The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1915-05-26
Sees A 4 YEAR WAR
BRITISH SOLDIERS REALIZE
THEIR LONG JOURNEY
Train FOR GRIM work

! TRAIN FOR GRIM work
Fighters in France Do Not Underesti
mate Their Foes-Realize Every
Able-Bodied Man in Britain VIII
be Needed to Crush kaiser's "Wal
of Steel"
E. Alexander Powell, staff CORE
spondent of The New York World
cables his newspaper as follows, al
ter spending some time at the front
in the allied lines:
! Every British soldier in France
has come to realize that he is engag,
ed in struggle without parellel in
history, a struggle in which he is con,
fronted by a formidable, ferocious
and resourceful opponent, and from
which he is by no means certain tc
emerge victor; and he is therefore
methodicaily and Systematically pre-
pairing to win that struggle, just as
pugilist prepares himself for battle
in the prize ring.
Every British soldier in France
has some to realization of the ter
| rible gravity Of the situation that
faces him. You don't hear him sing
ing 'Tipperary' any more, or boasting
about what he is going to do when
he gets to Berlin. He has come to
have a most profound respect for the
| fighting qualities of the men in the
spiked helmets. He knows that he,
an amateur boxer as it were, is up
against the worlds heavyweight pro-
fessional champion, and he appre-
ciates that he has, to use his own ex-
preston, one hell of a job in front
of him.
"He has already found out to his
cost, and to his great disgust, that
his opponent has no intention of be-
ing hampered by the rules laid down
by the late Marquis Of Queensberry.
One of these days, however, when he
is quite ready, he expects to give that
opponent the surprise Of his life by
landing on nir1 with both feet, spikes
on his shoes and brass knuckles on
his fingers.
81 suppose that if were really
polite and far-sighted, I would cud-
die uEp to the War Office and make
myself solid with the general staff by
confidently asserting that the British
army is the most efficient killing ma
chine in existence and that its COM
plete and early triumph is as certain
as that sparks fly upward. Neither
of these assertions would be true,
however, though in saying this am
perfectly aware that I am inviting
the blue pencil of censors.
''It should be borne in mind, how
ever, that the British did not begin
the building Of their war machine
until about nine months ago, while
the German organization is the re-
suit of upward Of half a century OF
unceasing thought, experiment and
endeavor. But what the British have
accomplished in those nine months is
one of the marvels Of military his
tory.
1.-THE machine that they have
knocked together, though still trifle
wabbly and somewhat creaky in its
joints, is, am convinced, eventually
going to do the business. 1t struck
me as having all, or nearly all, of the
merits of the German organization,
with the human element added.
The British soldier Of this new
army has none of the rollicking,
devil-may-care recklessness Of the
traditional Tommy Atkins. He has
not jointed the army from any spirit
Of adventure or because he wanted
to see the world. He is not an ad-
venturer; he is q crusader. With
him it is deadly serious business.
He has not enlisted because he want
ed to enlist or because he had to, but
because he felt he ought to.
In ninety-nine cases out of hun
dred he las left family, comfort
able home and a good job behind
him. And unlike the stay-at-homes
in England. he doesn't make the mis-
take Of undertaking the enemy.
"He knows that the headlines
! which appear regularly in the Eng
| lish p: pers, exultantly announcing
Another British Advance are bun
combe. He knows that it isn't a ques-
ton of advancing. but Of hanging on.
He knows that he will have to fight
with every ounce of fight there is N
| him, if he is to remain where he is
now. He knows that before the Ger
| mans can be driven out Of Belgium,
much less across the Rhine, II Eng
land will be wearing Grape.
"He knows that there is no truth
| in the reports that the enemy IS
weakening. He knows It, because
hasn't he vainly thrown himself in
successive waves against that un-
yielding wall of steel?
"He knows that it is going to be a
long war. Every British officer or
soldier with whom I have talked
and have talked with great many
of them-has said that he expects
that the spring Of 1916 will find them
in virtually the same position tnat
they hold now. They will gain ground
in some places, of course, and lose
ground in others; but a year or so,
the men in the trenches believe, Will
see no radical alteration in the pres
ent western battle line.
"such is the opinion of the men
who are. doing the fighting. All OF
this, of course, will not make pleas
ant reading in England, where the
government and certain "ections OF
the press have given the people the
impression that Germany is already
beaten to her knees, and that It is all
over but the shouting.
"Out along the battle front. how
ever, in the trenches and around the
campfires, and in the hospitals, you
do not hear the men discussing the
terms of peace we will grant Ger
many or what we will do with the
kaiser
"They are not talking much. they
are not singing much. they are not
boasting at all; but they have set
tied down to the herculean task that
lies before them, with that same
bulldog tenacity Of purpose. that