The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-11-25
GERMAN OFFICER
 |. PRAISES BRAVERY 0F BRITISH TROOPS
Warns Germans Against UnderestimatiOn of the English FOrces-Have
 Proved Deadly Foe

Berlin, Eoyembsr eeocrespond-
 ence Of the Associated Press. )---An
 earnest warning against unSlerestima- ton of the British troops, such as has been customary with the German press, IS sent home by well known Berlin
 newspaper man serving as an officer near Ypres.
 His regiment, he writes. marched out
 with the idea that the British had lera
 only to run with. A few hours conflict
 with them, however, showed they were no easy enemy.
 The English infantry is in the vicin-
 ity of Ypres and must be characterized
 as troops of the first quality he writes. From the tart 1t was noteworthy with what high energy they defended their position. After being driven out, they
 Kept trying again and again to regain the lost ground. They were supported
 most effectively by their field artillery. | which, like the French, is at least as good as ours. The British also had
 brought up heavy naval guns in the
 vicinity of Ypres. and English shells
 and shrapnel caused us considerable 1 loss.
 Natural Instincts
 The chief strength of the English lies in the defense and in the proper use
 of cover. The natural hunting instincts of the sport loving British come out more strongly in these specialties than in the case of our average infantry |
 man. The Englshman as a sportsman undoubtedly has quicker nervous reac- tion than the average German and it therefore is unquestionably easier to instruct the British recruit than the German in shooting and in patrol duty. "The skill in utilizing every adva atage of the country was very noticeable in the vicinity of Ypres. The British | trenches usually were so skillfully con- structed they coulds not be made out with the naked eye. When we had stormed the first trenches we were as- {, tonished to find how well laid out they were. particuarly in depth. side pro- lection against shell fragments, splin-
 ter proof and above all in regard to
 the way plates of steel and iron were
 built into the breastworks
 We often wero struck with the great
 number of dead and the few living de-
 lenders we found in trenches we had stormed but we soon found that many
 of the dead were only shamming. and could be brought to life again by a It, tie pricking with the bayonet,
 1 "The British often lay out dummy | trenches, setting up turnips or clodt | Of earth to deceive us. The firing line taking full advantage of cover, lies sc
 far in front or behind these trenches
 that It suffers very little from our fire directed against the supposed 1 trenches. We often came under heavy infantry and machine gun fire from
 a wood, to find when we entered 1t .hat
 the defenders were in the tree tops, moi on the ground. As to patrols, I have often followed British patrols with the glass> and so far as I could see they
 missed none of the fine points of the game--something which cannot always
 be said of our patrols.
 New Tactics
 "In night fighting the enemy follows tactics new to us. It is our rule in night fighting to refrain from shoot | ifg, If possible. but to use the bayonet and to shoot in any case only when It is light enough to aim. The allies.
 Oil the contrary. have in many instances 1 adopted for infantry the same prin- oiple as for artillery fire-namely, that | of strewing certain area by night with fire.
 1 '.The villa of BeceIare which my rcgi- ment had stormed and occupied after nightfalI. was subjected for hours to
 such hail of infantry fire that we | had to evacuate 1t. We then occupied I trenches near Becelare and were sub jected the whole night through-to fire lfrom infantry and machine guns. which caused us little loss. but gave the tired troops not>ar instant's rest. That prob
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