The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1896-11-26
NOT ALL KILLED IN ACTION.
Loss of Life In Battle Not So Appalling
As Many EeljeyP

Loss of Life In Battle Not So Appalling
AS iIany Eelieve.
Summing up the whole question
as between any two European peace
trained armies of the present day,
the extreme percentage of loss to be
anticipated looally-i. g., ON particu-
lar brigades and divisions-will not
exceed one in three (of which one is
Killed to four wounded), whereas
Tor whole armies of $50, 600 and over
one in ten is the very outside pun
lshment we may reasonably expect.
Compared with the slaughter of
the seven years war and the best
contested fields of the Napoleonic
period, this is very little indeed. At
Zorndorf the Russians left $1,000
out of 52,0 OH the ground, and,
though this is undoubtedly the
bloodiest battle recorded since the
introduction of portable firearms,
Eylau, Friedland, Wagram and Bor-
odino all exceed the figures for any
fixed battle since the breechloader
appeared in the field Moreover, the
horror of the whole thing is not to
be measured by figures of percent
ages only, but by the density in
which the killed and wounded lie and
the fate of the latter afterward. In
a modern battle 20, men would
fall on an area of about 20 square
miles. At Zorndorf the 81, 900 Rus
slams and 1000 Prussians lay on
single square mile, and of the wound
ed not one in three survived, and
the Prussian medical staff anticipate
even better results next time.
But death on the battlefield is by
far the lesser of the two evils the
soldier has to face. There is the
death on the line of march and in
hospitals along the road, whereas
formerly, particularly under Napo-
leon, ten would die by the way for
one who fell in action. In the last
Franco German war only one man
died of disease for two killed in &C.
ton. Indeed the health of men in
the full prime of life was actually
slightly better in the field than in
quarters.
1t may, however, be argued that,
even granted that battles and
marches may be less destructive,
there will be more of them, because
every ablebodied man, being trained
for war, the resistance will be more
prolonged than formerly; but this
prolonged endurance is only con-
ceivable under the supposition that
the leaders on both sides are hope
lessly incompetent and both fear to
stake all on single collision, sup
position that nothing tends to justi-
fly. On the contrary, every leader
brought up in the modern school is
taught to understand the vulnera-
bility OF all modern military organi-
cations, and is penetrated with
the conviction that one downright
knock out blow effects more than
weeks of purposeless sparring, and
where both start determined to bring
matters to climax the decision can
not long be delayed. Judging from
what we know of the relative eff
cheney of continental armies, we be-
lieve that the first round of the great
encounter will also be the last, for
the momentum of the blow which
decides will simply paralyze every
nerve of the opponents body, and,
in adding up all sources of casual
ties that can occur in q short cam
paign of this description, we con-
olude that at the very worst the &C.
tual cost in human life to the DOW
ers engaged will not amount to more
than the same percentage as the in
fiuenza epidemic of 1912 cost Ger
many, and rather less than the same
epidemic cost us. To suppose that
this degree of blood outlines would
chain the wills of any responsible
body of statesmen who believed that
they were acting in the interests of
their country is surely too Utopian
an idea for profitable discussion.
Pail Mall Gazette.