The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-09-25
Sir John French's Report
Continued from Page one,

Sir John French's Report
 tContfnued from Page OneD have been drenched to the skin for scme days, and their trenches have been deep in mud and water, and in spite of the incessant night alarms and the utmost continuous bombardment to which they have been subjected they have on every occasion been ready for the enemy's infantry and have beaten them back with great loss. Indeed, the sight of the troops coming up has been positive relief after long, trying hours of inaction under shell fire.
 Beat Down Resistance
 ''fhe object of the great proportion or artillery the Germans employ is to beat down the resistance of their enemy by concentrated and prolonged fire to shatter their nerve with high explosives before the infantry attack is launched. They seem to> have relied on doing this with us but they have not dore so, though,it has taken them sev- eral costly expetiments to discover this fact.
 Prom statements of prisoners it ap- pears that they have been greatly dis appointed by the moral effect produced by their heavy guns. The German artil- lery fire is excellent, but the British SoIu1e1 IS uepftSS, even py immense shells filled with a high ex- plosive. which detonate with terrific violence and leave craters large enough to act graves for horses.
 ''The German howitzers are from eight to nine inches in calibre and throw up immense clouds of greasy smoke. On account of this they are dubbed coal boxes,' black marias, or Jack Johnsons by the soldiers.
 ''Mer who take things in this spirit ere, it seems. likely to throw out the calculations based on the loss of nor ale 90 carefully framed by the German military philosophers.
 "A considerable amount of informa- tion has been gleaned from the pris- onors. 1t has been gathered that our bombardment on the 18th produced a great impression. The opinion is also reported that our infantry makes such good use of the ground that the Ger man companies are decimated by our rifle fire before the British soldier can be seen.
 Extraordinary Mixture
 'From an official diary captured by tie first army corps 1t appears that one German corps contains an extra ordinary mixture of units. If the com position of the corps Is similar it may he assumed that the present efficiency of the enemy's forces is in no way com parable with what it was when the war commenced.
 ''The losses in officers are noted as having been especially severe. bri- gadc Is stated to be commanded by a major; some companies of foot guards by che year volunteers while after the battle of Montmirail one regiment lost J5 out of 60 officers.
 'The prisoners recently captured ap- preciate the fact that the march on Paris has failed and that their forces are retreating, but state that the ob- ject of this movement is explained by the officers as being to withdraw into closer touch with supports which have stayed too far in the rear.
 "The officers also are endeavoring g totcncourage the troops by telling them they will be at home by Christ mas large number of the men be- ]icve before then.
 According to their officers the Eng fish striking forces are exhausted ano the English people really never wanted var.
 "From another source: The English are brave and fight to the last man. One of our companies has lost l30 men cut of 23o'
 Letter Printed
 ''The accompanying letter, which re- fers itc the fighting on the Aisne. has lbeen printed and circulated to the troops:
 "'Ietter found on German officer of seventh reserve corps, Cerny, south of lIaone, September IT. 1s14
 My Dear Parents-Our corps has the task of holding the heights south Of cerny in all circumstances till the Fourteenth corps on our left flank can g..ip the enemys flank. On our right are ether corps. We are fighting with the English guards highlanders and zouayes. The losses on both sides have been enormous. For the most part this
 
 tillery.
 s "sThe English are marvelously 4 trained, in making use of ground. one I never sees them and one Is constantly under fire. The French airmen perform Wonderful feats. We cannot get rid of them As soon as an airnan has flown over us. 10 minutes later We get theii snrau1oel fire in our position. We have little artillery in our corps; without 1t we cannot get forward. -t
 Three days ago our division took possession of these heights and dug itself in. Two days ago. early in the morning. we were attacked by inn frense1y superior English forces-one brigade and two battalions-and were turned out of our positions. The fel- lows took five guns from us. It was a treraendous hand hand fight
 ".vitf the help of reinforcements and the artillery we drove the fellows out of the position again. Our machine guns did excellent work; the English fell in heaps.
 a ~sDuring the first two days of the A battle I had only one piece of bread and no water. I spent the night in the rain without my great coat. War is terrible We are. all hoping a decisive battle will end the struggle. If we beat the English. the French resistance soon will be broken. Russia will be quick -.IIl .f.t fly dc: tf with: of this there IS no doubt We have received splendid help from the Austrian heavy artillery at Mnabeuge. They bombarded Fort Ger fontaiEe in such way that there was not 10 meters of parapet which did not ehow enormous craters made by