The sun., 1916-08-20
BRITISH LOSSES FAR
EXCEED The FRENCH
In Three Weeks Battle on
Somme Englsnd's Casual
ties Are 100000.
THOSE OF ITS ALLY 10000
Experts Say Britain's Soldiers
Do Not Know How to
Fight.
Ssscssi corrssssaIsacs 10 Tps srS.

ODVCS8s tOVVv0DVWOOWSV " 4Ro OsT
PARIS. Aug. 0.-Ths British lost 1907
900 killed and wounded In the hrst three
weeks Of the Somme offensive. while
the French lost only 10000. according
to excellent authorities. A British ON
Ger on the STAN OF an infantry division
and q member OF the French Chamber
Of Deputies gave these figures . short
time g
The censorship. both here and in
London. permits little news Of his sort
to be sent by cable. allowing little more
n special descriptions Of scenes back
Of the front or Of fighting gained at SEC
ond hand. and then In little detail. The
news Of . change In the ofices Of Morgan.
Harjes 4 Co. VA not permitted to 90 to
the United States over the wires.
The comparative amateurishness OF
the British troops 10 the reason assigned
far larger casualties. Though the war
10 now In It's third year the British v
not learned yet how to ight under mod
ern conditions they sccm to try to get
killed on battlcields liEa those Of the
Sommc front. OF a kind hitherto almost
unknown.
Chief Object to Get KILLED.
Particularly IL this '.icrt!ng" attitude
noticeable In British o::i;ers. most OF
them ine young fellows OF public school
or university training. quite fearless. but
quite new at practical lighting. The ON
cer sti,i seem to think It their chief
object 70 &c. killed. the French say.
Each British officer when a seneral as
sault Is ordered tries to Guido th0se to
right or left OF him.
Once into the enemy's trenches every
oficer tries to push his section OF COM
pany or regiment further ahead than the
section or company or regiment on right
or left OF him. In doing this they lose
sight OF The plan laid down. which pro-
vides for each unit to 20 just so far and
no farther. As long As that plan 10 fol-
lowed the troops are reasonably safe.
safe as any troops In battle a be. for
the artillery IRE to protect them has
been figured to a nicely. II they dis
regard It.. however. their fate 10 often
sealed.
Many times whole British brigades
have charged ahead as calamity - any
troops in the world. fighting their way
through German trenches. passing every
obstacle. overcoming everything In their
path. but never coming back. They had
forgotten that tho enemy now is not
merely on the ground n in the air.
but under the ground.
For as soon a. the British waves had
passed over German trenches there issued
out determined bands OF Germans who
had hidden in their underground dusouts
and caverns with machine guns. Quickly
these men. crouching behind every bit of
cover. turned their machine guns upon
the backs Of the British who had passed.
The number they killed went into the
hundreds In each attack.
rawa> Mach Cnuf.slnu
BESIDES the losses they caused such
parties Of Germans made confusion in
the British attack. Sometimes whole
British companies exposed to this fire in
their rear would turn about to extermi-
rate the Germans. They did II. but
threw the advance into confusion.
Added 10 this the French believe the
British had at first and may have now
stronger German forces In front Of them
than rave the FreIrh.
The French suffer far less from these
rear attacks than the British because
they prepare for them. expect them and
force the nghting against the bands OF
Germans before they have time to set
about their deadly work. When the
French advance each wave Is followed
by n second and smaller detachment who
act as trench cleaners. These men are
selected for their daring and agility.
Armed with bombs. hand grenades
rifles and often with long knives OF
sword ~bayonets. they go through all the
trenches over which the attack has
passed to see that mont OF these German
machine KUN parties are left hin
" the Germans do not rome out at once
they go down into the underground
chambers after them or else throw dowr
hand grenades. which. exploding In the
chambers. kill all the Germans. The
hand to hand fights In these pits are
some OF the most desperate fighting mar
to man that has occurred In the war.
TIL English have not yet adopted al
these precautions. though as their waves
pass ovtr a trench the grenadiers some.
times throw bombs into the dugouts
They probably will adopt the trench
cleaner system OF the French before lona
and their losses will be mailer.
There Is a general belief on the Somme
front In both French and British armies
&C, ording to officers n soldiers who
return. and In particular Of the SAM
stan officer who gave the numbers o,
British and French killed and wounded
that the Somme offensive was not thu
big push" at al.
The Somme offensive, he and others
think. was undertaken purely to relieve
the tremendous German pressure on Yer.
dun. which II certainly has done. The
"big push" probably will he made thi.
summer. this officer thought, though
perhaps not until next fall. He believes
like most English. that the war will BIZ
very long, u that next fall Ia thu
earliest possible time by which II
can end.