New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-09-25

been ready for the enemy lHlaH'i
when the latter attempted to assauit
and they have beaten them back, with
great loss. Indeed, the sight or the
pickelshauben coming up has been q
positive relief after long, trying hours
of inaction under shell fire.
"The object of the great proportion
of artillery the Germans employ Is 70
heat down the resistance OF thell
enemy bv 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
several costly experiments to discover
this fact.
British Won't Scare"
"From statements of prisoners it APP
pears that they have been greatly dis
! appointed by the moral effect produced
I BY their heavy guns, which, despite the
actual losses inflicted. has not been at
/ all commensurate with the colossal eX-
penCiture of ammunition, which has
really been wasted BY this it is not
/ implied that their artillery fire is not
/ good: it is more than good--it is eX-
Cellent. But the British soldier is
difficult person to impress or depress,
I even bv immense shells filled with a
I high explosive, which detOnate with
terrific violence and form craters large
/ enough to act as graves for five horses.
"The German howitzer shells are
; from eight to nine inches in cah0re,
/ and on impact they send up columns OF
/ greasy black smoke. On account OF
! this they are irreverently dubbed coal
/ boxes BLACK Marias' or Jack john
sons by the soldiers. g.
/ "Men who take things IN this spirit
are, it seems, likely to throw out the
! calculations based on the loss OF morale
/ so carefully framed by the German
military philosophers.
"a considerable amount OF lnforma'
ton has been cleaned from prisoners
/ Il has been gathered that our lombard
ment on the 18th produced great i'm,
pression. The opinion is also reported
/ that our infantry make such good use
] of the ground that the German com
panies are decimated by our rifle hre
! before the British soldier can be seen.
/ "From an official diary captured by
( the 1st Army Corps 1t appears that one
/ of the German corps contains an
| extraordinary mixture of units. If the
! composition of the other corps is SINH
! lar il NAV be assumed that the present
efficiency of the enemy's forces Is IN
no way comparable with what it was
| when the war began.
Loss in Officers Heavy.
"The losses in officers are noted as
/ having been especially severe. bril-
Cade is stated to be commanded by a
major; some companies Of footguards
/ by one year volunteers, while after the
/ battle Of Montmirail, one regiment lost
/ ffty-fve out of sixty officers.
"The prisoners recently captured APP
! preciate the fact that the march on
| Paris has failed and that their forces
are retreating, but state that the OBJ
iect 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 endeavoring IN
encourage the troops by telling then
that they will be at home by Christ
mas. A large number of men believe
that they are bea en-. Following is an
extract from one document:
"'With the English troops we hav:
great difficulties. They have a queer
way of causing losses to the enemy
They make good trenches, in whicr
they wait patiently; they carefully
measure the ranges for their rife fir
and they open a truly hellish fire o.
the unsuspecting cavalry. This was
the reason that we had such heavy
losses. According to our officers tn,
English striking forces are exhausted
the English people really never wanted
war;
"From another source: The English
are very brave and fight to the las
man. One Of our companies has los
$50 men out of 240.'
"The following letter, which refer
to the fighting on the Aisne has beer
printed and circulated among tn
troops:
"'Letter found on a German Office,
of the 7th Reserve Corps, Cerny, soutl
of Laon, September II, 1914:
Germans Story of Battle.
"'"My Dear Parents: Our corps ha
the task of holding the heights souti
of Cerny in all circumstances until thu
l4th Corps, on our left flank, can girl
the enemy's flank. On our right arr
other corps We are lighting with tn
English Guards, Highlanders ar,
Zouaves. The losses on both side
have been enormous. For the mos
part, this is due to the too brillian
French artillery.
I The English are mafVellOuSly wei
trained in making use of ground. ON
never sees them and one is coLstantl!
under fire The French airmen perform
wonderful feats. We cannot get rid o.
them. As soon as an airman has flowr
over us, ten minutes later we get theil
shrapnel fire in our position. We have
little artillery in our corps; without
il we carnOt get forward.
"'Thrce days ago our division tOol
possession Of these heights and dul
itself IN. Two days ago, early in the
morning, we were attacked by an I'M
mensely superior English force-onC
brigade and two bsttalions-and VIZ
were turned out Of our positions. The
fellows took FIVE guns from US. 1t wa:
tremendous hand to hand fight.
GLOW / escaped myself, / am moi
clear. then had to bring up supports
of foot. My horse was wounded and
the others were too far in the rear
Then came up the Guard jaeger bat.
TALON, 4th Wager, 9th Regiment. Re.
serve Regiment 70, and Landwehr Regi
ments 10 and IS aad, with the help
Of the artillery. we drove the fellows
out Of the position again. Our ma
chine guns did excellent work; the
English fell in heaps.
"'In our battalion three Iron Crosses
have been given, one to q. o., one to
/ 4n CnEOann