The Glenwood post., 1914-10-24
German Officers Praise the Work
Of Cars Artillery.
shsetlnS - His lnFs~to. Hs~sssn
Found Not E~setivs-Ao0essss~s-
Rsos ovrpesssA kaies<s Msa.

Bsrlin.-0eenAA army o0osss ~
giving their vtews - to tAs AShk1ng
Quallties - ne Rossian smDoeors o0a-
dissv anA 00osss. The ~ saSDs1oo
the RusstAas Onve to the 0ssaaA niR-
tasy leaders vas the Aggressive vay
in which they Dashed the camDaisn.
It had beea supposed In military euas-
ters here that they would occupy
strong dsfeAsivs posttious bsAihA the
'VistslA 80 Oeher 'strsaos az swait
the attnph - thst Geruans nd Aao-
TRANS. IasEaAA of sscA steaAad1. hoW.
ever, tAey RaaAs1 dnto East PsuedA, u
great npmbsrs s& very aariy Stage of
the var.
From this fact II 10 inferred here
that Ruasia's mobilization was very
far advxhced aad other DrsDafations
Tor war begun Ioag bsfore the Petro-
grsl eovsrs0eat sdnittsA tAat even
one ssldise hsA been called b the
coloss. TAis iAaereacs anAs strong
support, too. IN admissions declared to
have been made by Russian prisoners.
The next surprise waa that the Rus
sian generals NO longer send their
troops into battle In close formation
as in previous wars. but have mod
erntsed their tactfcs and try to utilise
all the advantages Of the ground. The
shooting Of the infantry. however. was
found to be still very ineffective. This
is no wonder. IL prisoners told the
truth In saying that they had no tar
get practice whatever and had used
only their rifles. shooting with blank
cartridges In maneuvers. Even SOL
ders Of the standing army appear to
about nine hundred yards. At that
range their work was fairly accurate.
hut at longer and shorter ranges near
ly al their bullets went wild.
With the field artillery the case Is
quite different Its firing is remark
ably good. and the unanimous verdict
OF the German officers is embodied in
the frequently heard words. Hats OF
to the Russian gunners." As = rule
the FIRST salvo Of the batteries would
fall short, the second would overshoot.
but the third would begin . ftghtful
carnage among the German ranks un-
less they had changed their position
meanwhile. Oae Of the specialtfes Of
the Russian artillery was to locate and
IRE upon the German STAFF omcers.
with the result that these had fre-
quently to change their position.
The accurate Russian gunnefy was
considerably neutralixed. however. by
the large proportion Of shells which
failed to explode fact which soon
found . ie,seadary explanation fn the
report thar many shells contained
sand inst aaA Of explosives. Artillery
experts fpd . moro probable explana-
tioa In the marshy nature Of the ter
rain in many places along the Russian
froatier, the shells buryins themselves
in ~ soft earth without exploding
The Cossacks have again proved
that they are OF 1tttie vsluo. acc0raAng
to asrm.a olRcsrs. elthss for reeoA-
noiossnce work sr IN fighting. On the
other hand. the German o6icers speak
much more favorably Of the regular
Russian cavalry. Tho conduct Of the
stroops In the invasion Of East Prussia.
UO8Otocs heA00s
units and unler the connan4 q high
'ee officers. apSears to have been In
general excellent. They appear to
have respected private property and
paid for supplies reauisitioned. even
f. II payment was only in Russian script.
Small detachments. on the contrary.
seemed to have looted and burned.
The Russian officers have by No
means impressed the German military
men favorably. In many cases 1t was
remarked that they failed to grasp the
most elemeatary tactical points in sit
nations ON the battlefield. It was also
frequently charged In newspaper &C
cornts and letters from soldiers and
Of cers that many Russian o6cerz
l,Ss co1sags- A German caetsia -
ports thaG he counted 10 dsaA ~
sisns; On IL. hsdoAes 00r HsAsoseaA
but ACt 90 00eaR a0oaG tAo0-