As we know only too well, when our Government reduced
the numbers of the British Army on the Western Front by about a quarter through failing to supply the men, training became almost impossible. All the men were required for manning the trenches. This ig no longer so, and the results are apparent, as Sir Douglas Haig always predicted they would be in the discreet cries of distress which he uttered in more than one of his dispatches when he asked
for drafts. Our training is better than the German training in that it is the training of all the troops. The Germans, hoping for a quick decision, picked out their finest men and trained them specially for the " break through." That corps d'elite has been badly mauled, if not shattered, and the Germans are now suffering the penalty of having ever created it. Their second grade troops cannot be compared with the British or French average. Avery significant fact to which Sir Frederick Maurice draws attention is that the German digging is not nearly so good as it used to be. It his in fact become bad. As the mole-like powers of the German infantry to cover themselves with earth have always been held up as an example to the military world, the new symptom is most flattering to us. It indicates that the German infantry, at all events in some sections of the line, are either losing heart or throwing over discipline.
