New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-07-23
A DIPLOMATS DIARY
Adventures and Observations
of a Young American.

THE NOTE ROOK OF AN ATTACHE. Seven
Months I'm the War Zone. BY Eric Fisher Wood
Win hiteen photographs nv the author ana rae
S4j. The Century Company.
Mr.. Wood is worth reading. His vol
ume stands somewhat apart in the mass
of war books of the hour. He does not
attempt to prove rights or wrongs, he
does not undertake TO fix responsible
ties, he does not assume the mantle OF
authority. He simply tells US what ne
saw, and tells it with spirit. At the
outbreak of the war he was studying
architecture at the Beaux-Arts in Paris,
and Immediately placed himself at the
service of our ambassador there, the
Hon. Myron T. Herrick. His first task
was to attend to the mass Of Devil
dered Americans who wanted to know
thousand things, and to have a thou
sand more done for them. Then, when
Germany intrusted the interests Of her
subjects in France to the care OF the
United States, he was placed in charge
of that branch of the work and chat
fngly called by his colleagues the
German Ambassador" In course OF
time his official status was decided.
The French Foreign Office recognized
him as an "attach6 civil" of the en-
bassy. Service with the American Am
bulance followed, and finally Mr..
Wood was selected to carry dispatches
from Paris to Berlin, London and
Vienna, his travels taking him through
: Switzerland and Holland, with brief
holiday in Hungary, which the hospl-
tality of its mobiles made a most en-
iovable one. He sailed for home in
February, reported to Washington, and
NAV be sent abroad again for further
service. Certain it is that his diplo-
matte prudence is beyond suspicion. lie
does not betray a single secret.
There is enough for him to tell
without that. His pictures Of the con-
fusion. the excitement in Paris during
the days of mobilization and the exodus
of the Americans, and of the gloom that
settled upon the city under the shadows
Of initial defeat are among the best
that have been written; and his chap
tiers on the battle of the Marine are
worth consulting by all who have made
a study of that decisive struggle. lie
takes particular pains to dispel the I'M
pression that the German retreat to
scissors and Rheims was caused by any
French victory won over Won kluck.
On the contrary, that commander did
what he was sent to do (Which was not
the capture of Paris), and did not re-
treat until after the failure of German
strategy at other points. Mr.. Wood WIS.,
tied battlefields and destroyed villages,
and describes the harvest of death and
devastation graphically. Here is
grewsome touch almost casually given:
As we approached Clamanges we
detected a sickening, subtle, sweet
ish odor which crept stealthily to
us through the air and filled US
with an insinuating disgust. The
Colonel said simply, THAT is gan
creme"
No better seasoned army ever fought
more desperately at the beginning OF
war than the first British expeditionary
army under French; that is the verdict
Of German as we'll as French military
men. and if the English had no share
in the decision of the battle OF the
Marine it was only, Mr.. Wood explains,
because they were too few. He reports
the high esteem in which British Off
GERS hold German valor, reports in
stances Of looting and wanton destruc-
tion but absolves the invaders OF the
charge Of atrocities in France. Within
the Empire he was struck by the quiet,
nndisturbed life of those left behind, as
well as by the thoroughness Of their Sc
cret service. He was treated with
studied courtesy, with only one excep-
ton, when agents Of this secret SER
vice gave him a most unpleasant expe-
rience. Otherwise his diplomatic mis-
sions were uneventful. The first part
of the book, dealing with Paris and the
battles of the Marine and the Aisne, is
nv far the more interesting one. 1t is,
as has already en- said, real con-
tribution to the literature OF that phase
of the war.