Many articles have appeared during the past year revealing the shocking ignorance of college men concerning the progress of the great war. A recent issue of the Independent Magazine makes this statement: "We fear that they have been reading the war news, but have made no effort to understand it." Between the conflicting fires of an English official communication, a Berlin official report, and a French communique, it takes more than an intelligent person to read the news of a single engagement and understand which forces gained the advantage. After a series of attempts to untangle the contradictory statements, the normal person is satisfied to glance at the headlines and trust that his first impression is correct.
However, an occasional reading of headlines will never give one a comprehensive idea of the forts surrounding Verdun, or of a particular sector on the western front. In the Sunday editions of the daily papers, and in a few periodicals there are reviews of every weeks developments in the war zone by a military expert. These articles give one in a condensed form all the important strategic moves which have been officially reported during the week, and also the probable success or failure of the offensive campaign in question. A careful reading of the weekly reviews as a supplement to the daily headlines ought to prevent anyone from being totally ignorant of the course of the war.
Read more in News
Records of Opposing Nines