New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-09-10
Officers Remark That the
Enemy Seems to Lack
Ammunition.
HATE TO SALUTE
CAPTIVE TEUTONS
Republics Soldiers Also Dis
like to Peel Potatoes
for Prisoners.
rBy Cable to The Tribune. ]


Posts" correspondent in Paris tele-
graphs the following:
ain the dreary hours Of my railway
Journey night before last my compart'
ment was invaded by two artillery OIL
fccrs and four privates on their way
to Brest to recuperstc from the. Ia
tiRues of twenty-five days Of constant
work. What seemed to trouble the
men was the treatment accorded to
German prisoners by the French
These men were particularly sore pc be
cause they, the overwrougnt hgnVns
men, had TO peel potatoes TOT prISois,
ers and to salute German cSPtlEe u
fcers They stated that they had even
seen a German officer slap a french
/ soldier who omitted the salute.
~ believed these middle.aged meh'
bscsuse they spoke with such feellng.
! There are surely limits to courtesy ana
when one sees such things coupled
with the fact Of German oricerS
cracking bottles of good wine In cap
! ti,.;ty t5at limit seemed TO be reached.
I with the artillery officers ! talked
punnery. They were very fair IN thelr
criticism of the German artillery. us
range, helped by aeroplanes, Is, they
saw usually good and is quickly founu'
but il has two great faults. In inc
first place its powder gives OIL SMOKE
and. secondly, there seems to be some
defect of balance in the shrapnel smell,
moro noticeable recently than az the
commencement Of the war, which tact
indicates that they are drawing upon
/ older stores of ammunition. The hnal
curye of shells is to sharp, and cohSe-
ouently bullets rain down almost per
pen6icularly with such reduced ehect
so much so that infantry are not
hurt by such bullets, which fail to per-
! forate the tunic.
~ came to Paris with the object Of
beating up the country IN the rear Q,
our troops to find out as much as J
could Of the real reason for the sud-
den change of aspect which had come
over the line of battle. The change
appears TO have two direct causes. In
the first place the Germans have been
led into a thickly wooded country con-
shutting the area comprising Iom-
piegne, Chsntilly and Senlis. These
forests are particularly dense, cut
| through by glades, roads and railways
I forming an excellent ground Tor m
! fantry with a liking for the bayonct,
but hopeless for the Germans, VINO
prefer TO rely upon long distance ar
| tillery practice and rapid movements
| of cavalry supported by infantry IN
| motor cars. Here it was hand-to-hand
work.
"The battle of Compiegne was alto
| eether favorable to the British. The
! latter, nevertheless, executed a STRAIT
| egical retreat further into the forest,
/ and then fell upon the enemy south or
/ Senlis with such terrible results that
| he was confirmed in his eastward
movement out Of the dangerous coun-
! try.
/ at is well to note, also, that the
/ road to Paris from the northwest, by
/ Meulan, Adieres and Contains, presents
( similar difficulties and would have 10
/ be fought inch by inch in hand-to-
/ hand conflict. At the same time the
opposite bank of the Seine has ridges
/ Of hills with open country in front
which could render a crossing OF the
/ river extremely hazardous.
| "On the other hand, General won
I Kluk was anxious to join hands With
/ the army under the Crown Prince adj
vancing southwark from the Belgian
?
/ been undertaken somewhere about La
! Ferte SOUS Juarre, east Of MeauX,
! and in the battle now proceeding,
| which is distinctly audible in Paris's
! suburbs, the Germans form an un-
! broken line now exteding via LiZy-sur-
| Lourcq through La Ferte sous Juarre
/ and SeLsnne eastwards. Thirdly, al
/ though battle is in progress, the Ger
/ mans appear to be inclined to mark
/ time. II may be that this is due to the
! effort being made to reduce Naubeuge,
! which is the only strong place menac-
| ing their Belgian rear. The bulk of
! their siege artillery, however, is so dis
! tributed that if they attempted an at.
tack in strength upon Paris they would
not have the necessary backing.
However just these appropriations
may be, one fact stands out clearly.
| The British on the left wing have
( again covered themselves with glory.
Even further have they altered the ed-
! tire aspect Of affairs.
"The forests of Chantilly should rank
with the plains of Waterloo. The ster-
! ling work done in the shadow Of these
l ancient trees will go down in history.
/ Despite the sentimental French adj
! vance they fired a part of the woods
and slew the Germans concealed there
| i'm like rats. The cavalry executed
! some telling charges, and without un-
, due discrimination | find that the
! Scots Gays and the 18th Lsncers par
| ticulaFly distinguished themselves. The
! Germans had not expected this form
of attack in the depths of the forest.
/ Il WAS stirring but risky work, and
among notable incidents was a marrow
I escape by the Gordon Highlanders,
who, BY finding q sandy ditch, just
missed the machine guns commanding
! = glade"