Evening journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1888-1932, 1915-05-05
BY WILLIAM G. SHEPHERD
United Press STAFF Correspondent
Copyright. 1915. by the United

Copyright. 1915. by the United
Prossl
Copyright i'm Great Britain)
HEADQUARTERS or THE BRIT |
ISL ARMY. NORTHERN FRANCE. |
April 19.-(By Mail to New York ~ !
have seen the entire British line |
II is the stopper which General |
French put into The neck of the Ger
man bottle at the battle of Npres |
when the German tide began TO pour
Calaisward
This English lire is at the exact
spot in Europe whore General Nogi.
the japanese master of war. once said
would occur a battle that would stag
ger the world If war in Europe be-
came a reality.
Was Ipres the battle Nogi dreamed
Of? or was that battle only fore
runner of a greater battle which GEN
eral French and his English soldiers
have before them within the coming
months?
Whatever Is ahead. the army of
General Sir John French is ready for
il. Il is good army.
The first thing that strikes you
about the British army is its quiet
men. I saw six horses try to run
away the other day when a regiment
of men oheered General French after
he had thanked them in his quiet.
hesitating way for the part they had
taken I'm the battle Of Neuve Chapelle
Cannon the horses know Cheers
are strange to them. II dawned
on an American slowly that
in the mind of an English army man
/ nN4 IL
together.
AS compared with the small por-
| ton of the American army thar land
ed at Vera Cruz year ago. the or
ganization of the present British
army is perfect Though the Ameri-
can army had been waiting i'm a state
of preparedness for over two years
to go into Mexico. when Il finally did
land in Vera Cruz the army horse
shoers found themselves without suf-
hcient horseshoeing equipment and
for many days they were forced TO
shoe mules and horses with small
sets of tools intended only for the
march.
Don't have any ceremony seems
to be the British army mans idea OF
doing his job.
young officer was moving about
a headquarters room in farmhouse
up near the front. where he had gone
for some hot tea He chatted with
the officers at the table about d score
of various trivial things; finally
winding up with a discussion Of the
officers mess.
I'VE ought 10 have a French cook"
he said as he threw his bag over his
shoulder and started for the door.
That was his goodbye remark. He
might never come back again.
On the ground back OF
Neuvo Chapelle the fields are dotted
with small white signal boards.
They were placed there long before
the battle to show regiments whore tc
90 when the battle began.
, / noticed many short ladders in
the trenches which the British had
left when they moved on Neuve
! Chapelle.
. 1--WE made lots of those and put
) them into our trenches so that ouI
e men could climb out quickly When
3 the charge began" explained an Of
hcer
I On the battlefield one sees small
81 bridges placed over bitches so mar
% row that any soldier could Jump thcn
, with case. But General French
= didn't want any waste motions oil
y waste exertions in that battle
{ Were going to do this the Rest i
r. can be DONE he said. The result O
] this quiet efficiency was that Neuy'
e Chapelle fell in ono hour and hal
{ instead of within ten hours. the tint
e that had been calculated, The ONLY
5 thing that sputters in this British
4 army is powder; the only nois'
2 comes from guns.
This self-possession of the Rritisl
p officer sometimes almost passes be
G lief
Q sat at a table with officers Of thu
{ flying corps recently and they chat
r ted about the most every day things
p But all this time they knew that one
i of their mess was up in the air ovo
e the German lines. within range o
o the German shrapnol and rifles. H'
y came i'm soon after and II wasn't un
4 iii noticed that they were slappinl
p him on the back with unusual cor
= diality that / realized how well the.
had hidden their anxiety during th'
d meal.
q Perhaps the height of efficiency o