The Oklahoma City times. [volume] (Oklahoma City, Okla.) 1908-1984, 1914-12-12
FOOL
GERMAN EDITOR
BritOnS Use Long Legs For
Charges Not to Escape to
Rear OF Battle.
HIRED FIGHTERS ARE DEADLY

Berlin, Dec. IL English soldiers
are good fighters and resourceful, an
editor Of the Zeitug Am Mittag who
Is serving ~ a first lieutenant In the
German army writes his paper an ac-
count OF the engagements around
Ypres.
Full OF fight and confident Of easy
victory" he says, "our young regl.
ments started to march against the
enemy. We were quite certain that
Providence had endowed the English
with long legs to facilitate their run
ming AWAY the iaster Thus we all
yanced by long and short marches
through Flanders, the great cemetery.
We were delighted with the beautiful
Flemish landscape and with the ihha'
bitanb whose language We soon mai'
aged to understand, even as they
speedily came to understand ours
I'VE thought OF the English soldiers
as the comic papers are wont to
portray them. There were few who
warned us against possible undereSti-
nation OF the enemy, but their misglt'
ingB were auieted by our pointing out
that these were mercennry troops, hir'
cd at few pence day bare OF PIT
triotism and incapable Of sacrifice
Deadly Fighters.
"SOner thar We thought we wer,
upon the enemy. First we came upor
q dead Englishman, then two wound
cd English officers, then an English
prisoner The prisoner naturally wa'
of great interest 10 our soldiers. won
der II the mercenary can shootT We
usked ourselves. An hour later some
ot his comrades gave us nm answer lc
/ that question. They gave us u clear
practical demonstration such Il clenI
demonstration that our battalion wa'
reduced to half It's original size N
few encounters. We suddenly reali
z,d that the English mercenario'
could not be routed with mere hnr
iahs. md tnAt these smooth faced
gentlemen used the long legs not al
ways for running, away but some
times for desperate and dangerous
/ charges
THE English Infantry which Oppo'
ed us ut Ypres must be conslderc'
among their hest troops. They de
Tended their positions with energy
and skill and when driven back trie'
again and again to recover the lo'
ground. In these endeavors they wer
supported efficiently by the fire o
their field ndtillery. They had ala
transported heavy naval guns to Ypre
and the English shells and sharpne
caused enormous damage among on
trO'ps.
AS the surrounding OF the EnglS
forces by our troops made Itself NOR
end more felt. the English infantr
tried agnin and again to brea
through our lines, particularly In tn
vicinity ~ Becelaere, though withou
success. In one Of these attacks Nv
hundred English soldiers and twent
officers fell into our hands.
Wonderful Trenches.
"The English trenches were mostl
40 arranged Ms to be quite mvisihl
10 the naked eve. When we had W
INTO the first trenches we were "a
tonished at their systematic constru'
,lon NJ regards depth, side proIecuo
iogo,nst srllnterlug " shells. hreaS
work and flooring. The trenches wer
nearly all excelnntly arranged 10
long stand. We we're Particular
astonished at the iron and steel wo'
lbunt into the hreaStworks. The flooI
were designed with On eye to max
mum comfort. Our men captnr'
there n great store " excellent pr
serycs corn beef and ham, and man
nlso secured nua Of the shaving on
fits which every English soldier Ct"
ries. -,
"When we had taken a position
frrou.ntly occurred that We fond
disrroportinate number Of dead to u
I very few living defenders We Nv
coye,ed thnt Il large number OF "
,dc,d we're shammtuI AMI these wei
easily tlckled into hfo with bay
net.
ON some cases the English had d.
trenche, hut had not occupied thel
ana to deceive Ne hnd put mr'
round turnips and similar ohlec
along the hrenstw0rks'