10 
)- A M U & \V A T E R 
Jul3' 20, 1916 
we Know as a matter ot fact that the Dual Monarchy is 
at the present moment selecting its units. It certainly 
prefers, and is already perhaps in part compelled, to u^f 
against Italians principally Slav troops; to ask the 
Hungarians principally to defend their own frontiers 
now menaced by the Russian victories. We have certain 
knowledge of popular disturbances in the Tyrol against the 
movement of the troops from this quarter towards tin- 
east and. in general, wo find Austria-Hungary hampered 
by her political composition. 
It may he asked how this factor ultimately affects the 
strength of the Dual Monarchy or increases the value to 
us of the new front which the Italians constituted a year 
ago, seeing that however much the Higher Command of 
Austria-Hungary may have to consider national feeling, 
the total number of men available remains the same. 
Hindered Concentration 
The answer to this objection is that throughout a 
campaign, but especially when the stage of exhaustion is 
approaching, tlu' power to concentrate unhindered at any 
threatened point is the most vital thing of all. But you 
cannot throw men at will upon this point or that if your 
forces are divided into fractions which exercise some pres- 
sure upon you as to which front they shall serve upon. 
Supposing, for instance, that the British Higher Com- 
mand hesitated to use north coimtrymen upon the Somme 
and hesitated to use Scotchmen or Colonials at \pres, 
we can see at once how that command would be hampered 
and we can imagine how much more serious the matter 
would be if our command were possessed of a force already 
approaching exhaustion and depending for its life upon very 
rapid movement of troops back and forth from threatened 
point to threatened point. In a word, this political dif- 
ferentiation compels Austria-Hungary either to use too few 
men against Italy of her total a\'ailable numbers or too 
many or. if in the right numbers, then with portions 
known to be disaffected either towards a war against 
Slavs or towards a war against Italians. It is fair to 
say that there is no Magyar fighting upon the Italian 
front but feels that his sacrifice is partly wasted ; and 
it is fair to say that there is hardly any Slav fighting 
upon the Russian front for Austria that is not in part, in 
spite of religious differences or geographical estrangement, 
divided in his allegiance. 
The other political point, the fact that the " holding up " 
of such and such a number of Austrian divisions is more 
serious to our enemy than the holding up of a corre- 
sponding number of German divisions, flows from the 
constitution of the Austrian armies. 
Austria- Hungary put into the field originally a smaller 
proportion of her population, than did Germany.* 
On the top ot this came the tremendous losses of the 
first defeats, the occupation of great masses of territory 
from which every potential soldier was evacuated by the 
Russians and, at certain periods, wholesale surrenders. 
There are about a million Austro-Hungarian prisoners in 
Russia at this moment. Further, the losses from wounds 
and sickness and death in the terrible winter Carpathian 
ramiDaign tended to exhaust the Dual Monarchy. Austria- 
Hungary not only extended the limit of age beyond any 
other of the belligerents, but summoned her "Class '18 
long before such a measure had been found necessary even 
by the Germans. I believe that the whole of the Austrian 
Class '18 has now been summoned for some months past. 
I know that a considerable portion of it was summoned in 
the spring. In Germany the only contingent of Class '18 as 
yet actually summoned is, I believe, the Saxon, though 
others are upon the point of being summoned. France, 
of course, has not touched this resource as yet, nor Italy, 
nor any other of the conscript beUigerents." For Austria 
in this condition to ha\e from 25 to 33 di\'isions held and 
pinned upon the Southern Alpine front has been a grave, 
is now already a perilous, and may even in the near future 
be a disastrous thing. She does not here adventure one- 
half her forces, but she adventures more than a third. 
We cannot look at the Austro-Hungarian and German 
armies as simply making one group. They are two un- 
equal parts of a mechanically arranged and disparate 
thing, and if you weaken the weakest part of the com- 
bination you atfect the value of the whole much more than 
the mere numerical calculation would .show. If two ships 
are necessary to an operation and the one can make 18 
knots and the other 25, then if you reduce the slower ship 
from 18 knots to 10, you weaken the combination very 
much more than you would weaken a single unit by a 
corresponding diminution of speed. It is but a particular 
example of a general truth always apparent when allies 
are in action. We saw it, for instance, in the matter of 
munitionment last year. The fact that the Allies as a-, 
whole were catching up in their munitionment and 
approaching- the enemy whom they were soon to surpass, 
was crossed by the other fact that one portion of the 
Alliance, to wit, the Russians, was menaced by lack of 
munitionment and equipment out of all proportion to 
the Occidental Powers. Wc know how seriously this 
affected the situation as a whole. It is an example of the 
same principle as that which I am here insisting upon in 
the case of .'Vustria-Hungary. The Italian effort by 
holding more than a third of all the available Austrian 
numbers in the field, does luuch more than diminish .our 
opponents' efforts by. the numerical withdrawal of a qth 
to a 7th of the other fronts, for it lames one of two horses 
in the team. 
(3) Lastly, I said that the peculiar conditions of the 
Italian front would almost certainly tempt the enemy 
to an offensive, the failure of which would reflect upon 
the whole campaign. 
It is a point I need not labour because that offensive 
has taken place, and has failed, and 1 shall deal with the 
effects of this in detail in a later article. H. Bhlloc 
To Italy 
I doubted thee — and yet I dared not doubt ; 
I hoped— and yet again I dared not hope ; 
While all the weary months dragged on without 
Sign that thy soul was living, and would cope — 
As erst, as often, as in days when yet 
Thy oneness was no more than noble dream — 
With ambushed foes and dangers darkly set 
In meshes round, for honour's wreath supreme. 
But that exalted vision — thyself, whole. 
Risen as deliverer of the oppressed that seek 
Freedom through offering of the very soul, 
Hope's vision — chasing doubts away as weak. 
Flashed triumph when thine hour of action came 
•And showed thee living still and still the same. 
F. W. R.AGG. 
* This was ,i point upon which some of thp earlier calculations of 
Ihe enemy's forces and Kwses piihli.shed in Land & Watrr were 
erroneous. I calculated the Austro-Hungarian contingents at clase 
on 80 per cent, of the (;prman» uiwn the basis of population. Thev 
were as a fact for long at leiist n per cent, le^s th.in this. 
Sir Rob?rt Baden Powell has just published a booklet 
entitled To-day and To-morrow in whicli he goes very 
thoroughly into the question of the training and character- 
forming methods of his Boy Scout movement. It is a most 
wise and sound pronouncement, and deserves a careful study 
by all wlio have anything to do with the upbringing of chil- 
dren. Witli boy scouts to begin with and national service 
to follow, Great Britain should be an impregnable nation in 
tlie future, to judge by the magnificent lighting qualities of 
Kitchener's men. The stuff is evidently here right enough ; 
it only .wants a little knocking into shape 
Dowager Lady Jersey, Lady Crewe, Sir James Dunlop 
Smith, and Sir Coleridge Grove appeal for assistance to 
enable the \'ictoria League to extend its admirable hospitality 
to luen of the Oversea Forces temporarily in London. More 
than a year ago the League opened a club in Lower Regent 
Street for men of the Oversea Forces, and a few months later 
what may be described as a simple and inexpensive hotel 
was established in Mason's Yard, Duke Street, St. James's, 
containing 80 beds for the use of the soldiers from theDomin- 
ions and Dependencies. The demand for accommodation of 
this kind is steadily increasing, and the Cliief Commissioner of 
Police has placed at the disposal of the League for the dura- 
tion of the war the Police Section House in Cliaring Cross Road, 
with a portion of the necessary furniture. When the neces- 
sary alterations and arrangements have been made this house 
will give 150 more beds, every one of which is wanted. Funds 
are needed for the alterations, and donations may be sent 
to the hon. treasurer, Victoria League. 2, Millbank House, 
\yestminster. S.W., marked " Soldiers' Club Extension Fund." 
\'o!untary workers who are willing to ^work in the canteen 
should writ.' to I.adv Hope, at tliis address. 
