River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1880-12-09
METZ IN GERMAN HANDS.
Tbe Garrison and Notifications OF
the city that H. the Aey 20 France
Iondou Times

IilaIlS, VINO nave aDuiludilt railway COM
munication through Strasburg and
Coblentz with the rest OF Germany,
| could in a few days mass large army
| between the Moselle and the Mouse.
1t Is, however, more than gigantic
1 tete de p0llt; it is an extensive lntrenched
! camp, perfectly secure, and easily sup
| piled with food Several army crops
| could be concentrated here without the
| slightest risk of their concentration
being interrupted Before war had
actually broken out an army of con-
| siderable size could be assembled here
| in readiness to cross the frontier the
| day after the declaration of hostilities.
| There must be some part of the French
| chain of forts whdch has a weak part,
and that part we may be sure is
known by the German staff. Starting
| from Nets as base, breaking through
at this weak point, and masking the
the forts right and left, an army of200,-
900 invaders could reach Chalons in
some four or five forced marches.
Whatever might be the plan Of cam
paign, it is very certain that near Metz
the first shot would be fired. As far as
can ascertain the garrison of Metz
and the forts around it consist at the
present moment of little less than TWEEN
ty thousand men-a force which, on
the breaking out Of war, would be near
ly doubled by calling i'll the reservists.
The composition of the garrison is two
regiments of artillery, regiment of
engineers, two regiments of dragons,
and six regiments-equal to twenty
four battalions of infantry / may here
be allowed to pause a moment to re-
cord my impressions of the German
as compared with my impressions of
the French soldiers. 1t is true | have
only seen a few German guards and
attachments and the men walking
about the streets of Metz. Still, to q
soldier of some experience very slight
indications are sufficient to give him a
fair idea of the quality of an army.
The men of the German army are very
youthful i'll appearance, and most of
them look like chubby, good-humored
English pea ants. Their physique is
not so good asl expected, but the large
majority are well'' setup." the white
trousers which are worn on certain
fatigue and othe duties soon get dirty
but when these are not worn the men
look clean and well turned out. They
are very exact in saluting officers and
non commissioned officers. When
marching either to mount guard, going
to or from church, or to or from fatigue
duty, step is kept, and the files are well
locked up. The way they handle their
arms, too, is smart. On sentry they
do not fix bayonets, and | observe
that the back sight is carefully protect
ed by a leather cap. | have but one
fault to find with the soldiers saw at
Metz-that Is, their performance of
sentry 60" They are as bad as the
French in this resp ect, and present
strong contrast with British sentries.
They simply lounge about in way
that would give a sergeant major of our
guards an attack of appopleXy, SO inca
pable would he be Of realizing such
gross military depravity Uncommonly
watchful however, these sentries are
and very exact in carrying out their
order. have always heard that the
officers of the German army were fine
looking men; but | was scarcely pre-
praed to find them, with few excep-
tons, so tail and broad-shouldered. /
fancy. however, the explanation is sim
pie. They marry, it is true, only in
their own caste, but that caste is a
large one, and comprises several ma
tionalities. The German mobiles, more
over, are not so dissOlute as the mobiles
of many other countries, and decent
morals and modes of living are, at all
events in theory, admired, There is
little sloth or luxury in the principal
centres of German social life. Hence
the evil results which usually ensue
from breeding in and in" are not here
apparent; Indeed, the contrary is the
case. In conversation with a partic-
uarly well-bred and intelligent officer |
learned that none of officers have risen
from the ranks-at least my informant
told me so, but | persume he referred
to the infantry and cavalry only. He
said that p few .teldpebels-company
sergeant-majors-had received COM
missions during the war, but that, af-
ter the conclusion of peace" they re-
ceived their congo" BY that suppose
was meant that they were transferred
to the reserve list or the Landwehr. |
had &C nversation with the same Of
ficer on the subject of shelter trenches
He said that there was an intrenching
tool for about every other man, but
that yon required excellent troops to
be able to use shelter trenches, as
otherwise it would be difficult to make
them out cover and advance. For
this reason, and because German
tacticsi are essentially offensive, the
Germans are, as far as | can make
out, not very enthusiastic about shell
ter trenches. | myself, however, am
much impressed with the value of the
latter, and consider that the spade is
a necessary complement to the rifle. |
admit that if the spade be freely used
the troops must be well trained, but
that is only an argument III favor of
careful training and of accustOming
soldiers during peace manoeuvres to
quit cover whenever necessary. / can
not compare the German with the
French manpuvres, for | hayee never
seen any of the former, but my inn
preston concerning the value of the
French and German armies is that the
French soldiers are on an average
equal in physique to the German sol
diers, and that probably the former
manpuvre, from practical point of
view, as well as the latter, but that the
superiority of the Germans over the
French is to be found in the stricter
discipline and greater and sustained
attention to details of the former. A
disaster would in consequence de
moralize French troops more quickly
and completely than German
troops. The German garrison
of Metz presents all the appearance of
force in temporary occupation of a
foreign town The German soldiers
are well behaved, and commit no
excuses, but there is no sign of good
understanding with the inhabitants.
Two piof un.nS