March 29.--On the front of fifty miles, where the enemy had had only
sixteen divisions, he commenced his great gamble with about thirty-eight
divisions. It was already a heavy superiority, but there had been
recognized up to last night a total of about eighty-seven divisions
engaged, that is to say over a million men have been poured into this
space, which forms only about an eighth of the western front, the
greater part of these being new reserves, brought up after the operation
was launched. They include many of the best imperial troops, the 1st,
2d, and 5th Guard Divisions, for instance, and two crack Bavarian
divisions.
Three of the army commanders are reckoned among the most successful of
the German Generals--von Below, who directed the Italian offensive; von
der Marwitz, who did so much with his cavalry corps in the battle of the
Marne to check pursuit and has done so well since in higher positions,
and von Hutier, who tried new infantry tactics in the capture of Riga.
The last named represents the army and the prestige of the Imperial
Crown Prince. The other two serve the Crown Prince of Bavaria, and the
enterprise received a special blessing from the Emperor.
Their whole design points to an intention of making this a singly
decisive operation. Consider again the figures given above. Before the
offensive the enemy had on this front from the sea to the Alps about 109
divisions in line and seventy-six in reserve. By calling the reserves
they have been able (and it has been necessary) by the eighth day of the
battle to put about eighty-seven divisions, 1,044,000 men, into the
combat. Good observers consider that at the most they can hardly bring
up more than forty more divisions.