The state herald., 1914-10-02
|GER. FRENCH TELLS HOW BRITONS
HAVE FACED GIANT GERMAN GUNS

artillery fire Is not good. 1t is more
| than good-it Is excellent But the
British soldier is difficult person to
impress or depress, even by immense
shells filed with a high explosive,
which detonate with terrific violence
and form craters large enough to act
as graves for five horses.
| Scott at German Shells.
"The German howitzer shells are
from eight to nine inches in callber,
and on impact they send up columns
of greasy black smoke. On account
of this they are lrreverently dubbed
coal boxes black Marlas.' or Jack
Johnsons' by the soldiers,
Men who take things in this spirit
are, 1t seems, likely to throw out the
calculations based on loss of morale
SO carefully framed by the German
military philosophers.
"A considerable amount of nforma-
tion has been CLEANED from prisoners.
1t has been gathered that our BON
bardment on the fifteenth produced n
great impression. The opinion also is
reported that our infantry makes such
good use of the ground that the Ger
man companies are declmated by our
rife fire before the soldier can be
seen.
From an official diary captured by
the First army corps 1t appears that
one of the German corps contains an
extraordinary mixture of units. If the
composition of the other corps is sim
liar II may be assumed that the pres
ent efficiency of the enemy's forces is
in no way comparable with what 1t
was when the war commenced.
Germans Lose Many officers.
"The losses In officers are noted as
having been especially severe. A bri-
gade Is stated to be commanded by a
major; some companies of foot guards
by one-year volunteers, while after the
battle of Montmrall one regiment lost
tifty-ive out of sixty officers.
THE prisoners recently captured APP
preciate the fact that the march on
Paris has failed, and that their forces
are retreating, but state that the OBJ
Iect OF this movement is explained
by the officers as being TO withdraw
which have stayed too far in the rear.
The officers are also endeayoring
to encourage the troops by telling
them that they will be at home by
Christmas. A large number OF the
men believe that they are beaten.
Among the items OF news are the
following; Recently a pilot and OBJ
server OF the Royal Flying corps were
forced by breakage in their aero
plane TO descend In the enemy's lines.
The pilot managed to pancake his ma
chine down TO earth and the two es-
capped into some thick underground in
the woods.
The enemy came up and seized and
smashed the machine. but did not
search for our men with much zeal.
The latter lay hid till dark and then
found their way to the Aisne. across
which they swan. reaching camp in
safety but barefooted.
Numerous floating bridges have by
now been thrown across the Aisne and
some OF the permanent bridges have
been repaired under fire On the
twentieth Lieutenant name deletedl
OF Third signal corps. Royal Engineers.
was unfortunately drowned while at.
tempting to swim across the river
with cable In order to open up fresh
telegraph communication on the north
Telephone Aid to Spies
Espionage Is still carried on by the
enemy to considerable extent. Re.
ce-tly the suspicious OF some OF the
French troops were aroused by com
Ing across farm from which the
horses had been removed After some
search they discovered a telephone
which was connected by an under
ground cable with the German lines,
and the owner OF the farm paid tho
penalty in the usual way in war for
his trcachery.
After some cases OF village fight
Ing. which occurred earlier In the war
II was reported by some OF our OIL
GERS that the Germans had attempted
to approach to close quarters by fore
ing prisoners 10 march IN front oi
them. The Germans have recently re
peated the same trick on larger
scale against the French. ms IL shown
by the copy Of an order Issued by tho
French officials. II is therein referred
10 ms rusc. but II that term can b,
accepted Il is distinctly illegal ruse
Charges Tricks TO Germans.
During a recent night attack the
order reads. the Germans drove col
umn OF French prisoners In front Of
them. This action Is TO be brought te
tho notice Of all our troops. n) In
order TO put them on their guard
against such a dnstardly rusc. tgl lt
order that every soldier may know
how the Germans treat their prison
ers Our troops must not forget that
n they allow themselves to be taken
prisoners the Germans viii not fail
to expose them to French bullets"