CHAPTER XII

A GERMAN PRISON-CAMP

_Vienna, Tuesday, January 12th._ Last night and today twenty-three

long trains of German regular troops have passed through the Ivanka

station on their way east. They were apparently going to the Roumanian

frontier. A train will hold two battalions of infantry, two thousand

men, or a battery of artillery with full equipment. These trains

would, therefore, represent something like thirty thousand men, and

more were all the time coming. My car, in which I was _en route_ from

Budapest to Vienna, stopped at one station just opposite one of these

military trains, which I thus had time to study. It contained a

battery of German artillery and was a very long one, consisting of

flat cars, freight cars, and one or more passenger coaches for the

officers. The guns of the battery, with all the limbers and caissons,

were placed on flat-cars, while some of the freight cars were used for

equipment and ammunition and others for the soldiers. The doors of

these latter were open and were boarded up to a height of eighteen

inches to keep floor draughts off the men lying within. The cars were

filled with clean straw, sprigs of which trailed out of the doorways.

The soldiers, like all German soldiers that I have seen, were fat,

healthy, happy, and cheerful, singing, waving hands and handkerchiefs

to the responsive crowds on the platforms, and laughing and joking.

They looked for all the world like big puppies hanging out of a box

filled with straw. They were young men of Germany's best troops and

had that certain bearing of confidence and efficiency which marks

veterans. Their faces, albeit smooth and healthy, were not the faces

of boys, although some of them were still boys in years.

The guns and caissons at the first uncritical glance looked like junk,

but a second look revealed the error. Their metal work was battered

and their paint chipped off, but the wheels and running-gear and the

long gray barrels were clean and spick and span.

The efficiency, rapidity of fire, and elasticity of cannon have so

improved in the past decade that a battery of four guns now requires

one hundred and eighty men, six or seven officers, and two hundred

horses to manage it. What with mathematical instruments to direct

fire, instrument wagons, field forges, spare parts, and twelve or

sixteen caissons, every horse and man belonging to the battery is

necessary when a stiff action is going on. The guns shoot six thousand

yards and the four can between them fire eighty shots a minute. Each

of the shells weighs about eighteen pounds, costs up to twenty

dollars to manufacture, and is freighted with almost unbelievable

possibilities of death and destruction. When using shrapnel a single

battery can during any sixty seconds fire thirty-five thousand

well-directed bullets against advancing infantry. A battalion

of infantry in charging will average about two hundred yards a

minute--and during that minute a single battery can fire against

it thirty-five bullets for every man in the battalion.

The field guns of all nations shoot approximately the same shell,

three inches in diameter. These guns are so small and light in

appearance that it is difficult to realize their power until one has

seen its effects. Their barrels are perhaps six feet long and from

five to seven inches in exterior diameter. A light but very

complicated running-gear supports them. This rests upon two

wagon-wheels quite ordinary in appearance. The whole is painted

smoke-gray and looks quite toy-like and harmless.

* * * * *

I had lunch with Mr. Penfield today at his official residence and it

was an extremely interesting event. The building is said to be the

finest ambassadorial residence in the world of any nationality. I can

easily believe it. In the very heart of Vienna the house has behind it

a garden of some two acres with many fine hothouses. Seven gardeners

are required. On the other side, the Embassy faces on a large public

garden and thus every one of the sixty big windows which the mansion

possesses faces on one garden or the other. The house is adorned with

Meissoniers, Van Dykes, Chinese rugs, and other things of a like

value. The house was shown to me from top to bottom by Mr. Penfield.

* * * * *

At present there is great excitement in Vienna over the fall of Count

Berchtold, the Prime Minister, announced publicly this morning.

* * * * *

I am to leave for Berlin, London, and Paris, and then home as soon as

possible.

* * * * *

_Vienna, Friday, January 15th._ I am doing my best to see Vienna so

thoroughly in an architectural and artistic way that I shall not find

it necessary to return for purposes of study.

* * * * *

At the Jockey Club last night I played bridge with Mr. O'Shaughnessy,

Attaché Cardeza, and His Serene Highness, Prince Lichtenstein, the

fortunate possessor of the Lichtenstein Galleries in Vienna. I am to

visit his collection on Sunday morning with the Countess Colloredo.

Captain Briggs is at the front with Colonel Biddle but is expected to

return soon and I am awaiting his arrival before departing for Berlin.

* * * * *

_Sunday, January 17th._ I suppose it is useless to say that all the

reports in the Allied press about revolutions, despair, and cholera in

Austria-Hungary are absolutely false.

* * * * *

_Monday, January 18th._ I now plan to leave for Berlin on Wednesday

and hope, unless I strike something of very great importance in

Belgium, to reach London about January 31st.

* * * * *

_Wednesday, January 20th._ A party of neutral diplomats who last week

went by train into the country for a picnic were arrested on their

return to the railroad station at Vienna, beaten up, and insulted by

police and soldiers in spite of their identification papers. The

affair went to such lengths that several of the diplomats came out of

the fracas with bruised faces and torn clothes. The whole party were

detained for nearly an hour before they were finally set at liberty.

Among the distinguished members of the party were: M. Chafford, the

Swiss Minister, M. Bekfris, the Swedish Minister, M. Lelerche, the

Norwegian Chargé d'Affaires, M. Carpion, the Roumanian Chargé

d'Affaires, MM. Guignous and Segesser, Swiss Secretaries.

Several ladies were with the party, which numbered a dozen in all. The

affair was started and led by a colonel in the army who resented the

fact that the diplomats were conversing in French, a language they

were forced to employ since they were of many different nationalities.

The crowd at the railroad station where the "incident" took place was

not hostile and did nothing except stand by in idle curiosity. Up to

the present time the only action taken by the Austrian Government has

been to send regrets, not apologies, to the various diplomats. The

colonel who was responsible for the assault offered his resignation,

which was promptly refused. I know of no such disgraceful incident

ever having taken place in France or Great Britain.

* * * * *

Captain Briggs returned from the front this morning.

* * * * *

_Berlin, Thursday, January 21st._ I arrived in Berlin last night after

an uneventful journey. I went to the theatre this evening with Charles

Russell. We walked around through the lobby during the intermission

and among other things saw a young man, perhaps nineteen, very blond,

with the nicest, simplest, most straightforward face, the face of a

quiet, retiring boy, who would grow up into a thinking man. He was

with his mother. He was in civilian clothes, but in his lapel he wore

the broad ribbon--black with two white bars--of the Iron Cross.

Somewhere, sometime in these recent months, this quiet lad had

performed coolly some feat of great personal valor. The look of

unsuppressible pride upon his mother's face, as she walked on his arm,

was wonderful to behold.

* * * * *

_Sunday, January 24th._ I am to leave early Wednesday morning for

London or The Hague, I do not yet know which. From either one it is

probable that I shall be sent to Brussels.

* * * * *

_Tuesday, January 26th._ I visited the prison camp at Döberitz today.

In a military automobile I was conducted there with much ceremony by

Captain Freiherr von G----, Iron Cross and Red Eagle, of the Imperial

Guard. He is on leave convalescing from a wound in the knee which he

received at Ypres. I was expressly told that I might describe what I

saw and repeat what I heard as many times and as much in detail as I

chose, so that I have no hesitation in giving my impressions without

reserve, even though it was by courtesy of the German Government that

I made the trip.

The camp was distant one hour's fast run from Berlin and was situated

on a flat plain which had very little natural or artificial drainage.

The cold mud was everywhere from three to four inches deep. On this

plain and closely surrounded by heavy barbed-wire entanglements were

some seventy or eighty rude wooden sheds arranged in four rows with a

broad avenue down the center. Here were kept some nine thousand

prisoners of war, of whom four thousand were British and four thousand

Russian. By careful and repeated pacing I estimated that the sheds

were about one hundred by thirty feet. Each one had six unopenable

windows on a side. In each such house were quartered one hundred and

twenty-five men. When certain partitioned areas have been subtracted

this means a space of about six by three feet per man. Each house was

heated by one stove and was very hot and stuffy, being, except for the

door, hermetically sealed.

None of the prisoners had overcoats, personal belongings, or blankets.

They slept on straw ticks measuring approximately seven feet by

thirty inches. That they all suffered from lice and other vermin was

perfectly evident. The whole camp was closely surrounded by barbed

wire, and the main avenue was commanded by three field-guns placed

outside at one end in a little barbed-wire fort. The whole was

apparently under the charge of a Captain of Landsturm and the guards

were men of the Landsturm. The prisoners looked thin, peaked, unhappy

and sickly, and many had boils. They have absolutely nothing to

do--they exist. They are fed three times a day--6 A.M., 12 noon, and 4

P.M. For "lunch" and "dinner" and also Sunday breakfast, they receive

about one pint of a thick soup. I tasted some of this and thought it

was concocted chiefly of barley and potatoes. I was told that there

was meat in it but could find no evidence of any. For breakfast the

prisoners receive black bread with a slice of either cheese or sausage

and either tea or coffee. The diet is evidently insufficient. I should

say that it was calculated with German accuracy to just keep body and

soul together. I was taken through many of the houses and although no

actual prohibition to talk was given it was virtually impossible to

speak with the prisoners, as I was always hurriedly rushed along from

one place to another. In order to make a pretence of conversation, one

of the two captains who escorted me would sometimes say to a prisoner,

"What nationality are you?" "Scotch, sir." "What regiment?"

"Argyle-Highlanders, sir." "Ah, so!" and we would then hurry along

again. We were in the camp an hour and a half, and during that time I

succeeded in asking three short well-chosen questions of

intelligent-looking British non-commissioned officers.

First question: "Do you get enough to eat?"

Answer: "My Gawd, no!"

Second question: "How do present conditions

compare with the past?"

Answer: "Wonderfully improved, sir,

in comparison."

Third question: "How often do you write

home?"

Answer: "One letter every two months,

but they _say_ they

are going to improve that."

* * * * *

I saw the four o'clock feeding. It reminded me of nothing except

seeing animals fed at the Zoo. In the kitchen I saw the British

soldiers receive their afternoon meal. A line of five great cauldrons

of hot soup extended down the room, each one being about four feet

high and four feet in diameter. The prisoners entered through a

vestibule at one end of the building, where they passed between two

German sentinels to whom each delivered up a metal check before being

allowed to pass inside. There is a roll-call in the sheds before every

meal and each man is then handed a check which later entitles him to

receive his ration. Each prisoner possesses and keeps constantly with

him one iron bowl and one large spoon. When they are permitted to

enter the kitchen the prisoners rush to whatever cauldron is least

busy. There a cook, armed with a long-handled measure holding about a

pint, ladles out one measureful of soup into each man's bowl and this

constitutes the entire repast. The Captain of Landsturm in explaining

to me about the metal checks said indignantly, "Why, if we did not

have this system of checks, they would all come back three and four

times!" by which remark he showed the typical German lack of anything

approaching tact or diplomacy.

There were some British sailors and numerous marines among the

prisoners. These, according to the Germans, came from Antwerp. They

had reached that city just as the Germans entered and had been

captured without ever having left their train. They were sent on in

the same train to German prisons and their total war experience

consisted in one continued non-change journey from Ostend to the

Döberitz prison-camp. The Germans said that there was at times ill

feeling between English and Russians.

The method of punishment in the camp was called "tying up" for one or

two hours. I was unable to get details but gathered that this

consisted in suspension by some part of the hands. This, however, may

have been a wrong conclusion. I was told that the men received letters

from home, about fifty a day arriving at the camp, and are also

allowed to receive money. Yesterday was a record day, a big mail

arriving with some 7000 marks. They may spend the money at the camp

store, which I examined; tobacco, sausages, and insecticide seemed to

be the chief articles in stock.

A bath-house has recently been provided in which it is possible to

take cold showers. The English shave with potato knives borrowed from

the kitchen. The men wash in the open, apparently in the same bowls

from which they eat. Water is very sparingly served out to them.

The two German officers who acted as my guides tried to impress upon

me that the camp was a model one and that everything was done for the

prisoners which they had a right to expect. It seemed to me very much

less desirable than the prison for French soldiers which I had

previously inspected at Zossen. Some specific things which the French

possessed and the British lacked were overcoats, bunks, ample food,

work, recreation, blankets, and the opportunity for exercise, and it

should be remembered in extenuation of German prison camps in

general--if extenuation is deemed necessary--that besides interned

civilians, Germany has now nearly seven hundred thousand prisoners of

war to house and feed.

_February 14th._ After brief visits to Holland, France, and England I

last night boarded the steamship Lusitania at Liverpool and sailed for

that land of skyscrapers, electric signs, and telephones--the land

which has been called "opulent, aggressive, and unprepared."

CONCLUSION

It would be a sin of omission for me to neglect to sound again that

oft-repeated warning against the dangers of military unpreparedness,

which has been so vainly sounded since the birth of our nation by

every American, great or small, who has known or seen anything of

actual war conditions.

Is it idle to hope that the warnings to be deduced from the current

histories of other nations will be heeded by a nation which has ever

disregarded the lessons of its own history?

APPENDIX

MISCELLANEOUS MILITARY OBSERVATIONS MADE BY THE AUTHOR DURING THE

SEVEN MONTHS RECORDED IN THIS BOOK

The best maps with which to follow and study the war in France,

Flanders, and Belgium are those of the French Automobile Club, called

"Cartes Routières pour Automobiles," published by A. Taride, 18

Boulevard Saint-Denis, Paris. The war has been largely fought and

directed by the use of these maps, which are on the scale prescribed

by the French General Staff--about three and one-half miles to the

inch. They show every road and lane, every town and village in France.

The war areas are contained in numbers 1, ibis, 2, 3, 6, and 7. Those

most referred to in this book are 3 and 7.

CASUALTIES

The total losses of the various belligerents in killed, wounded, and

captured for the first six months of the war, from August 1st to

February 1st, are as follows:

British 140,000

French 1,450,000

Russians 2,050,000

Austro-Hungarians 950,000

Germans 1,500,000

* * * * *

The approximate ratio of deaths to total casualties is as follows:

German, 2 deaths to 9 casualties.

French, 2 deaths to 7 casualties.

(The large proportion of French deaths was due:

First, to the fact that in the early part of the war most actions were

German victories, and the Germans could not care for French wounded as

well as they did for their own;

Secondly to lack of sanitary skill on the part of the French in taking

care of their wounded.)

Austrian, 2 deaths to 7 casualties.

British, 2 deaths to 11 casualties.

(The low rate of mortality among the British is due to the great

number of motor ambulances which they possess, to the smallness of

their army, to the efficiency with which they care for their wounded,

and to the short distance which separates their forces from their home

country.)

* * * * *

The numbers of prisoners held on February 1st:

IN GERMANY: British 18,000

Belgian 39,000

Russian 350,000

French 245,000

IN AUSTRIA: Russian 250,000

IN ENGLAND: German 15,000

IN FRANCE: German, approximately 50,000

MEDICAL CORPS

The battle practice in the French army in handling wounded is as

follows:

When a man is wounded he is carried to a dressing station in some

partly protected neighborhood within the battle area. He is generally

taken there by the stretcher-bearers attached to his company. After

field dressing, he is removed to a field hospital one to three miles

toward the rear. The means of transportation are varied, and made to

suit the particular battle conditions, the principal means being

stretcher-bearers, motor ambulances, and horse ambulances. In case of

heavy casualties, all the men who can possibly stagger are obliged to

go to the rear by themselves and are sent in small parties so that

they may assist one another _en route_.

The field hospitals are nearly always established in village churches

with overflow into neighboring houses in case of heavy casualties. All

the furniture is removed from the church and the floor is covered

thick with straw, upon which the wounded are laid out in long rows.

The altar is made the pharmacist's headquarters, the vestry is

converted into an operating room, and a Red Cross flag is hung from

the tower or steeple. These field hospitals are generally well within

the zone of artillery fire, and are frequently struck by shells.

The men are evacuated from the field hospital to a base hospital in

motor ambulances or by a combination of motor ambulances and railway

trains. Theoretically, this should be done within a day or two with

all cases except the very gravest. In practice, the men frequently lie

in field hospitals for weeks before the opportunity of evacuation is

found. The base hospitals are in cities or large towns, and serve as

clearing-houses. They are well out of the military zone, being from

five to fifteen miles behind the zone of artillery fire. I will give a

definite example. In October, I saw the front at Albert. There were

dressing stations just behind the battle-line. There was a field

hospital at Hénencourt. From Hénencourt the wounded were evacuated

upon Amiens, which contained the base hospitals for a front extending

from a point north of Sus St. Léger to the neighborhood of Guerbigny.

Here the railway station had been converted into a receiving center to

which all the wounded were brought for examination and classification.

Those who could bear travel were immediately placed upon trains and

shipped to the south of France. There were four other hospitals in

Amiens, and all cases considered too grave for transportation to the

south were sent to one of these. They were divided and classified so

that cases of a kind were grouped together, each hospital and the

various floors of each hospital having a different class of patient.

Some of the classifications were: head cases, amputation cases,

gangrene cases, cases in which the patient could not refrain from

screaming, either because of delirium or for other reasons. It is on

leaving the base hospital that wounded are first classified as to

nationality.

For the railway transportation of the wounded, luggage vans are used.

I estimate the interior length of a French luggage-van or freight-car

to be about twenty-five feet, the doors being placed, as in America,

in the middle of each side. Wooden racks are built to the right and

left of the door in the ends of the car. These racks are arranged to

hold two layers of three stretchers each, so that each end of the

freight car contains six lying cases. The men who are able to sit or

stand and the orderlies in charge are placed in the aisle between the

doors, a space about six feet wide between the stretcher handles. On

their way to the south of France these trains stop about every

twenty-four hours, the first stop being Aubervilliers, a station some

two miles outside the gates of Paris. Here a large storage warehouse

has been converted into a hospital. Food and water are distributed to

the train on its arrival, the dead taken out, and the delirious or

very grave cases are removed to the Paris hospitals. The others are

allowed twelve hours' rest before continuing on the next stage of

their journey.

The trains are usually made up of from 30 to 50 vans, and each train

carries from 500 to 800 wounded. No particular effort seems to be made

to isolate gangrene cases from the others, and the wounded invariably

remain in the uniforms in which they fought until they reach the home

hospital in the south of France. Their dressings, until they reach

these home hospitals, are superficial ones. I have seen numerous cases

with grave wounds, such as shattered thighs, which have remained in

this condition for four and five weeks before finally being undressed

and washed at the home hospital.

The whole system of handling the wounded seems to be theoretically

well conceived. In practice among the French it worked thus poorly

during the early months of the war. The wounded suffered from lack of

food, water, attention, and bathing, and the resulting number of

mortalities and amputations was exceedingly high. The effect on the

morale of those who recovered is very serious, and is in singular

contrast to the eagerness to return to the front often shown by

British and German convalescents. The care given to the wounded by

these two nations is very excellent indeed.

The same stretcher is used throughout the French army, and its

universal use is compulsory on all organizations, whether volunteer or

regular. It is not unusual for a grave case to be picked up on the

battlefield and placed upon a stretcher and to travel on it all the

way to the south of France without once being removed. The company

stretcher-bearers turn him over to the dressing station with the

stretcher upon which they have borne him. Since these stretchers are

identical in size and construction they fit all ambulances and all

railway equipments. They may be said to be current, like money, and

whenever one organization turns over a grave case to the succeeding

organization, the stretcher goes with the case, and an empty one is

received in return. The number at any one point is thus maintained at

a constant figure, and there is a general tendency for battered and

infected stretchers to gravitate toward the south of France, and for

new stretchers to gravitate toward the front.

* * * * *

There has been much typhoid in the armies in France, and it is on the

increase. The wounded men develop it more often than any other class.

Inoculation against typhoid is theoretically compulsory in the French

army. I have no personal knowledge as to the thoroughness or

effectiveness of inoculation in practice.

Lockjaw seems to develop late. Most of the cases occur after the men

have reached the south of France. The new French anti-lockjaw

inoculation of Doctor Doyen has produced most remarkable results. I

have heard, on reliable authority, that with it 80% of the cases

treated make a complete recovery. Three of my personal friends have

had lockjaw and recovered. This is, in part, due to the fact that in

all the hospitals the diagnosis is quick and sure, and the serum

always in stock. The injection is made into the spinal cord at the

small of the back. The patient is kept on his back on a slightly

sloping table, his feet being at the higher end, while his head is

allowed to hang unsupported over the end of the table.

A considerable proportion of the French and British troops in France,

the Russian, Austrian, and Hungarian troops in the eastern fields, and

the prisoners in Germany suffer from lice. Fleas seem to be a

comparative rarity in the zones of operation.

* * * * *

The physique and condition of the French troops have greatly improved

since the beginning of the war. War conditions seem to have caused a

marked change. Many of the men have gained twenty and even thirty

pounds, and the younger men have grown inches in height.

The French have well-defined regulations in the matter of sanitation,

but these rules are not generally well-observed or strictly enforced.

In the French trenches, however, where discipline is best, this matter

is very well regulated. The Germans are particularly orderly in this

regard. I have never observed that the French mark wells or water

supplies in any manner.

I have no observations to offer on the subject of cremation of refuse,

but have seen several attempts at cremation of bodies in the French

army, all of which were glaring failures.

AËROPLANES

The German aëroplanes are generally conceded to be the most effective

in the war, and the Germans seem to possess more of them than any

other nation. None of their machines are slow and their fastest ones

are faster than any in the other armies. Aëroplanes have been

singularly ineffective in attacking as their shooting is extremely

bad. They usually miss their target by at least two hundred yards,

and, so far as my personal knowledge goes, the only damage that they

have ever done has been when they have had a whole city to shoot at.

Something like forty bombs were thrown on Paris while I was in that

city, and although some thirty or forty non-combatants were killed or

wounded, a target of any military importance was hit on only one

occasion, when a bomb was dropped through the roof of the Gare St.

Lazare. In the field, the principal targets aimed at by the aëroplanes

are supply and ammunition convoys. The method is for the aëroplane to

fly above the road and to drop a bomb as it passes over the convoy. It

then makes a circle and repeats the operation. I know personally of

some fifty bombs thus dropped, not one of which struck anywhere near

the target. The effect of the bombs is of small consequence and damage

is seldom done except to the people who happen to be standing in the

immediate neighborhood.

The crater of the bombs thrown by German aëroplanes, when striking

macadam or similar surfaces, is about fifteen inches in diameter and

four inches deep. I have seen three such craters. The shrapnel bullets

from the exploding bombs fly with a killing force to a distance of

about fifty yards, and at the latter range the lowest bullets fly at a

height of about twelve or fifteen feet. These bombs weigh about

fourteen pounds.

Aëroplanes have proved to be almost invulnerable in war. They are

extremely difficult to hit, because one must calculate for three

dimensions and for the speed of the aëroplane; when hit they seldom

suffer serious damage. I know of a case where first and last nearly

200 bullets passed through a machine without its ever being put out of

action. Indeed, it seems impossible to bring down an aëroplane except

by a freak shot. The gasoline tank is high and narrow and is protected

by a thin metal plate underneath, while struts and steering wires are

usually double. Wounding the aviator does not usually bring down a

machine, because he is sitting and is strapped in, and on calm days

needs to employ only a slight muscular effort to steer. Moreover,

there are usually two officers in an aëroplane and the systems of

double control enable the aëroplane to return to its base even if one

of them is killed outright.

Anti-aircraft guns are not greatly feared by aviators, and they

consider it merely an extraordinary piece of bad luck to be hit by

one. The aviators fear most of all the fire of large bodies of

infantry, and in flying over a regiment at an altitude of 1000 yards

they realize that they run serious risk of being brought down.

Rifle bullets are effective against aëroplanes up to a height of

about 5000 feet. Observers fly just above this altitude, at about 5500

feet, since they wish to fly as low as possible and yet be reasonably

safe. Aviators have told me that this height is so well recognized

that they nearly always encounter other observers in the same plane.

Aëroplanes, flying at a height of 5500 feet, can observe the movement

or presence of large bodies of troops and the flashes of artillery.

They cannot observe very much else at that height. They seem to be

able to descend suddenly for a short time to a very low altitude when

it is necessary and, in a large percentage of cases, to escape.

British aëroplanes have made reconnoissances at an altitude of only

one hundred yards.

Aëroplanes have made surprises in war nearly impossible, since in

modern warfare it would be necessary to shift at least a division to

produce any effect, and the movement of such a number of men would

certainly be visible to aëroplanes during the daytime. If such a

movement were performed at night, the presence of the division in a

new spot would almost certainly be detected by the aëroplanes in the

morning. The possession of a large and efficient aëroplane corps

reduces the surprises of war very nearly to nil, and proportionately

increases the importance of preparedness and of tactics.

The German aviators (and in fact all German observers, such as

infantry and cavalry patrols) make it a principle to avoid, if

possible, any combat; this is, of course, interpreted as cowardice by

the Allies, who seem eager for a fight on any terms. There is a

distinct reluctance among aviators for engaging in aërial duels. As

one French aviator said to me: "You are both killed and that does no

one any good." This reluctance is fairly universal, except with

British flyers.

The German aëroplanes signal their observations by means of a code

expressed in smoke balls. I never was able to obtain any theory as to

how this code works. This method of communication seems to be very

effective, as German shells sometimes arrive with singular accuracy

and immediateness. It is commonly reported that Germans also signal

with a suspended disc, but I have no personal knowledge of this

system. The French had no definite means of signaling from the air in

the early months of the war, and I believe this is still the case.

They make their observation and return to their base to report,

usually taking notes while aloft on maps and in note-books. I have no

personal knowledge of the British methods. The Austrian system of

signaling is by means of evolutions of the aëroplanes themselves. When

they observe a target they fly over it, and when directly above make

a sudden dip. They are observed during their evolutions with

instruments, so that the exact angle and hypothenuse at the moment of

this dip is known. They then make a circuit and come up from the rear

and again fly over the objective. As they reach a point where they can

see the target or objective their artillery opens fire and is

corrected by the graphic evolutions of the aëroplane. If the shells

drop too far to the left, the aëroplane turns to the right and the

distance in profile that it travels before straightening out is the

correction. They say, "Shoot short" by dipping and "Shoot farther" by

rising.

I have no knowledge of aëroplanes being used at night, although they

sometimes return from daylight operations after night has fallen and

make their landing with the assistance of beacons. It is commonly

reported both by Germans and French that the steel darts used by the

French aviators are the most effective offensive weapon so far used by

aëroplanes. I have no personal knowledge on this subject. I have been

several times informed upon reliable authority that the French have no

particular instruments of precision for use in the dropping of bombs.

At the commencement of hostilities the French aviators feared their

own armies much more than they did the Germans, because the French had

neglected to familiarize their troops with the designs of hostile

aircraft.

It was proved to be nearly impossible to force a fight with your

enemy's aëroplane, even if he is far within your own territory. If

your own aëroplanes are on the ground it takes them entirely too long

to get to his altitude, and if he wishes to stay in the same

neighborhood he himself keeps going higher as your aëroplanes mount

toward him. There seems to be no difficulty encountered in avoiding

aëroplanes already in the air, since they are usually visible at great

distances.

Anti-aircraft guns are generally mounted on automobile trucks, and are

usually of small calibre. I have never seen any German aëroplanes

other than monoplanes; these I have seen on ten or more occasions.

I saw no aëroplanes which carried other arms than rifles and automatic

pistols.

In practice I have nowhere observed machine-guns mounted on

aëroplanes, although they are much advertised and talked about.

I have frequently heard, upon what I consider reliable authority, that

the Germans use captive balloons for observations.

ARTILLERY

I have at all times been tremendously impressed with the dominant

importance in this war of artillery. My personal observations lead me

to estimate that the percentage of casualties from artillery wounds

has been nearly 50% of the total.

There are very distinct differences in the methods of the French and

German field artilleries. The _French field artillery_ is always used

in indirect fire and the positions are usually a long distance behind

the infantry--from fifteen to twenty-five hundred yards. The

emplacements are often in deep wooded valleys. Too close proximity to

the infantry is avoided.

In contrast to this, the _German field artillery_ is nearly always

very close to the infantry and is frequently in position for direct

fire. In the most typical German arrangement the infantry trenches are

on the front face of a hill along the "military crest" with the

artillery two or three hundred yards behind over the natural crest.

One often sees German field guns in such a position that it is

difficult to say whether they are in "direct" or "indirect" fire.

In battles where there are no rapid retreats and rapid advances it

seems to be the custom for batteries to be silent for one or two days

while the battery commander, by means of observers, aëroplanes, and

spies, endeavors to locate an objective. The point to be made is that

the main forces of artillery do not seem to fire very continuously.

Oftentimes in the middle of a very tense battle where heavy forces

are opposed to each other there will be periods of half an hour or

even longer when no firing whatsoever is to be heard. The importance

of observers has become tremendous. On some occasions it seems as

though the main object of an army were to get a single man into a

location from which he can accurately observe the enemy's position,

and as if until this is accomplished the whole battle is at a

standstill. Both sides try continuously in all sorts of original ways

to get information. The German tendency is toward the use of spies,

while the French more often employ daring volunteer observers who

sacrifice their lives in order successfully to direct fire for even

five or ten minutes. Aëroplanes are used for the same purpose by all

nations, but with less and less success as the war progresses, because

hostile infantry and artillery are better and better hidden. It has

now become almost impossible for an aëroplane to locate hostile

artillery except by the flashes. Battery positions are either placed

in forests, or artificial woods are built around them. It is almost

axiomatic that artillery shall give no signs of life while an enemy's

aëroplane is above, and as the result of this, one well-recognized

method of temporarily silencing an enemy's battery is to keep an

aëroplane flying over its neighborhood. Volunteer observers are

frequently disguised and sent forward to hunt for a place from which

they can observe the hostile trenches of artillery and thus direct and

correct the fire of their own batteries. Observers who thus volunteer

to go forward are virtually always decorated and made officers, if, by

some fortunate chance, they both succeed and survive. The French

artillery officers take advantage of every "assist"; for instance, I

saw a case where a shell made a groove on the reverse side of a hill

and glanced off. The shell exploded, but its fuse was recovered by the

French, the setting of the fuse determined, and by means of this and

the direction of the groove made in the hill the German battery was

located. The French reported that they had destroyed the battery. One

of their aëroplanes was sent up before firing was begun and later

observed the battery's efforts to escape.

The French batteries are usually so far behind the infantry that when

they have come under heavy artillery fire there is no danger of

capture. The custom with the French seems to be, in a case like this,

for the personnel to run and take cover during the bombardment. I saw

this happen twice, and I learned of numerous other cases. Cover

underground is constructed for all the personnel of the batteries. One

enters these subterranean quarters through entrances which look very

much like enlarged woodchuck holes. With no artillery of any

nationality did I see any gun entrenchment other than a slight mound

of earth coming up to the bottom of the shield. All guns that I have

seen were in a line, except in cases where there was some peculiar

rising of terrain. I have several times seen a "group" together in one

line, at intervals of about twenty yards. In practice, the French tend

to extend the intervals to about twenty-five yards, while the Germans

either decrease them to about fifteen yards, or have the guns quite

isolated, seventy-five or one hundred yards apart.

Telephones are the only instruments of which I have observed the use

in the immediate neighborhood of French batteries. The battery

commander controls the fire by word of mouth.

The French 75-mm. gun is the only field-piece which under practical

field conditions does not "jump." This gives a tremendous advantage to

the French artillery in such duels as frequently take place in battles

where there is rapid movement. I have been on battlefields after

action had finished and observed positions where two batteries had

shot at each other, both being in "direct fire" position. The French

pieces can fire at a rate of twenty-five shots a minute and in such

duels seem to be able to fire accurately with nearly twice the

rapidity of the Germans.

The most unpleasant experience that I ever underwent occurred one day

when I was directly in front of and under a French battery and it

suddenly and unexpectedly fired about forty rounds in thirty seconds

over my head. These discharges produced a great psychological effect

and were much more disconcerting than any arrival of enemy's shells.

I have never observed any "short burst," or shells bursting in guns. I

should judge that this accident happens very rarely, with the French,

at least.

At the beginning of the war, the French carried shells and shrapnel in

about equal numbers. The shells explode with the time-fuse exactly as

do shrapnel. From several sources I was told that they were loaded

with the new explosive which had been introduced only about three

months before the beginning of hostilities. As the war progresses the

French tend to use more and more of these explosive shells, which are

used against infantry in the same way as are shrapnel. The only

difference seems to be that they are made to burst a little lower.

Their effect is very terrible. A heavy bursting charge is employed,

and although the fragments are small they fly with such force that

they make fatal wounds and even cut into the wood of rifle stocks. I

observed the body of one German whose back had been pierced with about

forty small particles of a shell which had burst close to him. These

particles were as evenly spread as the charge of a shotgun. German

wounded and captured Germans have told me that this French shell-fire

was so hellish that no man escaped except by a miracle. The French

infantry have a great affection for their "75," and their confidence

is always very greatly increased by its presence. Their spirits

immediately rise when they hear it behind them. The French field

artillery seem to have no favorite range but readily fire at any

range. On the one hand a gun is sometimes taken into the trenches, and

on the other hand I once observed a battery begin firing at 5300

meters and go to 5600 meters. One frequently sees French batteries of

two and three guns and groups of eight or nine guns, lost guns not

having been promptly replaced. I once saw a battery of two guns, the

other two having been completely destroyed by direct fire the previous

week. The heaviest piece that I saw at the front with the French was a

6-in. howitzer. The Germans use all sizes up to 12-in. in field

operations, the latter being of Austrian construction. I have never

discovered any conclusive evidence that Germany possesses

42-centimeter guns.

In my observations, when infantry charge infantry in battle movement,

the majority of the casualties are caused by artillery. I have several

times observed fields of dead infantrymen killed in an advance against

infantry, where 90% of the dead had been killed by shrapnel. In my

experience the Germans never use anything except shrapnel against

infantry in the open. Shrapnel wounds are very ugly, being big ragged

holes which usually become infected.

On the battlefields I have observed, very few German shrapnel have

failed to burst in the air. In one field about a half mile square,

where shrapnel cases were strewn about [I counted about forty or

fifty], I observed only four craters. The French often say that the

German shrapnel burst too high.

The German field artillery frequently place their caissons at a

distance of two hundred yards behind the guns, there being no limbers

or caissons with the guns. The ammunition is brought up by hand, each

man carrying six shells in baskets holding three each. The caissons

are usually in less numbers than the guns, there being two caissons

behind four guns, or one caisson behind two guns.

In examining abandoned German ammunition, I have found shells bearing

all dates from 1903 to 1914.

On no occasion have I seen observation ladders used by the French

field artillery. This is probably due to the fact that, in general,

their artillery is at so great a distance behind the scene of

operations.

Shells bigger than 3-in. when used in field operations seldom do any

damage, but have a tremendous moral effect even on veteran troops. The

disconcerting effect of heavy shells exploding in the ground is very

widely recognized at the front. The fire of big howitzers is, as a

rule, very inaccurate. When one of these shells hits a building or a

paved street its effect is considerable; when they burst in soft

ground they are not dangerous. Most of the battlefields of France are

on muddy fields, in which the 6-in. shells make a crater about forty

feet in circumference and five or six feet deep. Their effect is

chiefly upward and casualties are so rare as to be considered freaks.

Mud is, however, thrown over the whole neighborhood. The bursting of

the 12-in. shells is a very impressive sight--I saw two burst. (My

authority for their caliber was a major of French artillery with whom

I was standing at the time.) They burst at a distance of about 600

yards from us, one in an open field and the other in a small French

village. The concussion was very heavy and even at 600 yards was felt

in the feet. In the first case the air was filled with flying mud to a

height of several hundred feet and there was a cloud of greasy black

smoke about as large as a city block. The resultant crater was about

one hundred feet in circumference, the ground being particularly soft.

The second shell produced the same sensations, made the same sort of

crater, and destroyed four or five small French brick and stone

houses.

The largest German howitzers which are in the field were, in my

personal experience, used only to bombard towns and villages.

INFANTRY

My observations lead me to think that the most important

qualifications for the infantry soldier are three, viz: to be able to

dig, to be able to hide, and to be able to shoot. At the beginning of

the war the French had paid very little attention to any of these

things. Their men were dressed in a uniform so conspicuous that hiding

was impossible. The only shooting that they had ever done was gallery

shooting at a range of about forty yards and they were singularly poor

even at this. Judging by practical results, they had very few theories

and no practice in the matter of digging trenches. The trenches which

they made in the early weeks of the war were straight grooves in the

ground with the earth thrown up in a haphazard manner on either or

both sides. Their early defeats were due to the unexpected invasion

through Belgium, and to their unpreparedness in the three essentials

mentioned above.

The German infantry also shoot poorly from an American standpoint, but

do better than the French. Their uniform is the most nearly perfect of

any of the armies in the war, and the Germans are virtually invisible

at short range if they are not moving. Their helmet is easily the best

headgear in the matter of invisibility. It sets tightly on the head,

and owing to its shape virtually never casts a shadow. The Germans

have been from the beginning very accomplished trench diggers and have

had elaborate theories as to the construction of trenches and much

practice in making them.

The British are the only troops in the war who shoot with any degree

of excellence. Their shooting does not approach in accuracy that of

our own army, but is so superior to the Germans that a British

battalion of 1100 men usually has a firing effect equal to that of a

German regiment of nearly 3000. On the gray-green backgrounds of

Europe the British khaki is not conspicuous, but at the same time it

is certainly visible. The British hat is the most conspicuous headgear

in the war, since its rim casts a heavy black shadow, and its flat top

shows white in sunlight. The heads of the British in the trenches

stand out very distinctly.

In my experience the machine-gun is the most effective infantry

weapon. Personally, I should interpret this not as praise for

machine-guns, but as a criticism of the poor shooting of all the

infantry engaged. The French have comparatively few machine-guns.

Since November, the French have had troops of all categories on the

firing-line, and I should judge by this that since November, if not

earlier, the French have had all their available men in service. Among

my personal acquaintances in France, I know no man liable for service

who has not been in the army from that date onward. The men who for

physical reasons were earlier refused are now being quite generally

accepted as volunteers and are put to office work or similar

occupations. I have seen great numbers of wounded Territorials in

France, and many Territorial prisoners in the prison camps in Germany.

When I visited the prison camp at Zossen (near Berlin) where there are

said to be 20,000 French prisoners, a large percentage (perhaps as

much as 50 per cent.) of the prisoners I saw were Territorials.

The Germans have very well-developed and well-organized systems of

relays for their men at the front. The infantry stay in the trenches

for about a month at a time and are then given a vacation, usually

being sent home to their garrison town. Their cavalry serve ten days

at the front and are then sent a day's march to the rear for a

ten-days' rest. Their artillerymen get no vacation, their lives being

considered easy enough.

I saw no evidence of any well-organized system of vacations among

either the French or British and I knew many isolated cases where

personal friends of mine, both officers and enlisted men, have been at

the front continuously since the beginning of the war. I am fairly

certain that the British enlisted man has had no vacation since the

beginning of the war, other than relaying near the front.

I would mention again, in order to emphasize the statement, that all

my observations have led me to believe that the essentials of military

preparedness are, first of all, a rapid mobilization, without this

everything else is useless. By "rapid" I mean a mobilization of at

least half a million men or upward in not more than ten days. After

this in importance comes the ability to hide, to dig, and to shoot. To

hide is impossible when wearing a uniform as conspicuous as the

French, which might be called maximum, and has, I should estimate,

been the cause of from three to four hundred thousand extra

casualties.

The bayonet has been much used in this war and I have viewed

personally a number of battlefields on which the action was decided

with cold steel. It is my impression that European officers have

maintained their faith in the bayonet as a weapon and some of them may

even have become more than ever convinced of its worth. This is very

distinctly the case with the French and the Austrians. The Germans are

the only people whom I have observed to show any preference for

shooting as against cutting when in close action. There is no doubt

that the French commander's idea is to win the ultimate decision with

the bayonet. Europeans in general seem to prefer cutting and stabbing

to shooting. For them, "fight" seems to mean stabbing somebody. Their

psychology is directly opposed to ours, for I think most American

soldiers prefer shooting to cutting. The Europeans do not seem to have

the taste for shooting, or the ability or wish to shoot well. It is

difficult or even impossible to teach many of them to shoot with any

degree of effectiveness.

In spite of the degree to which the bayonet has been used in Europe

and the number of actions which I have seen won by its use, I am

strongly convinced that the bayonet is not a practical weapon, and

that the only just grounds for its employment are to be found in

psychological reasons. I have not actually seen bayonet combats but

have studied the battlefields soon after the conflicts and have talked

with troops who had taken part in them, both French wounded and German

prisoners. I remember particularly the scenes of three bayonet fights

on a considerable scale. The first took place near Fère Champenoise on

September 8th; the second near Sézanne on September 9th; the third

near Lassigny about October 15th. In each case the men had thrown all

science to the wind and fought wildly and savagely hand to hand. They

were probably less effective than a Philippine boloman. Most of the

casualties had been bayoneted through the neck, face, and skull, the

men having lunged savagely for the face just like a boxer who has lost

his temper. In the first-mentioned place I saw a Frenchman and a

German lying side by side, both dead, and each transfixed by the

other's bayonet, showing that they had rushed upon each other madly

without the least thought of science or defense. It would seem to me

that an infantryman with a short and handy rifle like our new

Springfield could fill his magazine just before the enemy's charge

arrived and "stop" four or five men armed with bayonets or any other

edged weapon. I see no more reason for opposing bayonet with bayonet

than for opposing a bolo with a bolo. The same reasoning would apply

to lances and sabers, which are universally carried and certainly have

been used to some extent. It is an interesting fact that in fights

between cavalry patrols, every such affair which came to my personal

knowledge had been decided by shooting and by nothing else, although

the teaching of the men is to close in and use the lance and saber.

The Germans alone when in close action have shown a tendency to do

more or less shooting. In the first mentioned of the above fights, the

Germans were virtually all killed by bayonet wounds, whereas perhaps

50 per cent. of the French dead whom I examined showed gunshot wounds.

The French tactical unit is the battalion of 1000 men, divided into

four companies, nominally of 250 men each but with an effective battle

strength of slightly over 200. These companies are commanded by a

captain with four or five lieutenants under him. Two of these

lieutenants are regular officers and the other two or three are

reserve officers. Each platoon is commanded by a lieutenant and a

sergeant. An infantry brigade in the French army is made up of six

battalions. In case of heavy casualties the number of battalions is

reduced, the idea being to keep battalions as near normal strength as

possible. Thus if the regiment loses 30 per cent. it is reduced from a

regiment of three battalions to a regiment of two battalions, and if

it loses 60 or 70 per cent. it is reduced to a regiment of one

battalion.

The French, German, Russian, Austrian, and Hungarian infantry are all

armed with long, heavy, and ill-balanced rifles carrying detachable

bayonets. These rifles are very poorly sighted in comparison with our

new Springfield. It would be very difficult or impossible to do good

shooting with them, as measured from an American standpoint. In my

personal experience there have been numberless cases where dispatch

bearers, automobiles, scouts, pickets, and patrols were exposed at

very short range to the fire of bodies of French or German troops

without any casualties whatsoever occurring.

The one idea of the German infantry seems to be to shoot as much and

as rapidly as possible. I have several times observed where German

infantry have taken up a position in the open, and fired 120 rounds a

man, more or less, as a matter of course.

I have nowhere observed the use of any semi-automatic rifles, nor of

either silencers or special sights for sharpshooters.

TRENCHES AND CONCEALMENT

In October I was in the neighborhood of Lassigny and Roye where heavy

fighting was and had been going on. There was a little village called

Erches to the northwest of these places. Here were the French advance

trenches. I was in this village during the height of operations and

was told that we were then only 150 or 200 yards from the German

trenches. Standing behind a house corner in this village of Erches, I

could see nothing unusual in any direction. I could see no signs of

French or German activity nor of life of any kind, although the French

infantry trenches extended to our right and left and the Germans were

directly in front of us. The landscape which spread away in all

directions looked perfectly normal and unbroken except for a few shell

craters. The only manifestations of activity were the distant rumbling

of guns, and the shrapnel bursting over our heads. Although I stayed

there for more than an hour, the only Frenchmen I saw were a few who

joined me behind the house; they came from trenches hidden within it,

or from an underground trench, the opening of which was behind the

house. I recount this to accent the concealment of all troops in this

war. Trenches are made to resemble the landscape in which they are

placed. If they are in a brown mowed field, hay is scattered over all

fresh earth, and if they are made in pasture land all the earth is

carefully carried away or is spread out and sodded over.

CAVALRY

The Austrian cavalry unit is the division, which is accompanied by the

horse artillery in considerable strength. They are not accompanied by

cyclists or armored automobiles.

During the first six months of the war, at least, in the Austrian,

Hungarian, British, and French armies no newspaper or war

correspondents were allowed to view the actual operations on any

condition whatsoever. No press representative saw any battle with the

Austrian, Hungarian, British, or French armies, with one single

exception which took place in France, when one day during September

certain press representatives managed to see the bombardment along the

Aisne. I make this statement with the full knowledge that many

correspondents state they have seen battle actions. I have been able

to investigate such statements on numerous occasions, and invariably

found them to be fabrications, usually without even a foundation of

truth. Reporters frequently left the intrenched camp at Paris, were

arrested before traveling any great distance, and confined for days

and weeks. They then returned to the city and told hair-raising

stories of their experiences at the front.

The only war news published in France, England, Austria, and Hungary,

is that of the official _communiqués_, which usually suppress all

essentials, minimize or omit all reverses, and convert all drawn

actions or slight gains into victories.

The Austrian and Hungarian horse artillery were in such close relation

with the cavalry that their support was very good. In fact, the

artillery get into position as quickly as the cavalry. The chief

function which cavalry have performed successfully in this war has

been that of reconnoissance. The French and German armies use

aëroplanes and cavalry patrols as their principal means of

reconnoissance; the latter scout in parties of from six to fifteen men

commanded by an officer. The British do the same work with two

motor-cycle riders. The transmission of dispatches by cavalry has

become virtually nil in France because of the extensive use for this

purpose of telephones, automobiles, and motor-cycles. It is very

doubtful, however, if automobiles and motor-cycles could successfully

be used for dispatch-bearing and reconnoissance in any country except

France. On the Russian frontier the poorness and scarcity of roads

make the use of automobiles difficult and the use of wheels and

motor-cycles impossible. It would, therefore, seem that for

reconnoissance and dispatch-bearing, cavalry will usually be the means

employed.

Cavalry have to a certain extent been used as reserves. They were thus

first used by the British. In recent months I have often seen large

French cavalry reserves. At such times they are, in effect, mounted

infantry, so that reinforcements may be transferred a greater distance

in a shorter time. My personal observations have led me to believe

that aside from their uses in reconnoissance, the principal value of

cavalry is as mounted infantry held in reserve. When fighting, cavalry

must dismount. Early in the war there were occasions when cavalry

fought while mounted, and whether against artillery, infantry, or

other cavalry, the chief result was the killing of nearly all the

horses.

In the Austrian, Hungarian, and French armies many cavalry regiments

have been converted into infantry. I do not think that this is chiefly

due to lack of horses but to the fact that the opportunity for

fighting while mounted no longer exists.

ENGINEERING

The only work which I observed to be done entirely and solely by

engineers was the construction of bridges, of which they have had to

build a great number. I was impressed by the fact that many of these

bridges were quite original in conception. They are nearly always

intelligent makeshifts which might truly be called inventions.

At Pont-Ste.-Maxence, a bridge capable of supporting the heaviest

traffic was constructed in a few hours. Big canal boats which were

lying idle in the neighborhood were requisitioned and anchored side by

side, touching each other. Their decks were made flush, each with the

other, by the shifting of ballast, and when this had been accomplished

a roadway was laid across them. This bridge was so satisfactory that

it has not yet been replaced by a permanent structure. Road building

was largely carried on among the French by infantry, and it was my

experience that trench building was exclusively done by the infantry

as it was found necessary. The positions and traces of trenches were

laid out by infantry officers. This latter conclusion is, however,

based on three or four observations only.

SUPPLIES

In the French army the reserve small arms ammunition is kept behind

the battle-line just out of reach of shell-fire. There are ammunition

train regiments just as there are infantry or cavalry regiments. Each

such regiment is composed of eighty odd ammunition wagons and some

forage wagons. Two regiments generally move together, thus forming an

ammunition brigade. These wagons are parked parallel to the line of

battle. Supply columns are always parked vertically to the line of

battle. In the Battle of the Marne I observed an ammunition brigade

about every twenty kilometers. Thus on September 11th, there were

brigades at Rebais (7th and 10th Regiments), at Montmirail (17th and

29th), and at Champaubert. The supplies, chiefly beef and bread, are

brought up from the rear and advance directly toward the battle-line

in long horse-drawn wagon trains, or in Paris auto-busses. When near

the front, small numbers of wagons go up as far as they dare and

supplies are distributed directly to the troops, often while they are

under long-range shell-fire.

MOTOR TRANSPORT

In the matter of motor transport, the practice with the French and

British has become well defined. The best type of truck is one of

medium weight, and of the best construction obtainable. It should be

emphasized that medium-priced or inexpensive trucks are undesirable.

It is very distinctly the opinion of French and British transport

officers that it is better to have too few trucks, all of which are

reliable, than to take "any old truck" and have it break down at

critical moments during operation. Inferior trucks break down

frequently, and break down at critical moments with singular

regularity.

In the British army, trucks work in units of about ten, each such unit

being commanded by an officer who travels in a fast automobile.

Protection, when necessary, is temporarily assigned to the unit,

nearly always in the shape of armored motor cars. The trucks are

heavily manned, having from three to six men per truck. Every man is

armed with a rifle, but no other arms are carried as an integral part

of the unit. Such motor transport units are not often captured or

destroyed since they seldom come in touch with anything but the

enemy's cavalry which, as a rule, prefers to leave them strictly

alone, as a train of motor trucks has good defensive ability and none

of the vulnerability of horse-drawn wagons. In the rare cases when

actions have taken place, motor trucks have become moving forts, which

continue on their way at a rate of twenty or twenty-five miles an

hour, while from each one three or four well-protected riflemen keep

up a steady fire.

The type of automobile most desirable for army use has become

well-defined. The practice in this regard is the same in the French,

British, German, Austrian, and Hungarian armies. On a powerful

chassis, with an engine of at least 50-horse-power, is mounted a very

light body, of the "pony tonneau" type, with room for two men in front

and two behind. The equipment consists of a folding top, leather or

isinglass wind-shield, powerful head-lights, the noisiest horn

obtainable, and racks to carry as much extra gasoline as possible. In

service these automobiles have big racks full of gasoline-cans carried

on the running boards and at the rear and, in addition, there are

often necklaces of two-gallon cans strung wherever possible. In

virtually all the armies gasoline is served out in small cans

containing about two gallons each, which are easily handled and

quickly stored. One or two may be put in any odd space which is not

otherwise in use. This method is very effective and is one of the most

important developments in military automobile practice. In none of the

armies are cars used which vary greatly from the type above mentioned,

except through necessity. In general, heavy cars and runabouts give

very inferior service. It is the general custom for the chauffeur and

an orderly to ride on the front seat, and one or two officers behind.

The more speed the machine develops the better. It is not uncommon to

see staff officers or generals traveling over the French roads at a

speed of one hundred kilometers an hour. There is quite a well-defined

tendency to have as drivers men who are well above the average. In the

French army these men are usually sergeants or lieutenants; in the

Austrian army many of them are lieutenants.

Corps and army commanders usually have big, heavy limousines, with

electric lighting, which they can, when necessary, use as offices, or

as headquarters.

SIGNAL CORPS

The Germans use telephones very extensively and apparently in

connection with all arms of the service. Their wires are very thin

and are similar to small piano wires. I saw no copper wire used by

them. The wire is strung on poles about nine feet high. These poles

are very carefully made of wood and are only about an inch in

diameter. Every second pole is guyed with a wire and braced with a

pole. The poles are painted in black and white stripes to make them

conspicuous and to prevent people from running over them. The German

practice is to lay these wires and abandon them when they are no

longer needed. The British, on the contrary, make it a point of honor

to recover all their poles and wire. In the retreat from Mons their

signal corps had such heavy losses in attempting to do this that they

were seriously hampered by lack of personnel.

PHYSIQUE

The German soldiers and officers have a physique unapproached by any

troops which I saw, except the Swiss. Their average height and weight

is very much above all the others, except the Russians. The Russians

are as large as the Germans but do not approach them in activity and

quality. The French, although small and light, are wiry and have very

good stamina, especially in the matter of marching. The Austrians are

of medium size, most of them being stockily built. The Hungarians are

of medium height, well-knit, possessed of good stamina, and are in

every way physically fitted to be fine soldiers. Their infantry have

very high physical qualities, probably being as effective in modern

warfare as the heavy Germans.

MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS

I found intelligent people in Germany very broad-minded about military

matters. They were pretty well agreed that General Joffre is the only

general produced so far by the war who would rank in history as a

great captain, and while they maintained that the German officers as a

class were superior to all others, they conceded that the best troops

which have so far taken part in the war were the British regulars who

represented England in the early weeks of the war and retreated from

Charleroi through Mons, St. Quentin, and Compiègne to the southeast of

Paris.

On many different occasions I saw Russian prisoners in Germany and

Austria-Hungary. They impressed me as being of a low order of

intelligence. They fight well on the defense. When they are put in a

position and told to stay there, they are very difficult to drive back

and show the highest order of courage. When they move or advance they

become less reliable.

The Hungarians have a very keen fighting instinct and are excellent

infantrymen.

The Germans have a dogged courage and expose themselves with bravery

and enthusiasm in any undertaking. When they are once started, they

are difficult to stop. On an advance, I should say that a 50 per cent.

loss is necessary to make them hesitate, and on the defense I saw at

least one case where they were put out of action to the last man

without giving ground.

The French are brave in a more spectacular way. They are better

winners than the Germans and worse losers. Their temperament leads

them to push home a success with more enthusiasm than the Germans;

whereas, in defeat, they are less reliable.

The fighting qualities of the British are much higher than those of

any other nation, when, as in the case of the British regulars, they

have had sufficient training to teach them the technique of war. They

are calm and usually cheerful under the most adverse circumstances.

They do not lose control of themselves either in victory or defeat.

The Germans say they fight best of all when they are hopelessly

defeated or surrounded.

I have seen no body of officers which can compare in quality with

those of our army who are graduates of West Point. However, we have

fewer of these than Germany has generals.

It is just as strongly my opinion that the American infantryman as a

type is correspondingly superior. I believe he can undoubtedly

out-shoot, out-think, out-"hike," and out-game the line soldier of any

other country I have seen. Here again, we have so few of him that,

whereas there are more than six hundred well-trained army-corps

engaged in this war, we have less than one.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

I have received a letter from Mr. Herrick in which he expresses the

opinion that I was too severe on the diplomatic corps for leaving

Paris when the Germans threatened the city and the French government

moved to Bordeaux. He states that it was the duty of the diplomatic

corps to go with the government and that it was according to

diplomatic precedent. His own decision to remain in Paris was the

result of a special permission from the United States government,

authorizing him to use his own discretion. Under the circumstances he

thought it best to remain in Paris, and to be represented at Bordeaux

by Mr. Garret, with whom he was able to communicate daily. With Mr.

Garret he sent a number of army officers and secretaries.

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Bar 20 _Clarence E. Mulford_

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Cab No. 44 _R. F. Foster_

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Cape Cod Stories _Joseph C. Lincoln_

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Cap'n Warren's Wards _Joseph C. Lincoln_

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Conquest of Canaan, The _Booth Tarkington_

Conspirators, The _Robert W. Chambers_

Counsel for the Defense _Leroy Scott_

Crime Doctor, The _E. W. Hornung_

Cry in the Wilderness, A _Mary E. Waller_

Cynthia of the Minute _Louis Joseph Vance_

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Elusive Isabel _Jacques Futrelle_

Empty Pockets _Rupert Hughes_

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Flamsted Quarries _Mary E. Waller_

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God's Country and the Woman _J. O. Curwood_

God's Good Man _Marie Corelli_

Going Some _Rex Beach_

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Golden Web, The _Anthony Partridge_

Gordon Craig _Randall Parrish_

Greyfriars Bobby _Eleanor Atkinson_

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Halcyone _Elinor Glyn_

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Hopalong Cassidy _Clarence E. Mulford_

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House of the Whispering Pines _A. K. Green_

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Imposter, The _John Reed Scott_

In Defiance of the King _Chauncey C. Hotchkiss_

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Inez (Ill. Ed.) _Augusta J. Evans_

Infelice _Augusta Evans Wilson_

Initials Only _Anna Katharine Green_

Innocent _Marie Corelli_

Intriguers, The _Harold Bindloss_

Iron Trail, The _Rex Beach_

Iron Woman, The _Margaret Deland_

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Jeanne of the Marshes _E. Phillips Oppenheim_

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Joyful Heatherby _Payne Erskine_

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Kent Knowles: "Quahaug" _Joseph C. Lincoln_

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Routledge Rides Alone _Will L. Comfort_

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Self-Raised (Ill.) _Mrs. Southworth_

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Set in Silver _C. N. and A. M. Williamson_

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Shea of the Irish Brigade _Randall Parrish_

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Ship's Company _W. W Jacobs_

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Simon the Jester _William J. Locke_

Siren of the Snows, A _Stanley Shaw_

Sir Richard Calmady _Lucas Malet_

Sixty-First Second, The _Owen Johnson_

Speckled Bird, A _Augusta Evans Wilson_

Slim Princess, The _George Ade_

Spirit in Prison, A _Robert Hichens_

Spirit of the Border, The (new edition) _Zane Grey_

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Still Jim _Honore Willsie_

Stolen Singer, The _Martha Bellinger_

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Story of Marco, The _Eleanor H. Porter_

Strange Disappearance, A _Anna Katharine Green_

Strawberry Acres _Grace S. Richmond_

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Streets of Ascalon, The _Robert W. Chambers_

Sunshine Jane _Anne Warner_

Susan Clegg and Her Friend Mrs. Lathrop _A. Warner_

Sword of the Old Frontier, A _Randall Parrish_

Tales of Sherlock Holmes _A. Conan Doyle_

Tarzan of the Apes _Edgar R. Burroughs_

Taste of Apples, The _Jennette Lee_

Tempting of Tavernake, The _E. P. Oppenheim_

Tess of the D'Urbervilles _Thos. Hardy_

That Affair Next Door _Anna Katharine Green_

That Printer of Udell's _Harold Bell Wright_

Their Yesterdays _Harold Bell Wright_

Three Brothers, The _Eden Phillpots_

Throwback, The _Alfred Henry Lewis_

Thurston of Orchard Valley _Harold Bindloss_

Title Market, The _Emily Post_

To M. L. G.; or, He Who Passed _Anon._

Torn Sails: A Tale of a Welsh Village _Allen Raine_

Trail of the Axe, The _Ridgwell Cullum_

Trail to Yesterday, The _Chas. A. Seltzer_

Treasure of Heaven, The _Marie Corelli_

Trevor Case, The _Natalie Sumner Lincoln_

Truth Dexter _Sidney McCall_

T. Tembarom _Frances Hodgson Burnett_

Turbulent Duchess _Percy J. Brebner_

Twenty-fourth of June, The _Grace S. Richmond_

Twins of Suffering Creek, The _Ridgwell Cullum_

Two-Gun Man, The _Chas. A. Seltzer_

Uncle William _Jennette Lee_

"Unto Caesar" _Baroness Orczy_

Up From Slavery _Booker T. Washington_

Valiants of Virginia, The _Hallie Erminie Rives_

Valley of Fear, The _Sir A. Conan Doyle_

Vanished Messenger, The _E. Phillips Oppenheim_

Vane of the Timberlands _Harold Bindloss_

Vashti _Augusta Evans Wilson_

Village of Vagabonds, A _F. Berkeley Smith_

Visioning, The _Susan Glaspell_

Wall of Men, A _Margaret H. McCarter_

Wallingford in His Prime _Geo. Randolph Chester_

Wanted--A Chaperon _Paul Leicester Ford_

Wanted--A Matchmaker _Paul Leicester Ford_

Watchers of the Plains, The _Ridgwell Cullum_

Way Home, The _Basil King_

Way of an Eagle, The _E. M. Dell_

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Way of the Strong, The _Ridgwell Cullum_

Wayfarers, The _Mary Stewart Cutting_

Weavers, The _Gilbert Parker_

West Wind, The _Cyrus T. Brady_

When Wilderness Was King _Randall Parrish_

Where the Trail Divides _Will Lillibridge_

Where There's a Will _Mary Roberts Rinehart_

White Sister, The _Marion Crawford_

Who Goes There _Robert W. Chambers_

Window at the White Cat _Mary Roberts Rinehart_

Winning of Barbara Worth _Harold Bell Wright_

Winning the Wilderness _Margaret Hill McCarter_

With Juliet in England _Grace S. Richmond_

Witness for the Defense, The _A. E. W. Mason_

Woman in Question, The _John Reed Scott_

Woman Haters, The _Joseph C. Lincoln_

Woman Thou Gavest Me, The _Hall Caine_

Woodcarver of 'Lympus, The _Mary E. Waller_

Woodfire in No. 3, The _F. Hopkinson Smith_

Wooing of Rosamond Fayre _Berta Ruck_

Wrecker, The _Robert Louis Stevenson_

Yellow Letter, The _William Johnston_

You Never Know Your Luck _Gilbert Parker_

Younger Set, The _Robert W. Chambers_

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:

Minor changes have been made to corret typesetters' errors; otherwise,

every effort has been made to remain true to the author's words and

intent.

End of Project Gutenberg's The Note-Book of an Attache, by Eric Fisher Wood