The difficulty that the two Crown Princes experience in finding immediately and on the moment troops sufficient for energetic attack, proves: 1st. That notwithstanding the withdrawal of various contingents from the Russian Front, they are short of reserves; 2d. That the quality and the morale of their troops have declined, which is also evidenced by the large number and inferior fighting-value of the prisoners taken. These are signs which foreshadow not only the final victory, which is not doubtful, but even a more rapid termination of the war than could have been anticipated six months ago. While the approaching entry of the American armies into the fighting lines will be, from the start, of great importance for the military situation, the participation of the United States in the war has already produced in Germany a moral effect that the German authorities are vainly trying to conceal. The number of the adversaries of the military power increases every day, and even Prussian brutality is powerless to prevent the diffusion of the idea that the leaders of the Empire have terribly blundered in turning the whole world against Germany. Germany suffers much, and her sufferings can but increase, owing to the insufficiency of the harvest in Europe. Let us remember the prediction of a man who knows Germany well, the former Representative from Alsace in the Reichstag, Father Weterlé. “After her defeat,” he said in 1915, “Germany will astonish the world by her cowardice.” May his prediction prove true! * * * * * We will now consider the general principles of the French military organization, which are based upon experience dearly bought during the past three years of war. The American armies will be constituted upon a similar plan. CHAPTER I WAR PRINCIPLES (For 1917) 1. The rules of strategy and tactics have not been modified. The mode of fighting alone is different. 2. Violation of the laws of warfare. Influence of science. 3. Fighting units. The Army. The Army Corps. The Division. The Command. The Staff. =1. Strategy and tactics are unchanged.= _Strategy_ is the art of manœuvring large armies over a great extent of country. _Tactics_ is the art of handling the troops on the battlefield. One might be inclined to believe that, in the present war and since the victory of the Marne, the general rules of strategy and tactics have been modified. Not at all. The ways of fighting and the armament only have undergone a transformation.