The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1914-09-02

What Is the reason for the mass
formation OF the German troops
In nearly every newspaper article
from the scene Of war appears the
sentence. "The.. Germans advanced In
mass formation" In nearly every In
stance this IL followed by the state
ment that the machine guns and rine
fire moved them down IN heaps, yet
fresh soldiers from the rear continued
to pour into the gaps until the enemy
retired"
The answer IL discipline
The German army Is founded on
that one word-discipline. the ar
my itself Is discipline.
The attack In mass--the throwing
of immense bodies Of men against :
selected position--is the pet theory Oh
the German general stan. IL won
against France In 1871. II has won'
thus far, In Belgium, against oes,
perate resistance. :, -. ..
The German soldier Is told that II
takes q thousand bullets 70 NIL =.
wound one soldier. He knows that
n he advances as ordered ne NAY
be shot by the enemy. But ne aiso
knows that II he fails for an inspAh.
In that discipline he 10 sure 10 DO
shot-by an officer.
All accounts have agreed upon ono
|thing--the steadiness OF the German
troops in this war under the terrinc
are Of modern guns and the remark
able precisior, with which maneuvers
are carried out under conditions mole
deadly than ever lave prevshio9 4op
battlefields In the past. II Is disci
| pIipe that does this.
The maneusers OF the Germans De,
| fore the forts at Liege were calleo
unwieldy, clumsy and lacking IN en-
thusiasm. by critics. The mass Tot
nation was denounced as suicidal
But the Germans continued 70 ad.
vance.
n Il the history Of the German
army that It never shrinks from the
attack In mass formation because II
has seldom or never been made WITH
ont the reward OF victory. The at
taoks on the Belgian forts were
largely a repetition Of the tactics OF
1870. with little artillery prepare
Tton for the assault, immense bodies
AZ troops were thrown forward II
mass formation. This. In a genera
| way. was Napoleon's plan. II was
Grants, too. II was Won Moltke's II
| the Franco Prussian war.
| Even In that last war, with Int
comparatively slow-fring and low
mower artillery and rifles. the slaugh
ter was terrible. At Mars-larTour thu
Germans lost II 900 men In Is hours
Al Gravelotte they lost $1,000 In eigh
hours.
IN one part OF the field 5000 mel
fell in ten minutes.
That was In 1870. Today, Will
modern weapons. the danger zon'
through which troops. are compeilet
to advance Is doubled or trebled, potl
for artillery and rifle IRE.
There was nothing IN 1870 70 com
pare In destructiveness with moderl
shrapnel. Fire 10 also directed witt
much greater accuracy, owing e
more scientific methods OF sighting
and improved systems Of battery con
troll.
4 II has been stated by experts tina
another Gravelotte under these new
conditions would be impossible be
!, cause human beings conld not en-
dure II and because the horrors tina
would meet advancing bodies o
troops over the field would be appal
ling.
Il But that is exactly what Is beini
done Gravelotte was child's play II
comparison with Chartered Disci
pine has destroyed the theories AM
has dissipated the tactics Of officer
who figured out new ways OF for
nation and attack.
4 Back of the discipline Is the fee
Ing In Germany that this Is strus
gle Of the nation for its life. Their
Is patriotism among Germans as wei
as among French. But once In tn
army discipline assumes control owe