The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-09-25
French Sends Report
of Steady Advance
Progress Is Slow. Says British Commander but Troops Are
in High Spirits and Anxious to Move
Against Enemy


the enemys infantry when the latter
attempted to assault. and then have
beaten them hack with great loss In
decd tho sight of the pickelshauben
coming up has been a positive reli,ss
after long. trying hours of innction
under shell fire
THE object Of the great proportion
Of artillery the Germans employ IL to
beat down the resistance of their
enemy by concentrated and prolonged
fire. To shatter their nerve with high
explosives before the infantry attacks
are launched. They seem to have re-
lied on doing this with us. but they
have not done so, though II has taken
them several costly experiments to d..-
cover this fact.
THE Germans rely on concentrated
and prolonged artillery fire to shatter
our nerves. but the British soldier is "a
difficult person To impress or dcpress
even by immense shells filed with high
explosives which detonatc with terrific
violence and form crltors large enough
to serve rs graves for five horses. The
German howtzer shells are eight and
nine inches In calibrc. After impact
they send up columns Of greasy black
smoke. on this account they are ir-
reverently dubbed coal boxes 'bla"k
Marias' and Jack Johnsons.' Men
taking things in this spirit seem likely
to upset the calculations based on the
! loss OF morale carefully framed by the
German military philosophers
"A considerable amount Of Information
/ has been CLEANED from prisoners Il
has been gathered that our lombard
ment on the 18th produced great Inn
| 81. g,t.s., a
that our infantry make such good use
of the ground that the German com
panies are dccimated Ivy our rife fire
before the British soldier can be seen.
From an official diary captured by
the First Army Corps it appears that
ono Of the German corps contains an
extraordinary mixture Of units. II the
composition Of rhe other corps il SINH
lar It may he assumed that the present
| efficiency Of the cncmy's forces is IN
no way comparable with what It was
| when the war began.
The losses in officers are noted a.
| having been especially severe. A bril-
gada il stated To- be commanded 10y =
| major: some companies Of foot guards
10y one year volunteers, Will" after the
| battl" of Montmlrail, one regiment lost
! iifty-flve out of sixty officers.
Tho prisoners recently captured APP
preciate tn. fact that the march n
Paris has failed and that their forces
are rctreating, hut state that the object
of this movement Is explained by the
officers as being to withdraw into closer
| touch with the supports. which hava
stayed too far In the rear.
The officers are also cndcavoring TO
encourage the troops by telling them
| that they will be at home by Christmas
| \ large number of mon believe that they
are beaten. Following Ia an extract
from one document:
! with the English troops we have
great difficulties. They have a queer
way OF causing losses to tho enemy.
! They make good trenches. In which they
wait patiently. they carefully measure
the ranges for their rifle fire and then
open truly hcil!sh fire on the unsus-
pecting cavalry. This was the reason
that We had such heavy losses Accord
ing t. our officers the English striking
forces are exhausted; the English pep
| Pile really never wanted war
From another source: The English
are very brave and fight to the last
man. One Of our companies has lost
| 1870 mon out Of 240
THE following letter, which refers
/ TO the fighting on tho Aisne, has been
printed and circulated To .hc troops:
Letter found on a German officer
of the seventh Reserve Corps cerny,
| south of LnOn, September II, 1919:
"'"MY DEAR PARENTS our corps has
the task Of holding the heights south
| OF Cerny in all circumstances until the
/ Fourteenth Corps, on our left flank, can
grip the encmy's flank. On our right
are other corps We are lighting with
the English Guards. H'ghland"rs and
Zouavcs. The losses on both sides have
been enormous. For III" most part this
is due to the too brilliant French artil-
lery."'"