The Nome daily nugget., 1916-08-30
HOW GERMANS FIGHT

Every one knows that, at the begin ming of the present war in Europe, the Germans were the only nation that was really ready to fight. Not only did they have arms and ammunition Tn far greater amounts than had any of their opponents, but they had master ed in advance some of the problems of modern warfare that the allies have had to meet and solves on the very field of battle. This fact is not stated in disparagement of any of the con- tending armies Friends and enemy have shown admirable bravery in the field. It is simply a statement of ac- tual conditions-a statement that goes far towards explaining the striking effectiveness of the German drives" and that points telling moral to a nation facing the question of prepar- edness
 Perhaps the most striking evidence of Germany's preparedness lies in her adaptation of infantry warfare to modern conditions. Everyone predict ed at the beginning of the war that lery-that the days of the cavalry charge and the infantry skimish were practically over. But up to the pres ent time, Germanys success has been as largely contributed to by the eff ciency of her infantry as by any other one factor
 How do the Germans fight?
 To answer that question it is neces- sary to go back fifty years. It was half a century ago that Count von Moltke, chief of staff in the Prussan army, became convinced that the in creased efficiency of fire arms and ar tillery demanded d thorough revolu- ton in methods of attack. From the days of Alexander the Great, who de- pended for his victories on his solid phalanx of infantry and heavy, rush ing columns of cavalry, the method of offensive had been to hurl massed troops upon some point in the enemy's lines. But von Moltke saw that the machine gun and the breech loading rifle alone constituted a means of de- fense capable of annihilating a force attacking in mass formation. Since the Pfussians had always, from the time of Frederick the Great, taken the offensive in battle,-that is, had been the attacking party,-von Moltke turned his attention to devising a form of attack that might prove less vulner- able against the new defense.
 At first, his new ideas met with obstinate resistance; for the conserva- tive Germans clung tenaciously to the old mass formation. But two incidents of the Franco Prussian war brought his colleagues to his way of thinking, and paved the way for the present open formation method of attack. One of the incidents occurred at Mars La tour, in 1870, when an attacking Han overian brigade last half it's strength in a few minutes, before the breech loading rifles and the shrapnel mortar of the French. The second took place at St. Privat, where the Prussian guard was checked in twenty minutes, with the loss of six thousand men. After these disasters, von Molkte had less trouble in advancing his ideas He spent the remaining twenty years of his life in developing those formations and making provisions for that drill and discipline in attack and defense which he foresaw would be made ne- cessary by the ever increasing efflci- ency of arms and artillery.
 During the twenty five years that have elapsed since von Moltke's death, the members of the German military