New-York tribune., 1914-12-02
British Field Marshals
Headquarters Wholly
Unpretentious.
SITS IN AN OFFICE
AND MAKES PLANS
Correspondent Describes Mod
ern Trench Fighting as
Underground Warfare.
,By Cable to The Trbune.l

Landau. Dec. 1.-THE Daily enron,
;cle1 publishes the following second
disnatch from its correspondent, VINO
made a tour of the French battle me
in Flanders on the invitation OF the
French General Staff: ua
"No one save those who have iivea
in the trenches will ever know wna'
life there is really like. My impres-
sion is that nearly all the heroic stories
falsify the facts. -.
"Eloouent sentences have beer, writ
ton about fighting in the snow during
the last few days. There certainly mas
been some snow, but from Paris 10
Ypres | could not discover teaspoon
ful of it. | was told thrilling story
about several German regiments au
vancing across the icebound User ana
being swallowed up. The ice on the
ponds to-day would not carry dog.
"Why could we not see iniah1ly
rushing forward their lines just OUT
SIDE Ypres Yesterday? Because they
were underground, and their progress
probably consisted only in the capture
OF score of yards by mining. Ainoss
the whole line from the North Sea
into Alsaee is stationary and is uhoer
ground. avn
Battles in the olden sense are rare;
and will become rarer. That sort %
thing is disappearing, and with II the
fierce pride of old warriors, their pro
fessional habits and their superstition
Of glory. rv-
thing but adventurous. Though they
are quick enough when needed 1or al
adventure, they impress one rather
as serious citizens, fathers OF 1ami-
lies, factory and Office workers, or own
ers of little shops and farms, whose
inspiration, whatever the orlglnai re-
sponsibilities for war may have Deen'
is nothing less than duty. The brltohS
are probably younger, on the averase,
and a finer set of men you could not
hope to see; often shy, geheraiIy
silent. hating heroics. II you want
anything doing here's your man; IL
is at least noteworthy that, though we
crossed them repeatedly, we were noo
officially taken 10 any part ol '"e
British lines. ,.., 49,.
an certain curious little town,
which must not be named, we suddenly
learned by the fact that he invited US TO
meet him that we were in the midst
of the etat major of the commander IN
chief of four northern armies, Fleld
Marshal Sir John French. General
French does not go about the battle
fields on a prancing charger. lie sits
still in an obscure house, working out
plans of the war as though it we're
practically long, hard and momentous
game of chess. There is no sign what
ever to mark it out from its terrace
neighbors, and within there is no sign
of pomp or comfort
"a short, quick-moving, clear-glanced
man stepped out of the inner room,
the engineers Office of the northern
campaign, and stood for three or four
minutes in our midst. After greetings
he made a short speech of about hun
dred words noting the critical char
acter of the twenty-days' battle, the en-
durance and the gallantry of the men
and the greatness of the issue. We
had not time to thank him when he had
said 'Goodby' and returned to his work:
81 had been re-reading Segur and
could not but contrast the new meth
cd with the theatrical comings and
goings of the greatest OF soldiers.
General French is responsible for
host larger than any Napoleon led,
with the possible exception of the dis
astrous Russian expedition, but no. Ma
poleonic legend will gather around the
name of General French"