Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1896-11-11
NOT ALL KILLED IN ACTION.
Loss of Life in Battle Not SO Appalling
as Many Believe.

Loss of Life in Battle Not SO Appalling
as Many Believe.
Summing up the whole question, as
between any two European peace
trained armies of the present day, the
extreme percentage of loss to be an
t1cipated locally e., on particular
brigades and divisions-will not exceed
one in three (of which one is killed to
four wounded), whereas for whole ar
mics OF 100000 and over one in ten is
the very outside punishment we may
reasonably expect. Compared with the
slaughter of the seven years war and
best contested fields of the Napoleonic
period, this is very little, indeed. At
Zorndorf the Russians left 21,000 out
OF $4,000 on the ground, and, though
this is undoubtedly the bloodiest bat
Tie recorded since the introduction of
portable firearms, Eylau, Friedland,
Wagram and Borodino all exceed the
figures for any fixed battle since the
preech-loader appeared in the field.
moreover, the horror Of the whole thing
is not to be measured by figures of per-
centages only, but by the density in
which the killed and wounded lie and
the tate of the latter afterward. In
modern battle 10000 men would fall on
an area of about twenty square miles;
at Zorndorf the 81 900 Russians and
l2,0O0 Prussians lay on a single square
mile, and of the wounded not one in
three survived, and the Prussian med
lcal 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 Napoleon, 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 action. 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 ar
gued that, even granted that battles
and marches may be less destructive,
tnere Will be more of them, because
every able-bodied man, being trained
for war, the resistance will be more
prolonged than formerly, but this pro-
longed endurance is only conceivable
under the supposition that the leaders
on both sides are hopelessly incompe-
tent, and both fear to stake all on a
single collision, a supposition that
nothing tends to justify. On the con-
trary, every leader brought up in the
modern school is taught to understand
the vulnerability of all modern mill
tary organizations, and is penetrated
with the conviction that one down.
right knockout blow effects more
than weeks of purposeless sparring,
and where both start determined to
bring matters to a climax the decision
cannot long be delayed. Judging from
what We know of the relative efficiency
OF continental armies, we believe that
the first round of the great encounter
will also be the last, for the momen-
tum OF the blow which decides will
simply paralyze every nerve of the OBJ
ponent's body; and, in adding up ali
sources of casualties that can occur in
short campaign of this description,
we conclude that at the very worst the
actual cost in human life to the DOW
ers engaged will not amount to more
than the same percentage as the inf1u-
enza epidemic of 1912 cost Germany.
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 states
men who believed that they were act
ing in the interests of their country
is surely too Utopian an idea for profit,
able discussion.-Pall Mall Gazette.