New-York tribune., 1916-07-17
MAKING OF A GERMAN OFFICER
at the Front by Soldier Letter His American
Mother-The Striking Peace Training and
War Training-The Joy Of Useless Gifts.
To the Editor Of The Tribune.

w dI raining iiC
To the Editor Of The Tribune.
Sir: am sending you human document;
human, though German, as the most pro-Ally
among US must admit.
1t is part Of a letter from German soldier
to his American mother, and l can vouch for
it's authenticity, because I translated it my
self from the original.
It contains little of what you would call
news, but it shows a side of the Teuton at
home which we in America cannot discover in
our hyphenated ones even with a microscope.
Knowing that fair presentation of all
things in which the war has aroused Ameri-
can interest is what all Americans want, |
venture to offer these paragraphs to the read
ers of The Tribune F. c. FAY.
New York, July Q, 1916.
Indeed, the making of staggering German
officer out of a poor civilian, who in all the
thirty-two years of his life never had an
hours military training, is task Of toll and
patience. This course here at Keengsberg
has made especially heavy demands upon US.
We had to learn in three months what Is
drilled into the Einjdhrigen privileged SOL
diers who, after passing certain high school
examination, serve only one year. during
their whole period of service, and a good bit
more. OF course, We had already acquired a
sort of training at the recruits depot. prin-
cipaly in field work. But here we have been
pentifully treated to the delights Of peace
time training, which is to fit US to become
trainers of raw recruits in our turn during
our officers course.
You can't imagine the difference between
peace training and war training! Yell, to me
the whole thing is like feast in a banquet
hall; I'll say that much for your comfort.
have no idea how it will be at the officers
course at Doeberitz, but I'm pretty sure the
service won't be any lighter.
Ny dearest old lady, don't be a goose and
worry about me catching cold and such things.
Uniform is very warm. service makes one
very warm, and we never had milder winter.
No doubt, war is not parlor game and in
wolves a certain amount of danger; there are
too blamed many shells flying about. But it
isn't anything like what you picture it. Civil
War times are dead and gone, mother and as
far as "ducking" is concerned. we actually
practise it, Field service nowadays can be
most accurately described the art of max
ing ones self invisible in the countryside.
Now Pm going to be bit technical
don't want to bore you, but just comfort you
by showing how things really are.
One of these branches OF activity in the
field is mostly confined to the trenches, which
are now so constructed that bullet can hit
its man in there only by accident. Even
shrapnel isn't very dangerous. Only heavy
artillery can make itself unpleasantly felt
because that will hack anything to pieces.
and when it hits it hits. that's all there is TO
IL. I'll send you picture postcard of one of
our dugouts, so you may see for yourself
how snug and safe they are.
The other branch is mobile fighting The
main principle in this is to take the utmost
advantage of every bit OF natural cover. A
sinking OF the ground no more than 30 en-.
deep offers ample protection. Besides. the
men are placed three TO five feet apart. so
that the chance of hitting the ground is yerv
much larger than that Of hitting man. In
this mobile fighting the thing is TO approach
the enemy as closely as possible without be-
ing seen, heard or scented We crawl in
zigzags, making many kilometres of what is
really but short distance. The crawling on
our bellies Is JOY, with gun in hand. pack on
back, spade and various other kitchen uten-
sils strapped about us. II you don't believe
II, III make you try when | visit you after
the war. When We get close to them the
Russians love TO fling away their rifles and
hold up their hands, unless our artillery has,
already accounted for many and chased thsj
others.