The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1914-10-02
GEN. FRENCH TELLS HOW BR|TONS
HAVE FACED GIANT GERMAN GUNS

colossal expenditure of Ammunition +
which has been wasted.
by this it is not implied that tboir
artillery fire is not good. 1t is moro
than good-it is excellent. But tbo
British soldier is a difficult person -
impress or depress, even by immense
shells filled with a high explosive
which detonate with terrific violence
and form craters large enough to art
as graves for five horses.
Scott at German Shells.
1.-THE German howitzer shells ara
from eight to nine inches in calibar
and on impact they send up columns
of greasy black smoke. On accouy,
of this they are irreverently dubbed
coal boxes black Marias,' or Jack
Johnsons' by the soldiers.
Men who take things in this shirt
are, 1t seems, likely to throw out the
calculations based on loss of morale
so carefully framed by the German
military philosophers.
| "A considerable amount of informa.
ton has been CLEANED from prisoners
1t has been gathered that our bonn.
bardment on the fifteenth produced a
great impression The opinion also is
reported that our infantry makes such
good use of the ground that the Ger.
man companies are decimateG by our
rife fire before the soldier can he
seen.
From an official diary captured by
the First army corps it appears that
one of the German corps contains an
extraordinary mixture OF units. If the
composition Of the other corps is sim
liar it may be assumed that the pres.
ent efficiency of the enemys forces is
in no way comparable with what It
was when the war commenced.
Germans Lose Many Officers.
THE losses in officers are noted as
having been especially severe. A bri-
gade is stated to be commanded b. a
major; some companies of foot guards
by one-year volunteers, while after the
battle of Montmirail one regiment lost
fifty-fve out of sixty officers.
THE prisoners recently captured ap-
preciate the fact that the march on
Paris has failed, and that their forces
are retreating, but state that the oh
ject of this movement is explained
by the officers as being to withdraw
into closer touch with the supports
which have stayed too far in the rear.
THE officers are also endeavOriug
to encourage the troops by telling
them that they will be at home by
Christmas. A large number OF the
men believe that they are beaten.
Among the items of news are the
following: Recently pilot and OBJ.
server of the Royal Flying corps were
forced by a breakage in their aero
plane to descend in the enemys lines.
The pilot managed to pancake his ma
chine down 10 earth and the two es.
capped into some thick underground in
the woods.
The enemy came up and seized and
smashed the machine, but did not
search for our men with much zeal
The latter lay hid till dark and then
found their way to the Aisne, across
which they swan, reaching camp in
safety but barefooted.
Numerous floating bridges have by
now been thrown across the Aisne and
some of the permanent bridges have
been repaired under fire. On the
twentieth Lieutenant name deleted
of Third signal corps, Royal Engineers,
was unfortunately drowned while at
, tempting to swim across the river
with cable in order to open up fresh
telegraph communication on the north
Telephone Aid to Spies.
, Espionage is still carried on by the
enemy to a considerable extent. Re-
! Gently the suspicious of some OF the
French troops were aroused by com.
ing across a farm from which the
horses had been removed. After some
) search they discovered a telephone
: which was connected by an under
ground cable with the German lines,
} and the owner of the farm paid the
! penalty in the usual way in war for
MS treachery.
: After some cases of village fight
r ing, which occurred earlier in the war,
: it was reported by some of our ON
: GERS that the Germans had attempted
' to approach to close quarters by fore
7 ing prisoners to march in front OF
: them. The Germans have recently re-
peated the same trick on a larger
D scale against the French, as is shown
D by the copy of an order issued by the
: French officials. 1t is therein referred
= to as ruse, but If that term can be
= accepted it is distinctly illegal ruse
r Charges Tricks to Germans.
e During a recent night attack, the
e order reads, the Germans drove col
e umn of French prisoners in front Of
0 them. This action is to be brought tc
Y the notice of all our troops, a in
r order to put them on their guard
opoiDcf c1tnh rdIxr fol in