October 12, 1916 
LAND & WATER 
13 
too many directions, and that the fronts of active fighting 
should not become too extended." Otherwise, the 
manceuvre becomes enormously cornplicated," the re- 
serves become rapidly used up and are not able to repulse 
one attack in time to turn against another. For instance, 
as long as the Central Powers had only to deal with the 
Anglo-French and the Russians they had only two 
battle fronts to supply and two directions of transport 
• — namely, from east to west, and vice-versa. At the 
moment, however, when the Italians entered on the side 
of the enveloping Powers, and the Turks and Bulgars 
on the side of the interior Powers, the reserves were 
called upon to fmnish too many men for the various 
fronts and were thus unable to hold men for despatch to 
specially threatened points. The manceuvre became 
more complicated, troops had to be sent to counter the 
pressure in the Alps, at Salonika, in Arabia and in 
Armenia. However secondary they may be, these 
counter-thrusts eat up the reserves, as much by reason 
of their distance as by actual casualties. This is where 
Germany stands at the present moment. In proportion 
as the war has reduced her reserves, so she has increased 
the number of directions to which they must be sent and 
extended the lines which they must co\er. 
Strategies Opposed 
The question is, therefore, how the two adversaries 
are to continue each his strategy in order to obtain the 
most advantage to himself ? 
As for the Allies the answer is simple. The attack 
must be as general as possible on the whole circumference 
of battle, in order to oblige the Germans to counter at 
all points, 'which they can only do by using up their 
reserves. So many of these, however, are absorbed by far 
distant defensive operations that sufficient are not left 
to form an army strong enough to make a prolonged 
counter-offensive at any one point. If the Austrian 
reserves are held in the Alps and the Turkish and Bul- 
garian reserves in the Balkans and in Armenia, then only 
German reserves remain to save the situation in Galicia. 
In this case, however, they would have to be removed 
far from the neighbourhood of the Somme and Verdun. 
Thus we see what must be the object of the converging 
Allied attacks. 
As for the Germans, however, their situation can only 
be improved by a reduction of the front in order either to 
release men from the firing line for the purpose of con- 
stituting a new reserve, or to diminish the distance 
separating the reserves from the probable danger points. 
At the moment the German eastern front from the 
Carpathians to Riga measures about 700 miles, and the 
front from the North Sea to Switzerland about 500. 
These two fronts are separated on an average by about 
1,000 miles. 
Let us suppose that during 1917 the Germans decide 
to occupy the line from Cracow to Dantzig, 370 miles, 
and in the west the line of the Rhine from Basle to Wesel, 
about 310 miles ; they would thus effect an economy of 
about 520 miles, which counting only one man to the 
yard of front would give over 900,000 men to constitute 
a new reserve. At the same time, the distance between 
the two fronts would be reduced by half, thus saving 
half the time necessary to transport troops from one 
front to the other. In this manner the manceuvre on 
interior lines would regain the elasticity at present lost 
by too extended a front and too great distances. 
It is not for us to examine, in a purely military criticism, 
the possible or probable moral effect of such a reduction 
of front, but there is no doubt that the general military 
problem consists of neither more nor less than the above 
questions. 
Raemaekers' Cartoons 
TESTIMONY continues to be borne almost weekly 
to the power of Mr. Louis Raemaekers' work and 
the influence which it exercises on the whole 
civilised world. It is known that German propa- 
ganda has been most active in Spain, and very successful 
up to a point. A lady who signs herself " Twenty. Years 
in the Peninsula," wrote last week to the Times, explain- 
ing how she endeavoured to counteract it. She obtained, 
through the British Consul, a large packet of well-printed 
pamphlets and books of reproductions of Raemaekers' 
cartoons. The former proved worse than worthless, 
but the cartoons threw an entirely new light on Germany; 
" How effective they were you can gather when I tell 
you that a neighbouring village priest denounced their 
circulation." 
And now from Berlin comes even stronger evidence. 
In the issue of Die Zukunft for September 23rd (a 
journal which has since been suppressed), Maximilian 
Harden gives the following striking testimonial to 
the splendid work accomplished by this great Cartoonist : 
Mr. Raemaekers, a resident of Holland, is a 
scion of Flanders, ivhose savage hatred of 
Germans is served by an exuberant imagina- 
tion, combined with exceptionally vigorous 
■pictorial art, sometimes amounting to genius, 
and xvhose cartoons [they are collected in 
an edition de luxe published in London), 
have harmed the repiitation of the German 
entity more than any other printed publication. 
La Voix de Bruxelles 
Emile Cammaerts. 
Malvina of B rillany, hy ]eTomc K.Jerome (Cassell and Co., 
6s.) will provide the conscientious reader with a shock, for 
the story of Malvina ends abruptly halfway through the 
volume, and the rest is short stories. Malvina was a fairy 
three thousand years or thereabouts ago, and she brings 
powers of " changing " people into the twentieth century 
with results that lend themselves admirably to the Jerome 
type of description. Of the short stories, "The Lesson" 
and "The Fawn Gloves " are, each in its own way, the very 
highest form of art tliat Jerome can give ; every story in 
the book is dainty, delicate work, literature in the best sense. 
Malmna forms a welcome addition to the year's fiction list. 
" A Namur, on nous craint, 
" A I^itge, on nous hait, 
" A Bruxelles, on se fiche de nous ' 
(Aveu d'un officier allemand). 
Passez, passez, grands conquerants, 
— Plus il y en a, mieux 9a vaudra' — 
Soufflez dans vos fifres stridents, 
L'heure viendra qui tout paiera. 
La detresse frappe a notre porte, 
Mais nous ne lui ouvrirons pas, 
Votre poigne n'est pas plus forte 
Que les verrous de notre foi 1 
AUez k Bapaume, a Peronne, 
— Parade-Marsch, marquez le pas — 
Bon voyage, le clairon sonne, 
Nous ne vous reverrons pas 1 
Si vous nous volez notre pain 
■ — Plus. ?a va mal, moins 9a durera — 
C'est que vous avez grand faim. 
Car l'heure est proche qui tout paiera. 
Roulez, roulez dans vos longs trains. 
Nous ne vous arreterons pas. 
Plus 9a va mal, plus 5a va bien. 
Plus il y en a mieux ga vaudra. 
Condamnez, pillez, fusillez. 
Nous ne nous lamenterons pas, 
Quand vous nous aurez tons deport^s, 
La Belgique vous deportera. 
Passez done, vainqueurs de Dinant, 
Vorwaerts ! N'entendez-vous pas 
La Mort avide qui claque des dents 
Et le canon qui gronde li-bas ? 
Envoi. 
O Dieu de lumiere, de bonte, de justice, 
Si nous devons mourir, souviens-toi : 
Accorde-nous le prix de notre sacrifice : 
L'heure benie qui tout paiera. 
[All Rights Reserved] 
