Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1914-12-09
Active Service in War Time
Graphic Description by E. Charles
Vivian in Book Just Issued Emit
tied British Army from Within"

Parx I.
The popular conception OF active service is Of
succession Of encounters with the enemy Desperate
deeds OF valor brilliant charges by bodies OF troops.
men saving other mon under fire the storming OF
positions and the flush OF victory after strenuous
action enter largely into the civilian conception Of war
The reality is a sonber business OF marching and
watching. nights without sleep and days without food;
retracng In order TO execute the plan Of
the brain to which is but one effective rife
out OF many thousands. marching for days and days.
seeing nothing more exciting than burnt-out house
and the marching men on either side and TO front
and resr-and then the contact with the enemy
vicious crack from somewhere, the solid boom OF n
piece Of artillery; somewhere away from the front
or flank lie the enemy. and his pieces do damage in
the ranks there is searching for cover some orders
given. perhaps comrade lies utterly still. am
knows that that will not move any more;
there Is desperate of neffectiveness Of anger
at this cowardly (as II seems) trick OF hitting when
hit back. There Is the satisfaction OF get
ting the range and firing with results that may be
guessed bot cannot be known accurately by the
who fires: there Is the curious thrill that comes when
angriy singing bullet passes and realizes
that one is under fire from the enemy In normal
action there is the OF disaster of defeat
when ones side may In reality be winning, for
men dying wounded. lying dead-one knows the
damage the enemy has inflicted but has idea OF
the damage ones force has inflicted in return.
Often, when Il begins to be apparent that the
is nearly beaten there comes the order to retire.
does not understand the order, but with sullen
q ",
OF a shell. though all the ducking in the world
would avail II the shell truly aimed at the
who ducks. starting back to avoid a bullet that
whzzed by-as IL by starting back one could get out
OF the way Of bullet
After day OF action. after the chance has come
10 rest for while after days of action gets
Of horror OF the whole businessthe tragedy Of
lives laid down, In good cause certainly the men
dead and questions almost with despair II It
is worth while So many good men with whom one
has joed and worked and played in time Of have
gone under-and there are probably more battles yet
to fight. II is not until a has concluded and
who have served able to get idea OF the
operations as whole, that they able TO UNDER
stand what has been DONE Men who back
wounded from Mons and Charleroi, away from the
magnificent three weeks retreat that then in
progress. for the British French armies in
many cases fully convinced that they had been de.
feated-that their armies beaten and had to
retreat 20 themselves from destruction The
in the ranks cannot understand the plan Of the staff
who control him, for he very little of the
whole at the most he knows what IL happening to
division Of men. while engaged in the retreat to the
position the Marine were, at the least. twenty
divisions the side of the allies. Had Of these
been utterly shattered in set battle, the other nine
might stlll have a decisive victory, and n
OF that victory had not through for a day
or two, the survivors from the shattered division
would have spread tidngs of defeat-whch 1t would
have been. 20 them The man in the ranks
little OF the whole.
Here the war correspondent makes the most
egregious mistake. for unframed In military service
himself he takes the word of the in the ranks
the the staff of army headquarters is far too
busy and far too discreet to talk correspondents
and-opt OF what the In the ranks has 20 say
the war correspondent makes up his story Though
the In the ranks may believe his own story to
be true. though he may tell OF the operations he
conceives Them he may be giving utterly false
impression OF what Is actually happening. The man
in the ranks is in machine and he cannot
tell what all the machine Is doing at any one time
least Of all when a battle Is in progress.
Every battle fought differs all other batties
for opposing forces over meet under precisely
Identical conditions twice Thus II useless to speak
OF a typical battle except in tho broadcast general
sense. and useless 10 attempt to describe typical
battle or action Of any kind. Usually the artillery
get into action after cavalry have reconnoitered the
enenys positions the shell the enemy until he
IL considered sufficiently weakened to permit OF in
fantry attack and then the Infantry forward.
up to rarely occurring bayonet change. II their
advance dislodges the the cavalry sent
TO turn retreat into IT, the other hand, the
attacking force is compelled to retire the cavalry
the retreat. and in order to make good In
retreat. part OF force Is taken back while the
mainder hold the enemy In check In modern actions
artillery fire their shells the heads OF their
infantry at the distance and trajectory per-
hitting of this. By trajectory IL meant the
that proeee describes in it's flight; both rifls
big guns are so constructed and sighted that they
throw their proectes upward TO counterfeit the pull
OF gravity, and the missile eventually drops down
toward It's obJect-it does not travel in perfectly
straight line. But II Is bad for infantry to be In
front OF their guns. with their artillery shells
passing them for too long-morale suffers from
this after time. since man cannot distinguish in
such between his artillery's shells and
those Of the enemy. Whenever possible the artillery
In rear of infantry force are posted slightly to
either hank; circumstances however do not always
admit of this.
CoOnelusIOH rOmorrOw)