April 12, 1917 
LAND & WATER 
II 
number of batteries in particular permits ot an extension 
of the front of attack, which is a capital fact. 
What, then, will the Ciermans do to meet it ? To 
begin with, it must not be forgotten that in proportion 
as their resources diminish their task increases. Thus, 
in the early part of 1916, they only had 50 divisions upon 
the Eastern front ; they have 74 there now. The number 
of divisions upon the Western front has increased 
equally. To satisfy this ever-growing demand they 
naturally have had to create new units. But this power 
of creation obviously is reaching a limit ; it is true that the 
new divisions are frequently merely old divisions broken 
mp into two. Last winter there were still 40 divisions 
of four regiments, with which, by deducting the fourth 
regiments, 13 new divisions could be produced. But this 
resource, too, must be exhausted bv this time, or very 
nearly exhausted. 
Thus the problems of the war are becoming ever more 
complicated for the enemy. In the summer of 1916 he 
acknowledged, he proclaimed, the material superiority 
of his adversaries ; and in order to revive the moral of his 
country he declared that it is spirit which wins battles. 
Throughout the winter an ingenious press campaign 
spread the will to conquer throughout Germany. And 
quite recently, the newspapers, exalting the genius of 
Hindenburg, ha\e announced to (iermany that we arc 
going to see one of his special feats. 
It is obvious that he is preparing an offensive. But 
never was battle so announced before. One would 
think that the jmblic were being told to watch carefully 
in order to see how the trick was to be done. Up to the 
present we have only seen a preparatory phase. Hinden- 
burg avoided battle between Arras and Laon and has 
withdrawn his army to the rear to a depth which at 
some points exceeds two days' march. The first local 
retreat on the Ancre took place between February 24th 
and 28th, and the entire press cried out " Wasn't that 
cleverly done ! The «;nemy never saw it ! " Then there 
was a halt for teii days followed from March loth 
to the 14th, by a second retreat from Mouchy aux 
Bois to Bapaume, which does not seem to have been en- 
tirely voluntary. Germany seemed to be uneasy. 
Then, in the very middle of this retreat, on March 13th, 
the high priest and prophet of Cierman criticism, Major 
Moraht, explained the move. " Hindenbvu'g is retiring," 
he said ; " it is the beginning of his attack. He is adopting 
defensive tactics in order to proceed to offensive strategy." 
And there we are. On March 17th, a third phase of 
retreat began, most methodically conducted in echelons 
falhng back one upon another but not telling us very 
nuich about tlie general mtentions of the German High 
Command. All we do know is that these retreats in 
jireparation for an offensive are a fa\-ourite operation of 
Hindenburg's. 
Will a manceuvre of this nature be the resumption, 
in a new form, of the war of movement which for two 
and a half years has been suspended on the Western 
Front ? There can be no question that the Germans 
are making ready for that. They are training their troops 
for it ill the rear, in exercises where trench work plays 
quite a subsidiary part. And lastly, a most character- 
istic point, they have greatly developed their medium 
artillery, which is at once powerful and mobile, at the 
expense of their artillery of position. Besides, it is 
possible that force of circumstances is reviving the war 
of riiovement. When one has s^en on the Somme battle- 
field the appalling pulverisation of the (German positions 
by the British artillery, when one has seen the site of 
(iuillemont just recognisable by the tint of brick that 
stains red the upturned soil, one is sceptical about the 
solidity of even the best prepared positions. Troops 
in the shelters have no time to come out to meet the 
impetuous assault and allow themselves to be taken in 
whole units. The men have therefore been withdrawn 
from the shelters and dug-outs as the guns have been 
withdrawn from the fortresses. 
Such appear to be the principles of the battle which 
is now preparing. On the side of the Allies simultaneous 
concentric action with exceedingly powerful means. 
On the side of the (iermans, refusal of battle, by yielding 
ground before the jioints where they deem the offensive 
to have been prepared : with as a result, a gain of several 
weeks on this retreating front, if the Alhes desire to make 
a new attack there ; otherwise a neutralisation of this 
front, equivalent to a shortening of the lines. Next 
neutralisation of the Roumanian front, when the rivers 
are swollen by the thaw — equivalent to another shortening 
of the lines ; and after that the possibility of an offensive 
with the masses of manceuvre which the creation of the 
divisions of series 230 has enabled to accumulate, and 
which will be attended by an extremely powerful artillery. 
Since this artillery will not reach its perfection until 
the month of June, when Germany will have ten times 
as many heavy batteies as she had at the beginning of 
the war, our enemy now has as much interest in post- 
poning the battle as in IQ16 she had to precipitate it. 
That, to-day, is the capital point. Once more, by these 
means, will Germany attempt to escape from the trap 
in which she is shut. Will she succeed ? ^^'ill she e\cn 
ha\'e time to put forth the attempt ? 
Miliukoff : Russia's Great Reformer 
By Edouard S. LubofF (Russian and Foreign Editor of the Financier) 
THE appointment of Professor Paul Miliukoff 
as Foreign Minister of the new Government in 
Russia, will have far-reaching effects of great 
importance for the civilised world. It can be 
said with every hope that his appointment may mean 
the beginning of a new and glorious page in Russia's 
history. He has a remarkable grasp of the problems 
underlying the evolution of modern social movements. 
His best writings in the Russian Press are on Foreign 
Affairs. He is a big, broad-minded man of true human 
sympathy. And his whole life has been devoted to the 
dream of freeing the Russian people by establishing con- 
stitutional freedom of government. 
" Miliukoff has had just one purpose in view, and 
that is to replace autocratic government with liberal 
government. It now looks as if his dream is coming 
true," says Dr. Samuel Dutton, a member of the Inter- 
national Commission to investigate the Balkan Wars, 
who served with M. Miliukoff. " For days and nights 
and weeks, while serving together on the Balkan Com- 
mission, we talked of Russia— at least he talked, and I 
listened, now and then putting in a question. I found 
him a man. of commanding intellect, the editor of one 
of the leading newspapers in Petrograd, a specialist in 
three or more fields of knowledge including history, 
geography, ethnology, and soundly versed in inter- 
national law. He had watched the progress of nations, 
;ind «a\v domocrary was winning its way tliroughout the 
world. He was intensely in earnest in his dream to see 
Russia a free nation." 
To attempt to describe the personality of Paul Miliukoff 
would be too difficult a task for the present writer. No 
penned eulogy could adequately portray that great 
statesman ; a truer revelation of his personality is 
found in his own speeches, even though these necessarily 
lose much of their beauty and power in translation. M. 
Miliukoff's ideas and ideals regarding the inner politics 
of Russia are crystallised above, and it will suffice to 
add that as a publicist before 1905 and in his combined 
role of publicist and politician onward, he was always 
on the side of progress, yet unlike others of his present 
colleagues, progress without revolution. Joining the 
constitutional democratic party commonly known as 
" Cadets," he has always displayed a fine power of 
reasoning. Of special interest to English readers is no 
doubt his career since the declaration of war — since 
the moment when British democracy joined Russia in 
the struggle for right and freedom. 
The joy of the people in Russia when the news was 
made known has repeatedly been described, in the British 
Press, but M. Miliukoff's short sentence on that occasion 
has not as yet seen light in Britain ; it was " Russia 
has been forf^iven her past." In tliis short, yet so 
significant phrase Russia's great reformer has crystallised 
the feeling of the masses. It was a confession and absolu- 
tion in one. Hope of better days, of progress, of 
