Grand Forks daily herald., 1914-12-15
SOLDIERS
ARE RES0URCEFUL
Writer in German Paper De.
clares They Have Shown
Their Mettle.
HN

Berlin, Dec. 15.-Enelish soldiers
are good lighters and resourceful, an
edllor OF the Zeitung am Mittag, who
Is serving as Il first lieutenant in the
German army, writes his paper in an
account of the engagements around
ipres.
Full of fight and confident of easy
VICTORY, ne says, our young regi-
ments started to march against the
g,emS. n, we We're quite certain that
ProTiuence had endowed the. English h
with long legs to facilitate their run
ming away the faster. Thus we ad-
Vanced by long and short marches
through Flanders, the great cemetery.
We were delighted with the beautiful
tlemlsh landscape and with the in
hahltants, whose language we soon
managed to understand, even as they
speedily came to understand ours.
We thought of the English soldiers
as the comic papers are wont to por-
tray them. There were few who
warned us against possible underesti-
nation of the enemy, but their mis-
Sivlngs were quieted by our pointing
ont that these. were mercenary troops,
hired at Il few pence day. bare of
patriotism and incapable of sacrifice.
sooner than We thought we were
upon the enemy. First we came upon
ed English officers. then an English
prisoner. The prisoner naturedly was
or great interest to our soldiers. Won
der II the mercenary can shoot? we
asked ourselves. An hour later some
of his comrades gave us an answer
TO that question. They gave us a clear,
practical monstration-such a clear
demonstration that our battalion was
reduced to half its original size in a
few encounters. We suddenly real
lied that the English mercenaries
could not be routed with mere hur-
rahs. and that these smooth-ra faced
gentlemen used the long legs not al
ways for running away. but some
times for desperate and dangerous
charges.
The English infantry which op-
posed us at Ypres must he considered
among their best troops. They de-
Tended their positions with energy and
skill and when driven back tried again
and again to recover the lost ground
In these endeavors they were sup
field artillery. They had also trans
ported heavy naval guns to Ypres, and
the English shells and shra pnel caused
enormous damage among our troops
AS the surrounding of the Eng.
llsh forces by our troops made itself
more and more felt, the English in
fantry tried again and again to break
through our lines, particularly in the
vicinity of Becelaere, though without
success. In one OF these attacks 500
English soldiers and 20 officers fell
into our hands
The English trenches were mostly
so arranged as to be quite invisible to
the naked eye. When we had got into
the first trenches we were astonished
at their systematic construction as
regards depth. side protection against
splintering of shells. breastwork and
flooring. The trenches were nearly
all excellently arranged for long
stand. We were particularly aston
lshed at the iron and steel work built
into the breastworks.' The floors were
designed with an eye to maximum
comfort. Our men captured there a
great store Of excellent preserves, corn
beef and ham, and many also secured
one of the shaving outfits which every
English soldier carries.
when we had taken a position il
frequently occurred that we found q
disproportionate number of dead to
the very few living defenders. We
soon discovered that a large number
of the dead We're shamming and
these were easily tickled into life
with bayonet.
I'm some cases the English had dug
trenches but had not occupied them,
and to deceive us had put large round
turnips and similar objects along the
breastworks."