New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-11-22
THE SIEGE OF THE SOMME
An Officer Foreign France Describes Modern Warfare as
H.. Seen Il in the Allies Great Offensive
BY LIEUTENANT zzNovI BECHKoFF or THE FOREIGN LEGION

BY LIEUTENANT LILNoFi ob|"
Before leaving France was given the
chance OF going over the bsttlefelds north
and south Of the Somme, and was even taken
into the fire line at C, north OF the
Some, and H, south Of IL. ! was also
enabled 10 study the working OF the huge
and complicated war machine in every detail
and my assurance that the final victory must
inevitably be ours grew at every step, wnen
| saw tho truly marvellous precision and
| in its way az the men In the trenches IN
organization with which il Is run. For this
work behind the lines is just as important
in its way as the men In the trenches in
conducting to the ultimate triumph of our
cause.
One returns from the fighting lines full
of the deepest respect, I may even say rev.
erencc, for the spirit of these fighting men
of France. | cannot say it surprises one for
no one who has studied the history Of that
country could ever have had any doubts as
to the courage and chivalry OF the French,
but in this war they have shown other quail
tiles in which they had always been con-
sidered lacking, that is, those OF tenacity
and staying power; these things rejoice the
hearts of those who had always believed in
the greatness of France, and are constant
subject of amazement to those who did not
know her.
All Military Theories Confuted
} In order TO understand one Of these mod
ern battles, so immense, so grandiose, so
unimaginabe for those who have not ex-
perienced them, we must cast aside the whole
Of history and isolate ourselves In to-day.
We must forget all the treatses on war by
great generals, as we'll as the theories OF
technical specialists and tacticians. Modern
warfare overthrows both the one and the
other; it abolishes both the near and the
distant past; even when the resembances
seem most striking, when 1t takes up GER
tain ideas, certain formulas, certain pro-
cedures which are the same, this does but
enhance the essential differences. Military
theories before the war based everything on
long range fire. they provided for massive
dues at great distances, and very bloody but
short conflicts. Instead Of this, the world is
at war since two years, the bayonet plays as
important role as over, and for months
at a time two armies confront each other at
distances varying anything between thirty
and one hundred yards, in lines Of trenches
more unassailabe than were the bastions
of oldcn times. 1t is, therefore, the bank
ruptcy of modern military theories; strategy
is abolished and we have passed to siege
warfare.
Siege warfare 1t is, therefore, but aided
by all the internal systems of modern ar
tillery, from which there is no protection
but invisbility, burrowing into the ground
and making vast and intricate subterranean
defences. The earth is still the best armor.
In the war which is carried on in the air
or under the surface Of the water, all the
most highly developed appliances OF modern
inventive genius are put to the test. But
trench warfare, on the contrary, has resus-
citated arms and procedures which had
seemed fallen into disuse forever. OF course
they had to be adapted to the present-day
necessities, they have undergone modfica-
tions which rejuvenate them, and partaken
of the progress that has run through the
whole scale Of war appliances. In this trench
warfare the Germans at first showed a great
inventive fertility OF mind. They were par
of science to the profit Of carnage, with a
success which is not surprising when one
remembers that they never hamper them
selves with any scruples. We need not
speak of their well-known asphyxiating gas,
and their fre-hoses, but they have other ma
chimes, aerial torpedoes, grenades, mine
layers, that had been secretly piling up for
a long time hidden frvm all pryng eyes in
the factories across the Rhine. They had
watched the Russo-Japanese war with no in
attentive eyes and learned much thereby.
The Allies Have Caught Up
But our engineers lost no time in catching
up with and even outdistancing their rivals.
To-day the struggle between trench and
trench, ridge and furrow, is carried on with
about the same assets on both sides, with
equally potent engines and contrivances, the
advantage leaning moro and moro as time
goes on TO the side Of the Allies. ! will try
to give quite shortly some idea Of the in
struments used IN European warfare to-day,
beginning with the simplest
At the beginning Of the war grenades we're
also manufactured by the soldiers them
selves with whatever fell to hand, like the
fuses. Now, however, that Is all different.
Inc latest 1ormS Oh the manu- BTtHdueS ue-
mand work which is fairly complicated, and
the revival of this instrument in its mod
ernized attire is one of the most curious
phenomena Of this war.
One of the methods employed for throwing
grenades Is q modern adaptation Of the Cross
bow. The grenade is fixed onto a string tied
to the two extremities Of an srched and
flexible stick, the dstension Of which hurls
the grenade to a distance of anything be-
tween twenty and thirty metres. This modern
adaptation Of the cross-bow Is officially called
'cross-bow grenade thrower."
Let US pass on to the special forms of
artillery which our men, as ingenious as
they are brave, have learned to employ in or
der to defend themselves from the projectiles
Of all kinds and dimensions which they re-
ceive from the trenches opposite" Here is
to begin with the mortar $50, respectable
piece Of the time Of Louis-Philippe, which
had long since been turned into a decorative