The Alaska daily empire., 1914-12-26

asfdsa service of Aii Foil 90
 Bfitlab rroops
 Wbe Enelleh people undoubtedly think they are Dlsyid a mpeh mora important pa1t in France Ehen ihoy ara They haYe Dleyed a nooe3sary part Tho Engllgh army Ras ihe weight ln tho scale that saved Paris from being surrounded, and poaslbly Duntirk too, but the army SO for in nction haa beeu amah doubt Whe- lhor 100000 English soldlora have been at any time on tho dghtins line or held close enough iu reaerYe Co be- immediately available.
 Nothing could show plainer how small tho BrItiBh expeditionory forco has been than Che fact lhat Che Eng- nsh mounted troops have been doing trench work They did t on the Aisue and they did 1t again south of Ypres Few soldiers have ever been called upon to do more continuous service than Inc English lancer and hussar regiments. A number of thom have been practically wiped out ol existence.
 Tho buainesa of these troops in a balanced army is to scout do rear guard action In retreab and harass the enemy's rear when it retreats
 These English lencers and hussars first met the Germans in 2 sharp cavalry combat at Mons They charg ed the German trenches there as well, they covered that heart-breaking rel treat to Paris, turned at the Marne and pushed the Germans back to the Aisne, sIx weeks ago, they took to their saddles again and helped block the German outhanling movement toward tho North Sea and. then. with tho Belgians holding tho Yser, they went into the trenches again to the south of Ypres and met the fuli force Of the second determined enort of the German army corps to break through to Calais.
 Belgian Lowlands Like q Country
 of tho Dead.
 Is it any wonder we hear 80 much about tho gallantry of the English troops? They have indeed been brave. Aside from the Belglans, whose losses have been the worst Of ell, no part of the allied armies has seen any such service as the English. But that was because they were small. and there was nothing else to do. Cen. Joffre has had many more men to work with, and he has been able to use them less continuously. So when Il say the English have played a com paratlvely small part on land in this war. no criticism is meant The part they had to play they played won derrully we'll
 ] am afraid will fail into the usual error of talking overmuch about the English but l would like to bring home what tho losses of that small army must mean to the English people. have made the acouaintance of many English soldiers since the war began, l have met in action and on the firing line perhaps fifty officers, mostly in the mounted regiments. But l have not seen them since they went Into ac- tlon at Ypres. and every time can find an English paper, ] turn to thel list Of casualties with a sinking heart know ] am going to find that some man ] have known and liked has been killed. wounded or taken prisoner. And ! am a stranger in England with only a few friends. The English must pick up their morning papers with tremb- ling hands To those who designate themselves the upper classes every 1 day brings grief.
 In France 1t must be really worse, as casualties arc announced only 9y departments The English at least know after some delay who is among the fallen, but tho French only hear of those right about them. In the provincial towns in France the shop windows now contain nothing but mourning.
 British Deciding Force ln the Saving
 Of Pario.
 have referred to the inundated country along the Yser Q number of times, 80 ] will try to convey some thing Of It's curious dead, unearthli- ness, its uncanny ominousness. It isl as dead as if 1t had been in the with ering course of Q comet, and at the same time it ls alive with menace oeI sudden danger AS you so along through it you expect to be struck 1 dead suddenly. The very least you au- ! ticipate Is to explode a hidden mine or to get Q bullet from gun equipped with Q Maxim silencer It has not Che hush of battlefed. The destruction by bullet and shell is ell covered up by water except for tho scattered farm houses, which are torn into such fantastic shapes they look as if they had been struck by some proternat- | 0ral force. The whole desolation oil water rests under a blight
 first came upon the flooded fields at VIeuport That quaint old Elem lsh town, which had been peacefully sleeping for several hundred years, 1 looking as if 1t had been knocked about by some molign power that H..f fNa