Photograph by George H. Mewes 

 THE STAFF OF THE) 5TH SIBERIAN CORPS 



The last corps to leave Warsaw and one of the first in action on the southwestern front in 



the summer of 1916 



duty in this war is financial and eco- 

 nomic. 



These losses of the Germans, while en- 

 couraging, are in reality but a drop in 

 the bucket. It might be well to remem- 

 ber that Brusilloff, in a little over two 

 months' operations on the southwestern 

 front in Russia during the summer of 

 1916, took 450,000 prisoners and 496 

 guns ; and yet this far greater loss to the 

 enemy, as one now realizes, has exerted 

 but transitory influence on the world 

 situation. 



In order fully to appreciate the Teuton 

 strength, it is necessary to give the Ger- 

 mans the credit which is their due. One 

 must, I think, consider broadly their 

 whole point of view and realize that the 

 power of the Central Empire, and no one 

 at this time will question its strength, is 

 due to the German virtues and not to the 

 German vices. 



Now that the bitterness against the 

 Germans is so intense, it is difficult to 

 wipe away the prejudices one feels and 

 give them the benefit of the extraordi- 

 nary values which they have as a people ; 

 but if we underestimate these virtues, we 



fail to understand the causes which have 

 made it possible for the Germans to do 

 what they have done. 



WHY THE GERMAN WAR MACHINE IS 

 STRONG 



Much as I disapprove of the German 

 point of view and of the spirit which has 

 been manifested by the Germans of 

 nearly all classes in this war, I still re- 

 main of the opinion that, taken from the 

 internal point of view, our enemies pos- 

 sess almost every virtue which makes for 

 military strength. 



In the first place, no one who has seen 

 and talked with the German troops can 

 question the sincerity of their belief in 

 the righteousness of the German cause. 

 I have talked with prisoners from the 

 Baltic to the Bukovina, and I have never 

 yet met one who did not believe implic- 

 itly in the statement of the Kaiser, made 

 at the beginning of the war, to the effect 

 that "in the midst of perfect peace we 

 have been treacherously surprised by a 

 ring of enemies jealous of our genius 

 and intent on our destruction." 



3S0 



