Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1914-12-30
GERMAN OFFICER
PRAISES ABILITY
OF THE BRITISH
Associated Pressl

diers are good fighters and resource
ful, an editor of the Zeitung am Nit
tag, who is serving as inst lieutea
ant in tie German army, writes his
paper in an account of the engage
ments around Ypres.
Fall OF Fight and confident OF easy
victory" he says. cur young regf
nents started to march against the
enemy. We were quite certain that
providence had endowed the English
with long legs to facilitlte their run
ming away the faster. Thus We ad
yanced by long and short marches
through Flanders, the great cemetery.
We were delighted with the beautiful
Flemish landscape and with the inhab-
itants, whose language We soon man
aged t. understand. even as they
speedily came to understand ours.
Eve thought of the English sol
diers as the comic papers are wont
to portray them. There were few
who warned us against possible under.
estimation of the enemy, but their
nlisgivings were Quoted by our point
ing out that these were mercenary
troops, hired at few pence a day,
bare of patriotism and incapable OF
sacrifice. .
Sooner than we thought We were
upon the enemy. First We came upon
a. dead EngIishman, then two wound
ed English officers, then an English
prisoner. The prisoner was natural
of great interest to our soldiers.
Wonder If the mercenary can shoot?
we asked ourselves. An hour later
some of his comrades gave us an
answer to that question. They gave
us a clear, practical demonstration
such a clear demonstration that our
battalion was reduced to half its orig
inal size in a few encounters. We
suddenly realized that the English
mercenaries could not be routed with
mere hlrrahs, and that these smooth
faced gentlemen used the long legs
not always for running awav but
sometimes for desperate and danger
Gus charges. s
'sThe English infantry which OPP
posed us at Ypres must be considered
among their best troops. They de
Tended their positions with energy
and skill and when driven back tried
again and again to recover the lost
ground. In these endeavors they were
supported efficiently bv the FIRE Of
their field artillery They had also
transported heavy naval guns to Ypres
and the English shells and shrapnel
caused enormous damage among our
troops.
CAS- the surrounding of the English
forces by our troops made itself more
and more felt, the English infantry.
tried again and again to break through
our lines, particularly in the vicinity
Of Becelaere, though without success.
In one Of these attacks five hundred
English soldiers and twenty officers
fell into our hands.
The English trenches were mostly
so arranged as to be quite invisible
to the naked eye. When we had got
into the first trenches we were aston
ished at their systematic construction
as regards depth, side protection
against spiintering Of shells, breast
work and flooring. The trenches were
nearly all excellently arranged for a
long stand. We were particularly as
tonished at the iron and steel work
built into the breastworks. The floors
we're designed with an eye to maxi
mum comfort. Our men captured
there a great store of excellent pre-
serves, corn beef and ham. and many
also secured one of the shaving out
cts which every English soldier car
rfes.
When we. had taken a position 4
occurred that we found a
disproportionate number of dead to
the very few living defenders We
soon discovered that a large number
of the dead were shamming and
these were easily tickled into life with
a bayonet
In some cases the English had dug
trenches but had not occupied them
and to deceive US had put large round
t,ry, i,1r ord eirnilar oh4oafc a lOr,e fha