk owing t*> th*> advsittun
In Russia, and partly a military hesitu
tton due to Ignorant* of out rut re me
w* akness
HER riRST COLO*SAI BLUNDER
The first colossal blunder of th* cm m>
Was in \ugn*t of t’di when his ariuh
were striking down through Lumet In
fixe columns. General Von Kluck v >
commanding th*- light wing "f the Ger
man armies and the little British Vrtm
the old •Vonlemptible* were ItghtlllK
Wnck from Mons with a French Army on
their tight largely composed of old T« »
♦itortsls. who were not reckoned upon
s> Hist line troops, and l*a Gallons of
HenegnUs* >l Moroccans, who liml not
the sain* 'striking power as the French
or British Von Kluck* army passed
*
retreat of the French from Runalinu*
which 1 raw on . tragic night and then
bore down past Ih im s and Mean* to
t'retl ami rli.tntll' not far from I‘uris
•sh,. ► *'* med easy t* * hint, but lit hts
confidence he did not trouble to take ad
vantage of on*- supreme chance which
was bis, snd that was the capture of the
cthannel port* For a little while they
were at Ins mercy
GERMANS COULO HAVE HAD
THE CHANNEL PORTS
I saw the last uniformed met. custom
«xfho* rs flreiu.u .ml pole , men te»v«
l.oulogTi* which lav -open to the enemy
I tala lb* pi * ** r* mob : led Tin
British \rm> had »i"*\* l > it no
Boolean* i ' si \.c dr. away .town
s. it! \t that time im.iiii uM h.*v*
aelred tin * ist tot • -thin which afte*
ward* they inuklit »b*sp- *nt«*t> and it*
VstP to get \\ i '.hit * ,Sl tit Hei
hands her aubn-at witrfnt* would l»a\>
lawn a t -.'i e i* -. it.*, i,n i deadly metta*-
•o Knglsnd nn*» ts * io f • to I‘t4iuv ami
r
the order* ot In* «J* .» ah dmxe
atesdi > hi v i * • : t «>'•*•' > frtut
to he I'lucke l 1 11* t d intending t>*
drlvs n w.wt«. pa l*art» which would
• hen tsll lot** h • In - U •* the best trutt
of all Three t' '* IH"|| hi** reckonin'.:
SJ;d S|• It 1 {• i I' ' ■ WHS th*
aurvi at of tl http r.nush \ma ns a
ftlitni force #rh* i* he tc.otlght It was
am :tht* •' ant t‘ * s- 1 *ml me
Importanti w«s the genius of a certain
FicnU. »rm*ral nannd Foch, not then
fateoua lr th* we and th* it at w
the snmtv.Hl . \nth*« on of the From''
troop* which lifted thorn suddenly from
ili.- »k*M sir > th« a* '»? t 11 ■ a.. ,‘i !
P de tl • ’ **« ’* M xx > j Mil' * i
ml fait t ! d th* ' wot turn back th
f! *■* n t ale
rocH f. pra ft • word*
«m a *.b»v when t ► . . t n *«ihh th-*
p». ulo*U French tin* t. »cht h«*' «* lo fstt
back in JK I din I* Sl th * tt'Ht I'»*»|M
In rarif would t « .•»> •!** the w
as a contpieHri * ' Fe*h ntf * * **nt*
as th* Ft neh ho * « k in »n*r*t if tw»t
In in I «'•’> tl " - i'>" 'h**> >"
|
nr. ii«t r- n? rrn. .* Inm l 'vnv ...
,
whets th*- tbrrmnn# had lit th* lr bivmtV*
ftr*s tirtievtng t t the t hi,nr of th
4av wna over, amt hr Mil the »Yosn
Brine# * i »mj • tv k from th«
ktart * M 'l w' >i* G* rt'.mn hm* had **»
fnll back to the AlMtc to ecnb*n** with
,
ICtuck's army on the German right near'
9 . P . p,itv i .••* U# r* t f»t us *ti^*rder
f. EvUnS bh.H-dy rear*gtutrd MtUMI
FRENCH TROOP* CO
For. WARD *N TAX CABS
Marshal Joffic. tiUlck to realise th#
wonderful chance, ordered General Ma
lt oury to attack Von ICltick on the flank
'lth the Army of Baris, which was taken
up “towards M<*aux. as i raw* the troops
”o. in tin* little red taxicabs from Paris,
, five men to a cab.
Tin* British Army, weak In numbers
after heavy losses down from Mons and
Be Gateau, was still strong in spirit, and
they attacked the river Oureq and har
■•'•d the enemv’s rear-guards w'ith
their horse artillery in so fierce a way
M at when 1 followed across those fields 1
saw leaps of German dead swept up in
Bibs Mb* autumn leaves and burning In
I* ...fir* s after petrol toad been poured on
Gem.
That first victory of the Marne wait the
death-blow to Germany’s hopes of a
quick, certain victory, and after that
they knew the war would he a long, cost
ly and uncertain struggle, in November
of 1914 and again in April of 1915 Von
Klurks army in the North tried to
smash their way through to Calais,
which they had fail'd to take In their
first, rush down to Baris, and they found
themselves up again the British, who had
swung up north Into Flanders and Plcar
dy. In the first battle <f Ypres they al
niost succeeded In smashing their way
through the British lines, weak In nurn
rv compared with their Ffrength, and
hould have don* so by just that extra
"ounch" which so of fan they failed to
■'•‘’liver when the game was in their
hands. So it war; also In the second bat
t! of Yprev when their first us.- of
oiHon raw gained A stupefying surprise.
The Knglish, Irish and Scottish troops,
supported for the first time by the stub
born courage of the Ganaclians, fought
ot.il they were but a thin brown living
line standing in the midst of their d»*ad
•<'id wounded, and. again, vie', rv might
have gone to the enemy had ho known
ii evfrcine w. ;iknt ! s and made uh<- of
Ids own strength to the uttermost. But
be hesitat' d to deliver the last attack
i.* cans.- of his own fearful losses, arid
the British held Ypns, and never let go.
THE THIN BROWN LIVING
LINE OF BRITISH.
The Germans now made a colossal and
* miming error In their war-plan, and by
that stupidity lost their supreme chance
of victory. They established thxms'lvcs
In trench positions on the Western front
end were content to hold the lines in de
fensive and stationary warfare for more
than a y-;r while they devoted their
ream energies of at»nrk on the eastern
f»"Mt. That gave Knglnnd the time to
build up a new army on a vast scale to
make guns bv thousands, to manufaa
t'ire high • .plosives hy millions of tons.
’*• rally up Hu* young manhood of all her
Kmplre. nod to blockade Germany hy a
world-wide net of s* a-power.
In the Battle r»f the Homme during the
- -nod half of 1910 after many small and
desperate hitth*s before, the British ar
mies in France and Flanders with
French troops on their right took the of
fensive. smashed their wav through a
fortress system of trench*** thirty miles
d* ep and forty miles broad, and in spite
of their own enormous loss' s destroyed
Immense numbers of the enemy and
broke the spirit of the German troops
engaged ncainst them hy the fury of
their gun-fire and the unending Intensity
of their infantry attacks. The Germans
»■ tiled ihlfi slaughter of their manhood
"th'* blood hath of the Homme,” and at.
last they could stand It no longer and
mode 4heir first big retreat In Flanders
and Blrnrtß ncrora a wide sweep of ter
Glory which tin • laid waste behind
Hi'-tn. to flu shelter of their great Ilfn
l *nhi!jg lire whieh the' had been build
ing - for n year The British troops did
not <‘ .e their attacks 'luring the whole
of the following 'em tJ9J7t ai. l in the
battles of Arras. Massines. Bens. Fland
■ s and i“a rn bra I Inflicted prodigious
losses oa th enemy al a fearful price to
themselves, draining Germany of her
blood
GERMAN WAR LORDS
TAKF GAMBLER'S CHANCE.
Bv this tltm the war-lords of Germany
began In take leave of their Menses under
tiuii posit ion
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They no longer acted on the laws of mili
tary science, but on the gamblers in
stinct. With a most incredible folly they
took the risk of adding the greatest pow
er In the world--in numbers of men and
in patential energy—to their list of ene
mies. With almost deliberate careless
ness they flouted the Bn 1 ted .States and
forced her to declare war Their tempta
tion was great. The British naval block
ade was causing severe suffering hy food
shortage to the German people and deny
ing them access to raw material which
they needed for the machinery of war.
The submarine campaign, ruthlessly car-
I ried out, would and did, inflict immense
| damage to British and Allied shipping.
I and wak a deadly menace to Kn eland.
But German calculations were utterly
wrong in estiir ; tirig the amount $f time
needed to break her bonds hy submarine
warfare before America could send over
great armies to Kurope, and the German
war-lords were wrong again in under
< ft!mating the defensive and offensive
MUCCHH of the British Navy and Mercan
tile Marine against submarine activities.
By those miscalculations they lost the
war In the long run. and by other errors
thev made their loss more certain.
One Immense mistake they made was
I ri regard to the psychology and temper
of their soldiers and civilian population.
They put a greater strain upon them
than human nature could hear, and hy
driving their fighting m* n into one sham
bles after another, and by trying to dope
their people by false promises which
\yere fl'*V'*r ftlfflllci'i. they sowed the Seeds
<tf revolt and despair which finally
launched them into gulfs of ruin.
THE "GREAT SWINDLE".
Ah eurty ns the autumn of 1916 T be
kan to oe« signs of revolt among German
soldiers against the .daughter to which
they had to sacrifice themselves Many
Prisoners to whom 1 spoke had abandon
ed hope of victory even then and cursed
their leaders. In letters which I grabbed
from German dug-outs, and in thousands
of letters Which fell Into the hands of our
Intelligence officers, there were cries of
agony and despair from the civilian peo
ple writing to their men in the field.
Again and again people writing from
many different towns used th<* same
phrase !#. describe the war. They called
It “The Great Swindle”. Revolution was
beginning Its murmur, and soldiers were
i talking of « eaertion and beginning to de
sert. Then In the spring of 1918 the Ger
man Headquarters Staff .prepared to play
their last card on ji gambler's venture.
They believed that at last they held the
tiurnn card to redeem all their losses
Russia was out of the war definitely and
absolutely, and after the infamous treaty
of Brest IJtovsk the German war lords
hurried over to the western front nearly
nil their divisions who had been In the
•■gst. They did not know that many of
these troops had been converted to the
Bolshevistic philosophy of pacifism. They
failed one** again to give credit to the
unbreakable faith and courage of the
French and British. They did not believe
that the American armies would arrive
In time to count. The German people
knew of the coming offensive and waited
for it with blood shot eyes and a. kind of
Inst parting hope. The German officers
were, mostly, confident of success. The
German soldiers shrugged their shoul
ders and said. “It will he another
shambles.”
The first blows struck against the Bri
tish were successful. Attacked by one
hundred and fourteen divisions to forty
eight, tin* British line broke and they fell
hack in a fighting retreat, with heroic
rear guard action, li-st to the outskirts
of Amiens and then to the outskirts of
Ypres, losing all their gains in two years
of costly fighting except the losses they
had Inflicted on the enemy's manpower.
Then the French line broke at the
Ohemln des names, and they, too. fell
back to the Mam**, and once again the
Germans drew near to Paris. It seemed
to them as though at Inst they had in
deed tlie gam'* in their hands. But It
was only Ignorance and stupidity which
made them think so.
They did not take Into consideration
fHE AUGUSTA HERALD
the genius of Marshal Foch. nor the
tenacity of the British and French, nor
the striking power of the Americans now
ready to attack with many divisions, and
now rushing across the Atlantic in a
gr»at. tide
The British, though terribly weakened
for a time, held their lines intact against
enormous odds “with their backs to the
wall.” as Sir Douglas Haig called upon
them to do. The French troops fought
desperately in defense with all their old
heroism and faith. And Marshal Foch
played the game of strategy with superb
skill and courage. For a time he dissi
pated his Army of Reserve by supporting
the British line and the Germans, know
ing this, took enormous risk of striking
down In a deep wedge-like salient to the
Marne with open flanks.
"Foch has no Army of Reserve,” they
said. "We can do vhat we like with
him.”
Hut as rapldlv as he had S'-nt his blue
men behind the British khaki he called
them down again, borrowed four British
divisions, reinforced more by drafts of
young boys from England and Scotland—
fPom the last reserves of British boyhood
—and brought up the Americans. He had
his Army of Reserve and h* struck on
three sides of the German salient and
srnasned the Crown Prince's army like a
cardboard box.
GERMANY KNOWS SHE HAS LOST.
J.udendorf knew that night that Ger
many was lost, it was Germany now’
that had no army of reserve. The Crown
Prince had to borrow’ from the troops of
F*rince Rupprecht of Bavaria., who had
been waiting with twenty-nine divisions
In hand for another smash through the
British lines. They went into the furnace
fires. It was the turn of the tide, and it
turned against the enemy until he was
swept hack and engulfed. Three hundred
thousand hoys of 18 yearH of age, the
younger brothers of the older brothers
who had gone before, were sent out from
England and Scotland to fill up the gaps
In the British Army, and witti the Cana
dians and Australians supported later by
three American divisions, they began a
counter-offensive and fought a battle
every day, when they smashed the
enemy out of his lines of defense, broke
through his best arid strongest defesive
system—the Hindenburg line—cantured
many great cities---Dille, Tourcoing,
Rouhalx. Camhrai. Tournai, Doual, Val
enciennes, Maubeug* and entered the
little old town of Mons. where tnc Bri
tish *Army had first, withstood the shock
of German arms—on the morning before
the armistice —ended all fighting with the
most abject and humiliating surrender of
any great power in the history of the
modern world.
GERMAN WAR MACHINE SMASHED.
The Americans and the French, up to
the time of the armistice, drove the
enemy before them between the Argonne
and Rhelms, and th Allied armies on
all parts of the Western front captured
t any hundreds of thousands of prison
ers, many thousands of guns, scores of
thoqsands of machine guns, and vast
stores of the enemy's material of war, so
that the German war machine was
smashed to hits by November 11, 1918.
Not only was that machine smashed, but
the spirit of the German Army and of
the German people was broken also —
broken to the dust of an unavailing de
spair.
Before that morning when German
generals crossed the Allied lines with the
white flag of surrender it Was revealed
to them in a blinding light that they
were ruined. They knew that behind the
American divisions already in action
against them, and proving heroic quality
us fighting men, there was a New World
in arms, ready to pour millions of men
across the Atlantic in an irresistible
tide. They knew also that their own re
aerves of manhood were exhausted, that
they could call up no more for
gun-fodder, and that having it*.led in
their last reckless gamble with fate all
was lost.
The German war lords in spite of their
military science, their skill In general
ship, their masterly knowledge of organ
ization, had committed enormous blun
ders and In the larger knowledge of life
and war had been as blind as bats and
as stupid as owls. They lacked material
strength In a challenge to the world, and
the souls of brave peoples beat them
from the time of those early days when
nil the odds were in their favor. The
German Empire h;i<i committed suicide.
Your
Business
and
My
Business
The following points are of vital Interest to the people of
this nation, and will be discussed in greater detail in separate
advertisements appearing in this paper at intervals until the
end of the Victory Liberty Loan.
1. This nation-your country and mine-owes approximately
$ 10,000,000,000 in unpaid war biDs-for a Victory that we
are now enjoying.
2. The nation must pay this debt-if it Is to continue to exls!
as a nation among the nations of the world.
3. There are only two ways that the nation can secure the
money-by bonds and by taxes.
1 Taxes are already high and yet insufficient to meet our out
standing war obligations.
3. Therefore bonds must be sold.
6. Again, there are only two ways that several billion dollars
of bonds can be sold-to the banks or to the people.
7. If they are placed with the hanks, industry, commerce,
your business will suffer. The banks would be unable to
purchase several billion dollars of Liberty Bonds and con
tinue to loan money in sufficient quantities and at a fair
rate to the business man. Yo cannot have your pudding
and eat it, too.
8. It is, therefore, your business and my business to prepare
for the Victory Liberty Loan, that we may then invest as
largely as each of us individually can-for America’s wel
fare and for our own.
Victory Liberty Loan Committee
This space contributed by
Sibley Manufacturing Co.
Enterprise Manufacturing Co.
SUNDAY, APRIL 27