Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1914-11-05

New York, Nov 4.-That the German
army is the most wonderfully trained ma
| chine in the world, but that like most
| complicated pieces of mechanism it Is
liable to be thrown out of gear with
disastrous confusion. is the general con-
clusion of a British army officer, who
served in it and who has written a
book entitled "The German Army From
Within" The book, which is published
by George n. Doran company of New
York, has Just come off the press
The author does not give his mare for
obvious reasons, but according to his
story, when a young man he was sent
to a cadet college in Germany from
which he was dismissed for drawing
cartoons of his superiors
Being of English birth, he joined the
British army in India. where he served
many years in the cavalry. He then
made up his mind to return to the Ger
man army. and through permission Of
the German Emperor received a com
mission in the Prusslan cavalry.
In this branch of the service he served
number of years until the outbreak
Of the Boer war when he again changed
sides joining the British officers in
South Africa. After the war he re-
NAMED in the British army. but visited
his old friends In Germany quite fire.
quently.
It Is a book, therefore, Of a partici-
pant and not of an observer, who tells Of
the war game as it is played in Ger
many. The book is graphic, simple and
convincing.
To tho authors mind, the weakest
point of the German army is its lack of
really capable leaders and its inadequate
commissary department
d" Organizers of victory are few and
far between, and | fancy none of that
class was present when the German army
was mohllized."
lie tells many humorous experiences
at mancuvers, tending to show that
the higher officers were sometimes
very deficient in handling large bod
les of en-. During one vancouver in
which the author took part, orders
were given which would make an Of
ficer of our militia hang his head in
shame.
The brigadier who took charge of
us" he writes, was n very effective
Instructor in equitation. and he was
on his trial as brigade commander 1t
was my bridage which was handed
over to his tender mercy for the time
being
under the eagle eye of his Emper-
or, however, he lost his head.
In strenuous endeavor to show how
wonderful and many sided was his
genius as commander. he made the
fatal mistake of trying to hurry mat
tiers, and, instead of allowing plenty
of time for the enormous cavalry body
under him to carry out its evolutions,
! he gave his orders in a hustle.
'fhe climax was furious charge,
in which one squadron of the other
regiment obsCured by tn vast clouds
of dust that the mancuvers had raised.
galloped clean into the flank of my
squadron. In "A fow seconds that
cloud of dust presented, as it were, a
nightmare spectacle.
"One saw nothing but a vast body
of troops. disorganized, cut almost in
pieces, and one could dimly perceive
groups of rearing horses, home rider
less, dashing hither and thither in the
/ luck to get going and to get clear OF the
catastrophe. I remember as | gallop-
ed, looking back and seeing the mis-
cradle brigadier bumped this way and
that in the struggle, and finally
charged from the offsde by an ex-
cited hussar, and from the nearside by
a fat dragon.
1T was some little time before We We're
completely unmixed There were then
several losses. both i'm horses and men,
particulars of which had to be carefully
secreted from the public press. The brig
adler in question was presented with a
top hat and compusorly retired"
KAlsER's SIDE ALWAYS WINS
According to the ofIicer-author. all the
manoeuvers are so arranged that the
army commanded by the Kaiser will be
, sure to win At one time William II gave
so many confusing orders that the troops
We're hopelessly entangled. An old gen
era whose age, he thought permitted him
to offer some suggestions. was so bold as
to try to correct and unravel the confu-
sion, After the manoeuvers this same
general was retired from active service.
As to the weakness in the commissarY
department the author ascribes this partly
to the fact that only the poorer and less
efficient officers are assigned to this
melee. others entirely beyond the con-
troll of their riders. disappearing into
the beyond.
IT, myself, was riding a thorough
bred at the time and had the good
branch of the service. No German officer
can sink lower than the military train"
or the colonies"
Another weak point in the method of
supplying food to the army. the author
finds, Is the arrangements on the march.
The supplies are so far to the rear that
the advanced columns often go supper.
less
OFFICERS ON $500 A YEAR
The book Is most entertaining in regard
to the life of the officers. They receive as
tonishingly small pay lieutenant re-
ceiVes $500 a year and after a number OF
years his pay is raised to si25 and later
to $500 4 captain receives from 5000 to
81 $50 and so on in proportion.
Consequently when young German en-
tiers the service professionally he needs
bout 5000 to launch himself with any.
thing like satisfactory results.
The small pay, says the author, has re-
suited in an unsavory reputation which
German officers have for seeking to make
fortunes by marriage The German army
officer must either be a Croesus himself
or else marry rich girl, If he wishes
to become benedict. Indeed, some
time ago an army order had to be is
sued forbiddng officers to patronlze
matrimonial agencies"
1t is long and wearisome progress
from the proposal to the altar. The con-