Evening star., 1915-08-08

| Special Correspondence of The Star.
| NORTHERN FRANCE. July %, 1915.
! n NDIVIDUALISM doesn't count for
/ II much in this war between millions.
In the main man may be said to
! be no longer man. He becomes a
! mere unit, tagged and numbered for
| Identification, flesh and blood cog in
| the great machine. The less he thinks
| the better. Obedience and courage are
all that are expected of him. Individ-
ual thinking is dangerous. Any SOL
| dier in the trenches who permits him.
self to think is almost certain to les
sen his value as a soldier. The officers,
commissioned and nom commissioned,
are presumed to do all the thinking
necessary.
| But there are two kinds of work in
! this modern warfare that call for in
| dividual resource and initiative, and,
so far as ] have been able to discover
| in seven months service at the front,
these two kinds only-dispatch riding
and sharpshooting. In these activities
: enlisted men are employed, and, after
receiving orders. left to their own de-
vices Deprived of the sustaining
moral influence of being one of
group, the "biker" and 'sniper' are
put to as fine test of nerve and in
genuity as modern warfare affords
There are at least 1000 dispatch rid
ers with the British expeditionary
force. year ago the bulk of these
| young chaps were employed in the
clerical and mechanical arts of peace.
Sundays and holidays they could be
seen "put-put- putting about the coun-
oP a1d afr
motor bikes. usually with some lassie
clinging on behind. For the past year
they have been eating up the miles
along the highways and byways of
northern France, unhampered by speed
laws. The lassies no longer ride be-
hind, and the way is often perilously
| besprinkled with shrapnel and rife fire.
The old-time galioping dispatch rider
stead of a sweating. painting horse and
dusty rider refining up before headquar-
ters with important dispatches, there
comes rhymthic purr far up the dusty
road. swelling to sharp-volleyed detona-
tions from twin-cylinder gas chambers.
motor bike tears up at sixty miles an
hour and slides to sudden stop. The
rider, in tan leather coat, military cap,
goggles, oil-spattered breeches and leather
leggings. doesn't stagger up to his gen.
l
have the honor to report that Gen. Blink
has taken the fortress" and then drop
dead or faint. Usually the first thing he
does is to look at his rear tire and then
thing about the thing missing half the
time"
When he does march in before the
general to whom he has brought dispatches
he receives no more consideration than
any of the pen-pushing orderly clerks
whose military life Is about as danger
GUS and inspiring as their civilian occupa-
ton. The ''biker" has just come over
some twenty miles Of exposed road Half
the way from his point of departure to
, his destination he probable rode at top
speed, head bent low over his handlebars,
sniped at by a hundred German sharp
shooters, and even pursued by the shrek
and bang of shrapnel. But that's all IN
any of his stan would think of commend
ing the young man for merely having
performed his duty.
The "biker" leads the most nomadic
life in the army. He is seldom perma-
nently attached to any particular unit
, or division. He may start the day with
| a sunrise ride from Dunkirk to Ypres.
Noon may find him tearing along the
shell-strewn highway from Bailleul to
Bethune. At evening he may be taking
his supper in some little inn halfway
to the big base camp at Rouen. So vast
| are the military operations and yet so
small is the actual territory involved
that one of these speed demons Of the
British outfit often covers the entire
circuit OF northern France in day and
a half.
The "biker" carries a revolver, but no
rifle. The main item in his equipment
is the leather wallet, ten inches square
strapped over his shoulder. Under a
sheet of isinglass on the back of the
of the battle area from Dunkirk to
Amiens, showing all the principal roads
and towns. The names Of the places
are printed in French with a phonetic
brackets underneath. The rider is also
furnished a specially prepared pamphlet
containing French and English phrases
likely to be of use to him in making
he is turned loose with q walletful of
important documents and 1t is up to
him to deliver the goods.
l had dinner few nights ago in
four "bikers." That is to say, they sat
at the same table in the little French
restaurant and listened to their COM
ment. They had all covered more than
a hundred miles that day carrying dis
patches, but it was not until coffee
was served and cigarettes were lighted
that any Of them mentioned anything
in connection with the days work.
-.
Then one of them casually dropped
the remark that he had a bad blow
out that morning. Some one asked
where, and he mentioned a bit of high
way that / knew ran for many miles
just behind the British trenches and
fully exposed to German rife and shell
fire. His three companions did not
seem particularly Interested, but one OF
| them asked II the blowout had oc-
Cured anywhere near certain stretch