VII

THE GERMAN PUSH


"What madness there is in this arithmetic that counts men by the
millions like grains of corn in a bushel.... A newspaper has just
written about an encounter with the enemy: 'Our losses were
insignificant, one dead and five wounded.' It would be interesting
to know for whom these losses are insignificant? For the one who
was killed?... If he were to rise from his grave, would he think
the loss 'insignificant'? If only he could think of everything from
the very beginning, of his childhood, his family, his beloved wife,
and how he went to the war and how, seized by the most conflicting
thoughts and emotions, he felt afraid, and how it all ended in
death and horror.... But they try to convince us that 'our losses
are insignificant.' Think of it, godless writer! Go to your master
the Devil with your clever arithmetic.... How this man revolts
me--may the Devil take him!"

(ANDREYEFF.)


Throughout the winter one question above all others was discussed by the
few who took an interest in the war: "What were the Germans going to
do?" It was clear that they had been able to withdraw many divisions
from their Eastern Front. Would they be numerically equal or superior to