Bisbee daily review., 1914-10-11


 who was one of the few survivors Of hs company, said Co an American in the Geld hospital st Amiens:
 "We thought the Germans were forty years behind the times they are forty years ahead" And accord ing to on American military expert. there is a solid basis of truth in Tom my Atkins statement The Germans | apparently knew what they were . about he thinks, when they refused . to ecneraiize too much from the Phil . ippine Boer and :Russo-JaDanese ] wars,
 Campaigning in populous coun- try with Q perfect road system and a hazy atmosphere is quite different from work in @ crude open country distinguished by dry, clear air and a sharp horizon. Too little is yet known of the actual fighting in Europe for accurate deductions, nevertheless certain facts are apparent which win Lave their effect upon military prac- tice iu the Unite dStates.
 The outstanding facts so far no- uceable are the terrific effects of siege artillery in the field the weak ness ot open order fighting when a vast number of men are available. the comparative failure of aeronautics as pictured in popular imagination, and the immense advantage of thorough preliminary training
 Germa1y's great surprise in this
 war has been her artillery. The su-
 poriority of her army organization was already known to the world. and this superiority and her perfect prep aradou were reckoued, and properly, her greatest assets. It was also known Chat she had eleveninch how iters. but they were supposed to be siege guns to be used against con-
 crete forts and notGng else. As
 such they more than surpassed eX- pectations at Namur But the mobil-
 ivy of these big guns had not even
 been suspected by foreign critics. and
 their use as field artillery came as a
 great shock to the allies.
 In the old days. artillery stood in
 exposed positions as the aim was
 taken directly at the enemy. COnse.
 quenuy it could be captured by in-
 fantry and even cavalry But now artillery fire is directed from con. cealed positions at a high angle and . is exceedingly difficult for the enemy Co find And this is the most inn 2 portant use to which the aeroplane
 has been put As the wounded Brit ish describe the fighting at Mons when their army came SO close to = being wiped out, they had very little trouble in keeping the German infan ? try in check until the aeroplanes sig 3 ualed the correct range. Then the } men were simply blasted out of the ! trenches. The ardiiey so far cap 3 urcd appear to have been abandoned P in retreat
 The standard American field gur is tho thrce-inch as are the jackass Q batteries substituted in mountainou. r country But the inferior roads o }. America would render the use of tn, - great German howiters impracucablC 8 to get their great weapons into action o When the Germans have been unabl, Il French field artillery has proved su pcrior because of allowing for more h rapid movement than the German O : the same caiibre In rapid actiol d the French have had decidedly th, n advantage in this respect. At an! g rate, the European War has caused i experts somewhat to revise their opin ?, ion as to the value of artilley, whici q had been considerably less efectiy t in other recent war Artillery ha g now reeained its old prestige. It set g tied tHe battle of Mons without an
 doubt
 TO come to infantry ou which th l ultimate decision in all wars rest. e the German fighting unit appears t
 be inferior 10 the English or Frencl ,i He fire without aiming and does mo .s make a sufficient use of cover. Bu e. what the German Infantry lacks fl h digiduaiy Is atoned for bg the pc 9 feet discipline under which he an his fellows act American rraditio lI Hl AHLa th -i NtAt h"Ni Nh tiiN t-ANi tN'f'tt d relic no doubt Of frontier hgghtin. ,f Tbe German theory trusts uothin is considers it less important that con 7s mands should be sacrificed throus ,y mistake in their disposition tha BIO hat they should take 1t on then of selves to override the orders of sl in perior
 r Mach has been said by ncwspap, r critics on the subject of close orde a. fighting America learned open orde n as we'll as the art of taking the bel
 advantage Of cover from the Indian
 And in the Civil War the skirmis
 line grew Of more and more impor
 nce until it became the battle O lo der in the last phase of the struggl a, n the Spanish war the space inte n 7als became greater in the PhilippI b. ghtine than ] nthe earlier Cuban m D.. ondency in South Africa also was no Caucr Russia abandoned the O
 solid formations in Manchuria. Tl
 result was that English critics sec
 ed at the closely packed infantry @
 auces in the German maneuyres ch previous years