A correspondent of the London _Daily Chronicle_ in Flanders
telegraphs the following:
"The Germans had been attacked and driven back during a certain
engagement to their trenches 400 yards from ours. Between the lines
a German officer fell, wounded by a bayonet. He was nearer the
British trenches than the German, but whenever our men began to go
out to carry in the wounded man the German snipers got busy. They
would neither succor their tortured comrade nor let the British do
it.
"For nine days the wounded officer lingered. Finally a British
non-commissioned officer and one or two privates crawled to the
fallen man at night and brought him in. For nine days he had lain
there, pierced by a bayonet from breast to back, without food or
drink. He was unconscious when rescued and died soon afterward.
During his purgatory the gallant man, unable even to crawl, had kept
a diary, a record of physical and mental anguish borne like a noble
gentleman. On him was found a photograph of his wife and two little
children.
"A British officer translated the diary to our men and with a
catch in his voice held up the German officer as a hero to whom
they should bow their heads in reverence. The diary was sent to
headquarters, and perhaps has by now found its way with the picture
to the widow of this man."
"A GALLANT FOE."
The German artillery is extremely efficient and accurate and
German soldiers thoroughly trained, is the statement of an English
brigadier-general published in the London _Times_, in which he says:
"We are having a hard time in the trenches, for we are cannonaded
day and night. The infantry fire was devastating, since our
opponents are sharpshooters who aim successfully at every moving
head. The German artillery is better than I had thought possible.
We are never safe from it and never know where we should conceal
ourselves, our horses and other equipments. I have been attacked
twice, and both times it cost me a large number of good men and
officers. I am shocked about the newspaper reports which speak
of the 'inferiority' of the German soldiers. Do not believe it!
The German soldier is splendid in every way. His courage, his
thoroughness, his organization, as well as the equipment and bearing
of the troops, challenge comparison. The German soldiers always take
the offensive. I have the greatest admiration for them, and so has
every one who knows them."