Evening star., 1915-07-15
CANADIANS At TOP
AS FIGHTING MEN
French and English Officers
Call Them Finest in
the World.
GERMANS HAVE RESPECT
FOR "NEW ENGLISH"
Joffre Forced French Regiment That
Ran to Charge the Enemy and
Panics Ended.
Copyright. 1915. by Herbert CoreyJ

The Canadian is the best fighting
man in the European war"
That statement is not based upon
my unsupported opinion. 1t is COM
posite of the statements of German and
French and English officers. The case
might be built up as follows:
I'VE said at the beginning of the
war that the old English were the best
sc ldiers we met" said German officers
to me- Then the new English came
on. They are better than the old
English"
The Canadians are the best fighting
men in the English army" said French
officers who have had a chance to watch
them in action. "They are stubborn,
devilish. man-kiling fighters. They hold
a trench as well as the English do, they
are far superior in individual rifle fire
and they go forward as well as the
French"
Very fine men, English officers have
said. They have no superiors in the
British forces
For eleven months l have been ask
ing questions along this line. l wanted
to find out which was the best fighting
man. During my stay in Germany l
had another object. l wanted to dis
cover whether the German officer
would be fair and generous TO his
was always willing to give the highest
praise to the fellow in the other trench.
This statement may be modified In just
one respect. Germans generally hold
that the Cossack is fit only for hanging.
But then they insist that the Cossack
isn't soldier. They say he is danger
Gus only against women and old men.
"Old" and "New" English Troops.
You cannot dig the old English out
of a trench said the Germans. with
perfect unanimity. You may take the
trench, but the old English are in it
dead. They do not charge as well as
the French. but on the defensive they
are marvellous.
lish"-by which the men of England 8
small professional army. now mostly
dead. are meant-were better than the
German soldiers. The Bavarians al
ways said they were not as good as
the Bavarians. but superior to the
Prussians. The Prussians have sim
liar liking for the Bavarians. They
said the old English were not SO good
as the Prussians-'but much better
than the Bavarians."
lish'-the recruits enlisted Immediate
Iy after Mons-came on. The Germans
sneered at them. They did not stand
fire at all well. they said; they did not
go forward well, and they were copi-
ously drunken. AT the time the Ger
mans thought this another proof OF
the English decadence upon which they
harped. Later they modified this opin-
ion.
The first Of the new English" said
they, were slum recruits from White
chapel and Edinburgh and Glasgow.
They enlisted because they were out
OF a job or because they thought it
lark to Join the army or because they
were drunk. They had no stamina and
little courage"
Later on the second flight of new
English came to the colors. These
were the men who had held back at
first because they did not think they
were needed. Later they volunteered
because of conviction. 1t was no lark
to them. They We're not of the pro-
fessional soldier class. 1t was these
men that the Germans said were bet
ter than the old English" They are
the best soldiers in the world.
Ii was at 'Neuve Chapelle that the
new English earned this praise from
their foes Later / learned that there
were Canadians in that fight at Neuve
Chapelle. Unfortunately I did not
know it at the time, and could not ask
an estimate of Canadian fighting quail