The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-11-25
THE SOLDIERS IN CHINA.
Views of the American Fighters Held
by Foreign Observers.
Boston Herald.

Boston Herald.
The correspondent of the London Daily
Telegraph who was with the allied army
in China sent to his paper highly inter-
esting comparative sketch of the charac-
teristics and qualifications of the various
national troops that made UP that interna-
tional conglomeration-the Picking relief
force. Summarizing national qualities, he
said that the British and British-trained
troops were steady under fire, the Amer
leans reckless, the Russians phlegmatic.
the Japanese callous. the French COM
posed. His conclusion seemed to be that
the American troops differed more COM
pletely from the rest Of the allied forces
than the soldiers Of any other nation. The
Japanese had been organized and trained
under the German system, and, so far as
military discipline went, did not differ
greatly from their European allies. But.
he says, General Chaffee's soldiers puzzled
the English correspondents and made
them wonder what the Russians and others
thought of them. The English journalists,
he said used to speak of them with amaze
ment, admiration and disapproval at the
same time. On some occasions they felt
inclined to take their hats off to every
American soldier they saw. and on other
occasions the American soldiers seemed no
-
There was no national contingent max
ing UP the allied force which showed less
traditional discipline; each man seemed a
law unto himself, the idea appearing to be
that the fighting unit was the man. not the
section, the company the regiment, and
for this reason ;ndividualism had been en-
cOuraged TO what men brought up on Eu-
ropean military traditions considered an
extraordinary and extravagant degree. The
American soldier considered himself quite
as knowing as his officers, and the latter
seemed to consent to this opinion. On the
march they were apt to wander off and TO
look out for themselves, attaching them
selves to certain foreign regiments, as If
no American army existed. He thinks
that If there had been no fighting, all
of the foreign observers would have gone
back to their homes with poor opinion
of the efficiency of the American troops.
But, luckily for their reputation. there was
fighting. When" he says, you see an
American private advancing under fire you
begin to think there is something in the
idea that the fighting unit of the future
is the individual Private Silas p. Holt
acts by himself, for himself He and his
companions make for a common objective,
not like stiff trained soldiers, but like
panthers stalking at prey. Their eyes
flash, their 1.-the bodies swing forward;
there is murder and deadly intentness in
every movement. When the American sol
der lies down TO fire he does so with the
intention of killing somebody. Most troops
fire, not at the enemy, but in the direction
or the ienemy; not so the Americans. Al
lied to their feline stealthiness the Amer
leans in battle have most reckless cour-
age AT times they expose themselves
with a strange contempt for death. An
officer will take chances no European
would care TO take. The field battery was
generally to be found I'm places where no
one read in tactics would have dared to
put it. General Chaffee and his staff al
ways rode where the enemy was most
likely to see and shoot at them. Young
and inexperienced correspondents were
warned by older hands not TO go, during
an action, near prominent buildings, large
graves or the American staff"
In individuality the American troops
were, in the opinion of this authority, the
exact antithesis of the Russians. The lat
ter are as little given to so-called smart
ness soldiers, but the men obey
their officers, and obey at once, with an
almost servile respect. The Telegraph
correspondent says that obedience is what
the Russian officer expects from the pri-
vate, and nothing more; hence, deprived
of its officers, Russian army might not
be a very terrible force though with its
officers, who are thorough soldiers and use
the men under them if they were sim
ply fighting machines, the Russian mill.
tary power is something with which all
who have an opportunity of studying the
Russian army cannot fail to be seriously
impressed.