The battle of the Champagne is over. The unexampled heroism, the
superhuman endurance of our troops have already become things of the
past. But we, the great German nation, will do well to heed the warning
that was sounded in the bitter days when the frenzied battle raged in
the Champagne.
What lesson shall we extract from this titanic struggle? What moral is
pointed by Hill 196, whose every inch of ground was ploughed by bullets
and soaked with our dearest blood? What were the underlying causes that
contributed to our victory? What was it that made every beardless boy
a hero, made the oldest man in the "Landwehr" forget his age and the
privations he was enduring?
Let us briefly review the principal factors that made for success.
The value of iron discipline was overwhelmingly demonstrated. It is
safe to assert that the most highly disciplined regiment will be the
most successful in action. Youthful enthusiasm may be undermined,
patriotism may be forced into temporary abeyance by hours of continual,
cruel shelling; worse than that, the very power to think becomes
inhibited in the witches' cauldron of "drum-fire." It is then that
discipline asserts itself. Nothing else gives the same moral stamina,
and in difficult positions discipline is bound to be the determining
factor.
Before the war began the voices of many people were raised who, from
false sentimentality, from undue softness, from ill-will or from
sheer stupidity, were eager to have an end put for all time to the
unconditional obedience and rigid drill of our army; in brief, to our
entire military training, the value of which has been tested and proven
throughout centuries. Many of our so-called comic papers made it their
chief business to ridicule military training and discipline, to spatter
with mud the very foundation and bulwark of our military efficiency. I
think the battle of the Champagne must have taught them to amend their
way of thinking.
"The iron rock upon which Germany rests more securely than the earth
upon the shoulders of Atlas is our glorious army." That this army
has reached this glorious summit is due primarily to its splendid
training, and the fundamentals of this training are to be found in the
latterly much-laughed-at and sneered-at detail work done in years of
peace. The standing-at-attention, the the clock-like precision, the
manual of arms, the goose-step--to all of these we owe the efficiency
displayed by our troops in resisting French "drum-fire," in repulsing
French drives, in withstanding with iron might French alertness, in
circumventing French enthusiasm and gallantry.
For instance, our Guard went through the attacks at Ypres. During
the bitter month of February this same First Guard Infantry Brigade
rendered futile and vain all the science and gallantry manifested
by the French troops at Perthes, and won new laurels in the frantic
struggle for Hill 196. Yet this crack regiment did not disdain, when
ordered to the rear for a brief, much-needed rest, to continue its
exercises and drills from the very first day of its holiday. In battle,
even, when under cover, this regiment went through the manual of arms,
practised positions and stood at attention.
One thing more. Let us educate our young men to be strong and hard. Let
us guard against influences that tend to soften or make for effeminacy,
so that, when future need arises, the coming generation may be able
successfully to cope with conditions similar to those which confronted
our troops in the Champagne. Let us weed out the poison which is eating
into the marrow of our national life--the cry for pleasure or youthful
liberties.
Then, too, let us instil in the youth of our nation simple faith,
a firm belief in the Lord God, whose will directs the destinies of
mankind. Those who went through the battle of the Champagne agree in
saying that without a firm belief in God they never would have been
able to live through those harrowing days, and to the handful, who
lacked faith, faith came amid shower of shells, during attacks of
bayonets.