LAND AND WATER 
February 24, 1916. 
The prisoners alone amounted on this sector to the 
tqiiivalcnt of about one division and came from very many 
divisions. But tlie official hsts were another matter. 
Those units which were known to ha\e been present on 
the sector attacked were noted, and tlie casualties referring 
to them in the Hsts were set down. 
Wounded, killed and missing the total number of 
names appearing at the end of the two months was 
85,032. Of these the dead were just barely over 24,000, 
the prisoners just under 20,000, hut the number of ■d--ounded 
admitted on the lists was only a little more than 41,000. 
We cannot here apply any exact lest to the omissions 
of dead. The only way of knowing the number of 
German dead in that particular action was counting the 
dead left behind by the enemy and these, of course, were 
inferior to the real total ; for the radius of action of the 
artillery went much farther than the limit reached by the 
French advance. But when we return to the proportion 
of wounded, we get clear proof that the lists are mislead- 
ing. 
You have here a proportion of wounded to dead of 
1.7 : that is, 17 wounded to 10 dead. Now a proportion 
of that sort is impossible. Sometimes when you are 
dealing with very small bodies and a purely local effect, 
you may get proportions of that kind. But where large 
numbers are concerned you never get anywhere neai^ it. 
If we take the corresponding figures for the French and 
for the English at the same moment, we get on the average 
forty-five wounded for ten killed. 
It is clear that the compilers of the German lists did 
not mention a great number of the wounded. Perhaps 
they omitted the lesser cases. 
A further watching of the lists throughout December 
and January which might have modified this conclusion 
merely confirmed it. Names kept on coming in, and it 
will probably be found when the lists for February arc 
complete that even in these five months after the battle 
names continue to appear. But the new names do not 
change the incredibly small proportion of wounded to 
dead. 
II. 
Proofs of the falsity of the German Official 
Lists by an Analysis of ihe number 
of prisoners. 
It occurred to those who are following this matter 
in detail that the most conclusive tests of the accuracy 
or falsity of the German lists would be afforded if it were 
possible to analyse with exactitude the statistics of 
prisoners now in the hands of the Allies. It was a cate- 
gory in which there would be a special temptation to 
inexactitude, and therefore one which, if it proved accurate 
would be a conclusive test in favour of the German official 
record. 
The task was not an easy one because the prisoners 
taken from a particular unit would be taken at \'arious 
times and also Ijecause the units were in many cases moved 
from east to west and vice-versa. 
In order to be certain of one's result one had further 
to be very careful not to confuse the active, reserve, and 
Landwehr regiments of the same number. 
A series of imits were therefore chosen with regard to 
which one could be certain that they had never left the 
front upon which they were originally engaged, and that 
there was no confusion between active, reserve, and 
Landwehr fractions. The calculation was made with 
much more than tlie ordinary allowance of delay in the 
publication of names, because it was rightly imagined 
that this category' of losses would appear upon the lists 
more slowly than any other. 
Now here is the result. 
A list was drawn up by the French .Vuthorities 
giving the names, regiments, etc., of a great number of 
prisoners drawn from the units thus chosen. This list 
was then carefully compared with the names appearing 
in the German hsts. The difference between tiiis com- 
plete French list and the admitted losses upon the 
official German lists was not only greater than in any 
other category, but was almost ludicrous. It was over 
69 per cent. 
Out of every hundred names of prisoners detailed 
by the French, 30.8 only ai>peared as corresponding names 
upon the German hst of losses i 
There were very great differences between different 
units. In the worst case the German Commander, for 
some reason best known to himself, or the German 
Central Authorities, had virtually suppressed all they 
could of the capture : less than 6 per cent, of the real 
mmibers were admitted upon the lists— 94 per cent, 
were not recorded by the enemy ! 
In the best case nearly 65 pei cent, were admitted 
and only just over 35 per cent, were omitted from flie 
enemy's record. 
But the average was that which I have given above. 
Very nearly seventy per cent, of the names standing upon the 
French lists and representing prisoners actually in the French 
camps were found to be omitted from the German lists. 
I shall show next week what this loss of certainly 
one miUion in dead by December 31st, 1915, means in 
total losses to the Gejrnian Army up to that date, but 
meanwhile a word may not be amiss upon the significa- 
tion of that figure of one million dead in 17 months of 
war. 
It does not mean anything excessive in comparison 
with the general losses in this war. It is a somewhat 
higher amount in proportion than the losses of the Allies 
in the West— but then the Germans have been fighting 
on two and e\'cn three fronts. It is more than they them- 
selves admit — but only 19 per cent. more. It does not 
mean that a mobilised force of nine millions is exhausted 
in men (though nearly exhausted in reserves) . There is 
nothing marvellous or abnormal, as this great campaign 
goes, that a force should lose by death .64 per cent, 
(or, say, one man in 153 — for that is all it .comes to) per 
month of the fighting. 
What would be remarkable, abnormal and actually 
miraculous, would be the ridiculous figure of half a milhon 
which was current a short time ago. It would be utterly 
incredible in connection with the known losses of the 
Allies and with the known character of the fighting. Such 
statements are only put forward to defend a brief or to 
support a policy. That sort of bias is worthless in war. 
All that should be tolerated in so extreme a peril is the 
sober grasp of reality. 
SOME TEST GASES. 
[Independent evidence of the flagrant inaccuracy of the 
German casualty lists is provided by Mr. H. Warner 
Allen, the special representative of the British Press 
juith the French armies. He writes as follows.] 
" I have received, on unquestionable authority, figures 
which make it at least legitimate to regard with the gravest 
suspicion all information provided by the enemy as to his 
losses. The French have often noticed that the total German 
losses in killed, wounded, missing and prisoners announced 
for a gi\'en regiment during a gi\'en i)eriod is considinabl\' 
less than the number of prisoners alone taken from that same 
regiment during the same time. The result has been tiiat the 
department specially charged with this task has been able 
again and again to "convict the official German casualty lists 
of flagrant and deliberate mistakes by merely comparing them 
with the French lists of prisoners. 
"The following statistics concern four regiments which 
have been continuously engaged on the Western front. 
The 108th Regiment of the I2tli German Army Corps lost 
during a certain period 403 ])risoners according to the French 
official records. The German casualty lists acknuwledged 
■during the same period 259 prisoners, and of these 2i> arc not 
included in the French returns. There is a shortage therefore 
of 144 men, or 35.7 per cent, of the total. 
"The Ii2th Regiment of the I4lh German Army Corps 
lost 234 prisoners according to the French, but the German 
lists acknowledge only 4H, of whom 34 do not figure in the 
I'rench records" In this case there is an omission of 186, 
or 79.4 per cent. 
"The i44tli Regiment of the i6th Army Corps lost 94 
prisoners, of whom only five figure in the German lists, and 
the other 89 men, or 94.6 of the total, are supposed by their 
misguided countrymen to be still fighting, whereas they are 
certainly in French hands. 
'" The 153rd Regiment of the 4th German Anny Corps 
lost 196 jirisoncrs, but the Germans officially acknowledged 
only 58 of these, of whom six are not named in the I'rench 
returns. Therefore, r38, or 70.4 per >i-nt. of the 15 irdj 
have been omitted from the German list." 
