The War Losses

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Jul 1, 1915

ONE of our exchanges sums up the fearful fruitage of the present war as follows:—

“The appalling losses of the nations at war, from an economic point of view, it is impossible to calculate with anything approximating accuracy. There are periodical announcements of losses in armies and navies; and these are mounting into figures which would suggest that if the same rate of loss continues, the numbers in graves, in hospitals for wounded, and in prison camps will exceed the numbers on the field. The New York Evening Post has gathered up a concise statement of the losses up to June 1, based largely upon the official bulletins. In all these reports of losses, of course it is understood that wounded and prisoners as well as killed are included. The statement made in the House of Commons last week gave the British losses since the beginning of the war as 258,069, an average of 6,500 a week. The later losses appear to have been more than twice the average per week of the whole period. The British have borne the heaviest part of the fighting in Flanders and at the Dardanelles. The German losses have been enormous. The Russian official reports up to about June 1 ran close to 1,400,000. To this must be added the loss of the south German states, which it is estimated would amount to above 400,000, bringing the German total up to 1,800,000. These figures would not include the casualties in the recent desperate fighting in Galicia. The ratio of killed to total casualties on all sides is stated at about one fifth. German dead, therefore, amount to nearly half a million. Definite figures as to Russian losses are not available. They must have been enormous, approximating if not exceeding those of Germany. They may reach two millions, a very large proportion—larger than in other nations—of which is prisoners. The figures of Austro-Hungarian losses are not available. The maintenance of prisons must be a matter of serious concern, especially with Germany and her allies, so large is the number in their camps. The number of Russian prisoners in Germany at the beginning of May was 513,000. In Austria-Hungary there were 302,000 Russian prisoners. Since the beginning of the battles in Galicia the Teuton allies claim to have taken nearly 300,000 prisoners. This would bring the total number of Russians in captivity to 1,115,000. Of other nationalities there were in Germany and Austria on May 20, according to the same authority, French prisoners, 254,000; Belgian, 40,000; Serbian, 50,000; English, 24,000; or, altogether, 1,483,000 Allies. A fair approximation to these figures is supplied by the number of Teuton prisoners in Allied countries. In April, Russia officially claimed 616,000 Austrian prisoners. By this time the number must be close to 700,000. Of Austrian prisoners in Serbia there must be about 50,000, so that the total Austrian losses may be placed at three quarters of a million. For German prisoners we have no figures.”

This gives but a slight conception of the terrible fruitage of the present war. There are sufferings and experiences of which figures can convey no conception. If the war were finished and these figures were the total of its results, the world could in some way bind up its wounds, and turn again to the work of building up what war had thrown down and devastated. But this is not the total, and the great men of the state and of the church are stating that the time to offer mediation has not yet come. Not one of the nations is willing to stop where it is and say, “What we have achieved is all we desire, and we will make peace here.” The desperate intensity of the situation is shown by the employment of thousands of women in the factories where guns and ammunition are made. Skilled workmen cannot be spared from the trenches, and so women are now running the most ponderous and intricate machinery to build the weapons of war and furnish the ammunition requisite to make them effective against the enemy. The present war has furnished many new developments, of which this would seem to be one of the most unnatural.