The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1897-12-25
NOT ALL KILLED IN ACTION,
Loss of Life in Battle Not so Appalling
as Many Believe.


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
ticipated locally. e., on particular
brigades n divisions-will not exceed
n in three (of which inc is killed to
four wounded), whereas for whole ar
mics of 100000 and over n 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
the Russians left 21,00O out
OF $1,000 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
breech-loader appeared in the field.
Moreover, the horror of the whole thing
is not to be measured by figures of per-
OAs u W bhS 'SAS'N
which the killed and wounded lie and
the fate of the latter afterward. In a
modern battle 20, 900 men would fall on
an area of about twenty square miles;
at Zorndorf the $1,000 Russians and
$4,000 Prussians lay on a single square
mile, and of the wounded not one in
three survived, and the Prussian med
ical 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 nan 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,
there 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 hat the leaders
on both sides are hopelessly incompe-
tent, and both fear to stake all on a
single collision, a s%upposition 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 OPP
ponent's body; and, in adding up ali
sources of casualties that can occur in
a short campaign of this description,
we conclude that at the very worst the
actual cost in human life to the pow
ers engaged will not amount to NOR
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.