White Pine news weekly mining review. [volume] (East Ely, Nev.) 1910-1920, 1915-08-22
AS TT WAS IN THE BEGINNING.

II is a commonplace to say that the
war has been full of surprises.
Among these none has been more
striking than the revision to early
and Iong-abandoned forms and prac-
tees of warfare.
We all remember the prediction,
based upon the operations OF the
Boer War. that because of the range
and accuracy of the rifle fire, frontal
attacks in massed formation would
no longer be made; that the advance
would be made in widely extended
order and that the decisive tactics
would consist almost e~ntirelyo flank
ing or turning movements. 1t was
predicted Furthermore that the tacti-
cal necessity of lighting at long range
would lead to the abandonment of the
bayonet and that rarely, if ever,
would the combatants commingle in
hand to hand fighting, says Scientific
American.
All OF which apparently we'll
founded predictions have been falsifi-
ed by the event. For nigh upon
twelve months some four millions of
r:en have been facing each other
upon a battle-line several hundred
miles IN length and in such close
contact that "A rush of ,iess than one
hun lred yards has been ST fi.ient 10
prseipitate the ~bloodiest hand TO
hand struggle with bayonet and hand
grenade.
And the mention of the hand
grenade brings us down to our text;
this is but one of several medieval
and ancient forms of fighting which
the e~xigencics of the present war
revived and established firmly as
part of the tactics of modern warfare.
The fundamental cause of all this
is to be found In the extraordinary
development of trench or what might
be called ield~siege warfare. The
udnu-S iCllauC AoiniCu III SoitJ doJo
an important weapon IF attack i'll the
assault on permanent Notifications,
aud so efficient was this weapon that
SPECIAL bodies of men ware trained Ia
its use and carried the name of
~grenadiers.
Where the weight of the bombs
or the distance to be covered de-
mands it, has been had to
the %catapult, a device which is as old
as the recorded history of warfare
itself.
In the poison gasses, so-called. of
the Germans We recognize at least in
principle the "stinkpot" of the
Chinese and the Greek fire. of the
a~ncients.
Only recently in our columns we IL
Illustrated a steel helmet that has been
introduced among the French troops
which is Strongly reminiscent of the
medieval casque and a further re-
vival of medieval warfare is to be
found in the use of steel breastplates
and of movable shields pushed for
ward in advance of the attacking
troops.
That the use of armor in siege
warfare. such as that which has been
carried on in France, is likely to be
extended, is suggested in a dispatch
from London to the Associated Press,
which says that the value of a light
protective armor is attested In sever
al recent articles in the British
medical journals. According to the
New York Times Doctor Devraigne,
a French army surgeon, who dis
cussed in the Lancet the result OF
his tests of the new French helmet,
gives 1t his unqualified endorsement.
He says that the soldier who wears q
helmet escapes light wounds Of the
head, and even wounds that would in
ordinary circumstances have been
severe, have been greatly mitigated.
The helmet frequently turns of the
bullet, and in other cases dents or
stops 1t, and even when the helmet is
perforated, it checks the velocity of
the bullet so that hair and dirt are
not driven into the tissues Of the
head.
Lastly, the return to primitive
methods of fighting is seen in a late
report from the Italian campaign
that thousands Of the enemy have
been killed and wounded by stones
and rocks hurled upon them by the
italian mountain troops.