Grand Forks daily herald. (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1914-1916, 1914-09-22
GERMAN Army EFFICIENCY IS ALMOST
MARVELLOUS, SAY OBSERVERS OF MARCH
Their Movement Through Belgium on Paris, Only to be
Checked, Renarkable-Great Screen of Ar1nored
Vans Went Out Ahead of the Marching Hosts.

to the front to assist in the reduction
Of a fort.
II have read That the French SOL
der carries ninety-six pounds on his
back" said the speaker. (This, by the
way, is a mistake. The official load
is ~forty-six pounds, to which is added
what ammunition he may have to car
ry for the battle of the day or week.
THE German carries about thirty
five, I am told. His equipment has
been cut to the last ounce, so far as
cutting is compatible with complete
efficiency"
When a battle seemed imminent the
field hospital was at once moved up.
Ordinarily this was divided into de-
tachments according to the work at
hand. 1t was never permitted to get
in the road Of operations, but was
kept as near the field OF battle as feas-
ible.
Ghastly Efficiency Of Germans.
Perhaps the most CHASTITY tribute
to the cold-blooded forethought Of the
German war Office" said this man,
was the trainloads Of 'knocked-down'
battle wagons hauled the dead hastily
to the nearest railway point. They
were corded in as though the mani
mate bodies were mere logs. On sid
ings they found train after train
drawn up in readiness to receive them.
Soldiers who were not quite suited
for the first line of fighting, but who
might be needed to fill vacancies, were
fitting the caskets together as rapidly
tailed so that half a dozen nails only
were required. AS fast as a train was
filled with the dead it was dispatched
and another moved up. The railroad
men shunted the funeral cars to and
fro with the calIous Indifference of a
yardmaster handling loads of Kansas
corn. Sometimes I saw blood drop
ping through the flooring of the cars
and scattering on the ties below.
One Becomes lnhuman.
Zone becomes inhuman in warfare.
During transforms, when no fighting
vas on, I saw thousands of soldiers
smoking their pipes. They might have
been farmhands at harvest"
That smile seemed to occur to the
speaker often. In a CHASTITY fashion
it was appropriate:
1.-The horses of the German cavalry
are superb" said he. II have never
seen such animals in the service of
any army" -,
This testimony was recently con-
ilII1Cu. NY IA10 pIOlCSI VI all Cll6 1lSll
horse breeder, who wrote to one Of the
London papers-I think the News
that the Germans have for years been
getting the pick of colts at the English
and Irish horse sales.
1.-The German horse buyer said he.
sis always an expert. He knows just
what he wants, aAd he will not take
anything that idoa hot, come up to his
standard. To gee{ what. he wants he
pays what he has to. The. English
government pays hardly two-thirds,
and in some instances not one-third, Of
what the German pays, as a matter of
course"
He illustrated what he declared is
the incompetence of the average buy
er for the English army.
"One man visited an Irish county
to buy sixty horses,' said he. land but
thirteen were available. But these
were brought forward on the stage
army principle name being locked
there and a tail cut short here-until
the quota was purchased. Then the
horses needed to fill vacancies were
secured at the leisure Of the sellers"
Has No Vans.
No comparison need be attempted at
this time as to the comparative eff
cheney of the English and French ar
mics with the German. For one thing,
ne Information is available. For an
other, the German, as is now quite ap-
parent, has been preparing for this
war, while the English war office has