Evening star., 1916-01-02
MILITARY QUARTERS
VAST BUSINESS HIVE
Associated Press Correspond
ent Tells of Personal Visit
in the Field.
GERMAN ARMY LIKENED
TO BIG TRADE INDUSTRY
Officers Are Branch Managers and
Private Soldiers Take Place Of
Employees About Office.

Private Soldiers lake race OI
Employees About Office.
Correspondence of the Associated Press.
A TOWN IN SERBIA. December 10
| A general headquarters in the field OF the
German army resembles closely the man
agement of a large business. The officers
are branch managers whom convention
and necessity has stuck into uniforms
and the private soldiers take the place
| of employees about the Office. For their
lstereotyped garb there is no better reason
| than that combatants, according to mill
| tary law, must indicate their status oy
distinct dress. Beyond that general
headquarters is not military instruction
| in the popular conception of that terms
| 1t is purely an administrative office con-
stantly organizing and reorganizing.
War on a scale as the European strug-
gle has reached becomes, by the huge de-
| mands it makes. by the pressure It exerts
| upon participating individuals. and by the
recurrence Of the necessity for doing
| certain thing, business. Even the head
| of the group, the commander, the tacticlan
fronted with the same demands of the
military situation: there are times Wnen
he must leave minor tactical details to
his staff officers, and all phases OF his
| work which recur too often. and are.
the hands Of subordinates altogether.
General headquarters is, in other words.
an aggregate Of trained managers and
workers. which could successfully run any
enterprise, and which, by virtue OF its
a dangerous competitor to civilian Or
ganzation in the same field.
Such is the impression one gains at
| the general headquarters OF Field Mar
n@bo tno N
of the Austro-Hungarian- forces
! in Serbia. In this establishment every
thing moves noiselessly. frictionless,
positively, at speed which Is not ex-
pressed In revolutions of machinery.
but in the pulse beats of a great, ex-
| pansion seeking and seemingly mex
haustible force.
Life at Headquarters Described.
The character of an armv is best
judged by conditions prevailing at base
headquarters. The Associated Press
| one in question. The captain in charge.
a young man of about thirty-six. pre-
| sided In an inner office. Several nom
commissioned officers sat at tables in
for this and that, usually addressing a
sergeant. The brusque demeanor toward
subordinates with which the German
| officer has been associated was wholly
absent. Several officers wanted wheel
transportation.
Sorry. sir! None available at this
| moment" the sergeant would say
One Of the officers thought he would
have to get a wagon. no matter how
This attitude took the case out of TIE
sergeants hands. Just then the base
commander entered the outer room. The
officer turned to him with an introduce
| tion of himself by himself and a vigor-
Gus clack of his heels.
very sorry! Have no wagons here
just now" said the base chief in a
friendly friendly ton tore. which for all Of it's
| formation given by the sergeant should
A major entered. He had been sent
IRON Berlin to superintend the harvest
OF the grapes. which were on the verge
of rotting on the hillsides, but whose
Juice would be welcome to the wounded
in the hospitals. 1t seemed that he
nad caused large and suitable cellar
70 De cleared for the barrels in which
the juice was to be stored During the
night cavalry organization had need
eo shelter for its horses and had used
the cellar for this purpose. The major
was Indignant
Ihat will happen" said the captain
Get the cellar cleaned again and then
III station a guard there
Serbian Campaign Disagreeable.
The incident was settled But the
| major had more trouble. He did NOT
have men enough to gather the grapes
and what men he had were none too
proficient.
very well: We can fix that. Ask
Berlin to send you hundred or SO of
landsturm men from some town in the
Palatinate or along the Rhine. They
would enjoy the trip"
Ihe major said he would do that and
tyR@
The campaign In Serbia has been dis
agreeable enough to have soured the
disposition Of anybody Rains have
FALLEN constantly. and men figure no
longer on the absence of mud, but on
I how little there is. Everybody reioices
when the mud is only ankle deep. and
| roads are called bad only when the
slush runs into the topboots from
above.
Conversation at table in the mess
officer knew his business in coping
with the thick, adhesive Serbian
| "gumbo' to the last. detail. Somebody
wanted TO know of him why oxen were
better man horses as draught animals
| on muddy roads. The questioned was
a guard cavalry officer, and inwardly
resented the sighting tone with which
the train" spoke of horses
Simple" explained the train officer.
of both animals. When the horse stems
into stiff mud it's hoof remains as biz
when 1t Is pulled out as 1t was when
set down. The mud, meanwhile. has
closed over the hoof. and every time
the animals must exert a pull Of about
tive Kilograms (ten pounds) to get its
DOT out. With the OK 1t is different
because the hoof. being cIoven, opens
on the downward motion and closes on
the upward motion. 1t is smaller when
pulled out than II was when set down.
In addition the weight of the body Ia
better distributed In the OK"
The officer had never before moved
anything by means Of oxen. But a few
days contact with the animal had made
him theoretically and practically an ex-
pert In the handling Of "ox" trains.
Away from their duties the German
officers proved most agreeable COM
| panions. men who could land and &c
cept a Joke. Even the older men took
an almost boytsh interest in the witty
and animated conversation of their
youthful messmates. Everybody seem
| ed glad to be under a roof and have a
meat before him and glass Of Munich
beer and a cigar in prospect
They were not tired Of the war, II
seemed. The Job in hand would be
thoroughly done, they said. The optn:
ion of the neutral public and press did
| not bother them any more. since, as
they felt. Germany and her allies could
not do anything to please the neutrals.