Jasper County Democrat, Volume 17, Number 69, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 December 1914 — WAR OF EXHAUSTION [ARTICLE]

WAR OF EXHAUSTION

BRITISH OFFICER SAYS CONFLICT HINGES ON RAW MEN. Asserts Kaiser Massed 750,000 Troops Against Allies in Attempt to Reach Calais. fr London, Dec. 4. —Declaring that the war will be one of exhaustion after the regular armies have done their work and that final success will depend on the raw recruits of the countries Involved, Col. E. D. Swinton details some of the sensational fighting in Belgium and northern France. He relates from the British point of view how Emperor William massed 750,000 soldiers north of La Bassee and hurled assault after assault against the allies* line in a supreme effort to break through and reach Calais or Dunkirk before November 26. Of these 750,000 troops 250,000 were fresh men “hastily raised and trained.” The main onslaughts were made against the British front, the colonel reports, and the British machine guns and rifles mowed down the ranks of the Germans repeatedly. When General Joffre finally sent French re-enforcements to the British line the British soldiers were exhausted. Colonel Swinton, who is attachedto the intelligence department of the British general staff in the field, points out the difference between the German regular army and the kaiser’s newly raised troops. While praising both kinds of soldiers as brave and heroic, he says the veteran Prussian Guards soon recovered from the effects of the withering fire of former battles, whereas the kaiser’s new troops have not yet recovered from blows inflicted by the British a month ago. Admitting the losses have been enormous on the British side, Colonel •Swinton says the efficiency of the British regulars has not been impaired. The gaps have been filled, the sacrifices made up and the allied line stands firm while awaiting whatever the future has in store.