The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1900-03-10
ENGLAND'S. HARD ISr
AN EXPERT PREDICTS THAT gaE.
WILL SLAUGHTER 2o,ooo Bh TAH,

| Burshers Force the Enemy % Fight t.e
| Open While They Shielt Thcmse gss
| in Trenches-Face TO Face With t,
Century's Toughest Military Probe,
"In the deadly fire-zones of ii,
| Beers score of thousand. of Eng
llshmen must fall before tae Trans
saal is conquered" This isthe opin.
ion of a distinguished American mill
tary authority with whom / talked a
few days ago, writes Walter W.liman,
the Washington correspondent oi the
Chicago TimeS-Herald.
T-nat Britain is face to face With
the d: 81 difficult military propositi.n
Of the century," continued this Office.
cit is remarkable fact that the dir
fculty which the English army is now
encountering in South Africa was
foreshadowed in book published be.
lore the outbreak of hostilities. II
vas written by Polish banker named
Biloxi. He had never had military
education or experience. He had not
even ssen battle fought or a cam
paign maneuvred. Yet over a year
ago he wrote book, called rThe Fu-
ture Of War; which described just
such conditions as those which now
surround the British army.
''That book attracted profound at
tention among students of military
science throughout the world. but no
one dreamed that its remarkable
prophecy vas to be realized in such a
short time.
"M. Blioki's studies led him into a
critical examination Of the effect OF
noacrn small cal.oar high velocity
Nagazine rifles, when handled by
skilFill and brave troops, and he laid
down the axiom that such troops, when
properly intrenched, could hold then
positions against all corners. By care
fully selecting their positions, he
poir'el ont, t1ey could sweep the
zone in font Of then with fire so
deadly that no troops in the world
could live in it. while remaining prac-
ticalIy cut OF dan. II themselves.
~ saw ou 1CS OHC vi tLC1I
callber balls, driven at great velocity,
could disable from three to five men.
At longer range from two t. three
~ould Sail by the same bit of lead. IN
such q fre-Zone, he sad, attack would
be suicide. Men would go down with
appalling rapiiity, aud the surviving
rsmnan:s of the bravest troops that
ever walked could do nothing but re-
treat as rapidly as possible. They
could not recover their wounded, and
the hit must lie where they fell till
firing cease I.a1 Rsss oI IA, ,Sw
- 'D' '.s~ 2..,sa:rt~ .ss:r
"Inis is precisely what hasha
pened in South Africa, continued |.
the military student. ''The Beers !
take up commanding positions ,sn the
sides of hills. They intreneh them
selves, and from cover sweep tb open
before them with fire SO deadly that
even The reckless daring and 'enthu-
siasm Of the British army is uiable to
10 more than dash into that h,ll-zone
ana then dasn Back again.
Except in rare instances where
the conditions were unfavoraale, have
he Beers failed to hold tIeir en-
On only few occasions
iaye the combatants come to leud-to-
land fighting.
"You will remember that fter our
in Cuba Inspector General
Breckenridge said the bayoiet might
Is well be thrown away, anl that it
vas only useful to grind iup coffee
nth. for which purpose snall ham,
ner would serve better. He was al
aost right. The English lave had a
ew opportunities to givsthe Beers
cold STEEL but only a fw, and by
mall bodies rushing son e outlying
position.
"The great problem fotthe English
ommanders is how to make an ad-
ncce. Their troops lave fought
nth bravery which fills the whole
7orld with admiration, bit they have
lmost nothing to show for their sac
i6ces.
"The character of tha acountry aids
be Beers tactics. 1t i fer The most
art billy and broken.t The Beers
AXE up position on Hillside. Fol-
> wing the usual TACTIC, the English |
hell them out with their artillery
nd then advance thfr infantry to
AXE the position. Fut the moment
he artillery fire ceasi it must (
top before the BritiS, liue can move
ar into the open-he Beers move
ack from the other side of the hill,
there they have ba II in cover. and /,
esume their places il the trenches. ,
"The ARTILLERY has wasted its ;
trength on emrty rifle pits. Bat be.
ore the advancing troops can get far '
n their way tn. Beers are ready for .
hem, and whei the opportune mo-
nent comes tina deadly rain of little
'u1lets sweeps tie open like simeon. /;
"More than hce," continued this
,ffcer, ''the BRIDE British have walked I
nto just such dbtruction; have fallen
y scores, rallies advanced again, re.
eived another leadly fire, and have ,
hen broken andfetreated, bafded and
'eaten, without ince seeing their en- I
my, and protbly without hitting 1
nc of him. Me1Rere never born that j
an keen nm rnud of this sort of ffOhk. l \