The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-08-31
Reinforced by Twice as Many Men as Lost in
 Recent Battles
READY TO MEETENEMY IN ANOTHER BATTLE
All Accounts Agree British Not Dis heartened and Are Confident of Ability to Hold Their Own
 Against Attack

London, August 30.-Q0:55 D. mD-The British public has been reassured by Field Marshal Sir John French's state ment today that the British army in the field is in good condition and spirits and has been reinforced by twice as many men as were lost during the four days battle and retreat. and is ready to meet the enemy again.
 1 The announcement that losses totalled between 5000 and 20, GOO was something the country was prepared to hear. The peo- l pie would not have been surprised that I the losses had been much greater 1 Earlier in the day the country received a distinct shock through stories published | in some of the London papers of disaster to and demoralization of the British. The correspondent had evidently been listen- ing to startling tails from wounded strag- glers behind the lines who gave the inn precision that the British troops had been cut to pieces, that their organization was gone and that they were without supplies or communication.
 l Earl Kitcheners report of the field mar shals announcement put a new face on l the situation According to all official and unofficial reports the Germans came upon the small British army with over wheming force and rolled up the infan- | try in solid mass, time and time again spending their men lavishly and bringing into action a great weight of artillery with machine guns mounted on armored cars. The Zeppeins carried quick frers. There were cavalry charges and counter charges during the four-days' battle in which. the British commander asserts. his troops displayed great gallantry.
 British Not Dishealtened 1 All accounts from the soldiers, even from excited correspondents agree that the British soldiers are not downhearted and are confident of their ability to hold their own against anything like an equal num- Der of Germans.
 l The German official announcement of the naval battle off Helgoland confirms the British report that the German eruis- CTS Ariadne, Coen and Mainz and one torpedo boat were sunk The British suf- fered small damage. Their losses were two officers and 2I killed, is men badly wounded and 19 slightly wounded 1 The large proportion of killed shows the deadly character of the weapons modern warships carry.
 ] Although the country has known for a week that many soldiers buried on l French and Belgian soil and other thou sands are in hospitals. there is no outcry for names. but general willingness to wait if the interests of the army require | it. A few newspapers have criticized the i extreme secrecy which the government maintains, but there is nothing approach l ing a clamor against it.
 The few soldiers brought to hospitals ] from the front are pledged to do no talk | ing about the war for two weeks, and only personal experiences have been rela ted. l No one disparages the bravery of the Ger mans but all criticize the methods of | the German infantry.
 Maneuvers Largely for Show 1 Officers who have seen the German ma neuvers say the infantry would be moved down if employed in the same tactics in l equal battle. But they think the maneu- l vers were largely for show. One soldier. l speaking of the recent fighting, said:  | If the British losses were heavy, the l German losses must be enormous. The German infantry always advanced in l heavy masses. They were like a moving wall of men. Our fire simply slaughtered them. We didn't care for their infantry, but their artillery was deadly in it's pre- cision. Nearly all our wounded were hurt by shells, but those suffering from rifle shCts were chiefly hit in the legs
 According to another soldier, the Ger mans came up in thousands. We. swept away one ranlS,' he said, and there was another; we swept that away and third was waiting behind it. On they came over the bodies of their fallen, solidly like wooden soldiers, and as regular as clock | work"
 The British soldiers believe their South Africa experiences helped their infantry greatly. On the field they became ex-
 perts at taking cover and entrenchine themselves. There were enough veterans
 in all the regular regiments to show the
 younger men how to take care of them-
 selves in fight.
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