The Basis of Future Operations
party interests for the general good in the hour of peril. Tlie Government, the Reichstag, and a large part of the nation had never yet understood the character of modern warfare, which demands the devotion of all its resources; nor had they ever realized the importance to ultimate victory of their full co-operation in the fight. The General Staff had again and again to emphasize that the war meant life or death to Germany.
It soon became clear that the Auxiliary Service Law was not merely insufficient, but positively harmful in operation. It was particularly irritating to the troops to find " auxiliary " workers, though employed on the same work and in the same positions, being far better paid than the men who had been called up for service under previous legislation and were now soldiers under military discipline. These grievances were increased by the circumstance that exempted men were paid the same wages as free workmen, that is to say, as the auxiliary workers. This was wholly unjust and unfair. On the lines of communication there were still greater contrasts. Troops withdrawn from the heavy fighting at the Front saw auxiliary workers and women workers working in peace and safety for wages far higher than their own pay. This was bound to embitter the men who had to risk their lives day by day and to endure the greatest hardships, and of necessity increased their dissatisfaction with their pay. The employment of highly-paid auxiliaries on the lines of communications was thus a two-edged sword. There was something fundamentally unsound in such a situation.
The measures introduced in September with a view to employing all our available man-power had thus had but a very scanty result. The latent qualities of the nation had not been properly made available, partly because they were not used at all, partly because they were wasted. Too much was left at home which should have been given to the Army. The efforts of G.H.Q. had failed ; the conviction was forced upon us that the German people was no longer sound at heart.
To increase the esteem in which war work and auxiliary service were held, I proposed the institution of the Auxiliary Service Cross. Later on, I was one of the first to receive it, and, having
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