The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1914-08-13
GLORY OF WAR GONE
Long-DiStance Slaughter by Cold
Calculation Now.
Batteries Do Not Dash MadIy Into 40
ton, Generals Do Not Lead Their
Troops-No Battle Flags
and Smoke.

The glory and the romance Of war is
dead. 1t has become chiefly matter
of cold calculation, bloody business
of long-distance slaughter, with no
longer any opportunity for dashing
personal heroism, writes Henry M.
Hyde in the Chicago Tribune.
Never again can Napoleon, look
ing down from a hilltop, direct the
movements of his army of 10000 men
as it maneuvers under his eye on the
plain below.
The modern general, directing a
battle line 150 miles long-such as
the Japanese had at Mukden-will
never be within sight of his troops.
Oyama, the Japanese chief Of Staff,
was fifteen miles to the rear when
that great battle was fought.
Never again will courier, bearing
orders from headquarters to division
and corps commanders, have two
horses shot under him as he dashes
across the battle front. Orders go out
today from headquarters over the field
telephone wires, which reach every
brigade commander, as he, too, sits in
safety far back of the line of fire.
Never again will battery of field
guns gallop madly into action, with
the gunners sitting with crossed arms
on the caissons and the infantry cheer
ing their rescuers.
Modern field guns are located out
Of sight over the shoulder of hill,
three miles or more away. The gun
ners never even get a sight of the
army they are firing at. Their fire is
guided by calculations carefully made
BY an expert mathematician, who sits
Gown In hole in the ground and fig
ures trajectories and curves and makes
allowances for wind pressure.
Hold your fire until you see the
whites of the enemy's eyes," Is an he
roic command that will never be given
in modern battle.
Modern infantry dig themselves a
nice, deep ditch in the ground about
two miles away from the first Of the
enemy's lines. To the present-day SOL
der the spade Is almost as important
as the gun.
Never in a modern battle picture
will a solid column of charging men
be shown rallying round their cher
ished battle flag, which can be seen
but dimly through clouds of black
smoke.
There are no battle flags, no smoke,
and no charging columns OF modern
battle fields. The presence of a flag
on the battle line would instantly re-
veal its location to the enemy. Smoke
less powder has taken the place of old
old cloud-belching explosive, and one
may look over a modern battlefield
with a hundred field guns in action and
not be able to locate one of them. As
for solid columns Of charging men
a modern infantry attack is far diff
ferent affair.
First the field guns--and nowadays
whole regiment of such guns, each
Of which can fire ten shrapnel shells
minute, Is the recognized artillery
unit-do their best to smother the en-.
emy's artillery fire and to drown his
trenches in food Of bullets. Each
shrapnel she'll bursts into from 100 to
200 projectiles. Then, while this fire
is at its height. the infantry gets up
squad or two at a time-and runs,
lodging and bent over, to the ditch
through which flows the little stream
Perhaps by the time the infantry is
within close striking distance Of the
enemy its field guns may have silenced
his artillery. Then it may be possible
to order charge with bayonets over
the last few yards, whicN will finally
drive the foe from his trenches.