Grand Forks daily herald. (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1914-1916, 1914-11-03
SOLDIERS ARE
BETTER THAN ENGLISH
Comes from a Superior Class and His Officers Know More
About War-General French's Retreat from Mons AL
most a Rout, Due to Disregard of Gen. Joffre's Plans.

were finally driven from the field in
a retreat which came perilously close
to being a rout. In his report upon
this action General French twice re-
ferred to the failure of a French gen
eral to come to his support because
his horses are tired Here are the
facts:
General .Iocre was in supreme
command. He had outlined a mastery
plan of campaign. He thoroughly UNI
derstood his business. as did his Ger
man opponents. The stats Of both
selves to a study of big army tao
tics. They have considered contests in
which hundreds OF thousands-it
might be millions-of men we're en-
gagged. No English soldier of his gem
cTAtion has ever attempted to handle
en- army Of more than 20, 900 men.
Big army work was a mystery to
them.
$50 that French did not coordinate
his force with that of Joffre. Instead
of being merely a unit in the mass, he
attempted Independent action with his
army of $4,000 e The natural con-
sequence was that he got caught in
trap. His W aerial observers failed
to locate the enemy. Joffre had no in
formation FOR him, because French
was not where he should have been.
When Joffre did detect the danger
that threatened French because the
latter was out Of line,' he warned the
English general at once. The battle
came ON and French was d%ecisively
whipped. He appealed for aid.
Jofre Could Not Aid British.
ITO e that aid at that. time in
volved a change in Joffre's whole plan
OF campaign. To ave $4,000 English
he might be forced to sacrifice so, 900
| French and 6afNrn, hiS live of jofo,,o
with possibly serious consequences.
He was forced to let French work out
his W salvation. This wa done with
gallantry. but-from the military
point of view-somewhat unintelli-
gently. The British fought by item,
rather than as a co-ordinated body.
For example: General de Lisle order
ed a cavalry charge upon German in
fantry. To quote French's report:
When within 500 yards Of his OBJ,
%jective he was held up by wire which
ne did not know existed, and both the
Ninth Lancers and Eighteenth Hus-
sars suffered severely
That h English suffered heavily
IN this action, n that it was, in fact,
almost a rout. rather than a retreat,
IS shown by the casualty lists. The
missing men outnumbered the killed
and wounded almost ten to one. MANY
OF these men were made prisoners.
Others became stragglers ana have
been wandering in ever since. Hun
dreds of them hid their uniforms and
made their way to comparative safety
dressed in clothes given them by peas
ants. That Is an unfailing sign of q
serious defeat.
Eventually Joffre sent support to
the English forces-at the earliest
moment possible-and actually inter-
posed a division between the fleeing
English and the pursuing Germans.
rms division was fairly cut to pieces
But 1t saved the English. They were
able to reform at some distance and
continue their retreat in orderly fash
Ion. Hence they remain as a valuable
unit in the campaign. Had .Joffre not
come to their support it is difficult to
indicate what might have been their
ultimate fate"
General French Storncd.
In the opinion Of this observer the
fault lay in the English refusal to
abide by the strategy Of Joffre. But
General French resented his defeat
furiously, and as was shown by his
report blamed the French for it.
There is a story, for which the GENTLE
man quoted assumes no responsibility.
that French and Joffre had an angry
alteration.
This observers experience leads him
to believe that the French are led with
more ability than the English, in
which the war correspondent quoted
agrees.
The French army moves like a
vast machine" said both men. There
are no errors OF calculation. A move
ment is carried out as planned, with
no fuss or furry and no visible ex-
citement-which is contrary to our
~preconceived idea of Frenchmen. On
the other hand, an English ca1nn 10
melodramatic. Officers and dispatch
riders are continually dashing about,
flashing their horses and generally act
ing like h battle scene in .Shenan-
doah.' That can be done with some
success in. an army of 1 5000 men.
With a huge army is means chaos.
The French criticism Of the Eng
lish officers is instructive. A French
officer will always take cover with his
men. He realizes that his life is vaiI-
able. The English officers, on he 9TH
er hand. like to walk to and fro be-
\ the.line, issuing. orders They are
s~lor'ous'y courageous-and stupid.
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